November 15, 2011. Aeroflex announced at Productronica a major expansion to the S-Series family of bench-top RF measurement instruments. Aeroflex is adding two new S-Series digital signal generators—the SGD in both 3-GHz and 6-GHz models—and is also launching two new vector signal analyzers—the SVA, available in a 6 GHz and a 13 GHz model. The S-Series uses Aeroflex’s PXI technology.
The S-Series was first introduced a year ago with the launch of the SGA analog RF signal generators. The S-Series instruments incorporate a touch-screen interface. At just 4U in height and half-rack width, the instruments are compact and lightweight, with a form factor that allows a signal generator and analyzer to be accommodated side-by-side in a 19 inch rack. All S-Series instruments feature low phase noise and rapid settling time.
“With these latest additions, the S-Series has matured into a truly integrated bench-top measurement system, with the facility to link different instruments both electronically and mechanically using Aerolock™,” said Hiren Joshi, product manager for Aeroflex Test Systems. “Using the instruments together with the embedded software tools gives the user the capability to accurately generate and analyze complex wideband modulated signals to test systems and components for a wide range of applications, including mobile communications, defense, and aerospace. The SGD and SVA support generic modulation and demodulation capabilities respectively, which also makes them ideal for general purpose RF test applications.”
The SGD-3 and SGD-6 both feature +13 dBm output power, with a +20 dBm option. They incorporate an IQ modulator with 300 MHz RF bandwidth, which can generate wide bandwidth modulated signals. A dual channel arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) operating at up to 250 MS/s, with memory options up to 4 GB, offers faster waveform generation and the ability to store multiple signals. The embedded IQCreator® waveform generation tool enables the user to set up a modulation scheme and create an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) file using modulation templates.
The SGD has low single sideband (SSB) phase noise of -135 dBc/Hz at 1 GHz offset, and a fast frequency settling time of 100 µs, enabling accurate receiver testing with a significant reduction in measurement time and cost. The high dynamic range of the IQ modulators provides for an adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) of -71 dBc on WCDMA signals, enabling the user to design and test amplifier performance to higher specifications.
SVA vector signal analyzer features include an extended frequency range—up to 13 GHz for the SVA-13—to allow the instrument to be used for analyzing second harmonic performance of signals in popular communications bands. A wide maximum instantaneous bandwidth up to 90 MHz makes it suitable for measuring and analyzing both narrow- and wide-bandwidth communication systems. Peak signal power levels up +30 dBm can be input directly to the instrument. With a maximum sensitivity of -148 dBm/Hz, very low level signals can easily be discriminated from noise when measuring transmitter spurious outputs.
A range of measurement suite options are available for wireless communications test, including most 2G, 3G, 4G, WMAN, WPAN, WLAN, and LTE standards, providing measurement of power, modulation quality, and spectrum parameters to the relevant standards for mobile terminal testing both in the laboratory and in production. The noise floor at 2 GHz is -138 dBc/Hz at 10 MHz offset, and frequency settling can be achieved in 250 µs at frequencies up to 6 GHz, which makes the SVA suitable for high-productivity RFIC testing.
The SVA can be synchronized and used in conjunction with either the SGD signal generator or other S-Series modules, thus reducing test setup space and offering the user a simple, integrated measurement technique.