The 2.7-GHz PXI-5670 RF vector signal generator module accelerates RF product development from design through manufacturing. This device from National Instruments combines the PXI-5610 2.7-GHz RF upconverter, the PXI-5421 16-bit arbitrary waveform generator, and the Modulation Toolkit for LabView 7 Express, each of which also can be purchased separately.
"Engineers can now for the first time use one platform from design through manufacturing," claims Joseph E. Kovacs, RF product manager with National Instruments.
The PXI-5670 offers signal generation from 250 kHz to 2.7 GHz. It can produce analog modulation and custom digital modulation. Additionally, the PXI-5670 can produce standard digital modulation formats like amplitude shift keying (ASK), frequency shift keying (FSK), modulation shift keying (MSK), phase shift keying (PSK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).
The module features true 16-bit-resolution arbitrary waveform generation at 100 Msamples/s (400 Msamples/s interpolated) and a 22-MHz real-time bandwidth. With its deep memory of 256 Mbytes, the PXI-5670 provides extended playback time for complex modulation signals.
The Toolkit offers standard measurements of error vector magnitude (EVM), modulation error ratio (MER), and Rho. It also supplies functions to inject impairments into a communications system, including IQ gain imbalance, quadrature skew, and additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). Visualization functions comprise trellis, constellation, and 2D and 3D eye diagrams.
With 8 Mbytes of memory, the PXI-5670 is priced from $12,995. A version with 24 Mbytes of memory costs $14,995, and a 256-Mbyte version goes for $17,995.
National Instruments www.ni.com (800) 258-7022