This Week in Brief: LTE, Current Probing, DSOs, and More

February 18, 2012. Agilent Technologies Inc. said its E6621A PXT wireless communications test set will be used in an SK Telecom hybrid network demonstration during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 27 through March 1. The SK Telecom solution allows two networks of different technology and frequency band to work as one, doubling the speed of the Internet connection. For the LTE + WiFi service demonstration, which allows high-speed wireless Internet connections, the Agilent E66621A PXT wireless communications test set will be used as the LTE network emulator to ensure a high data rate on the LTE network, providing a stable test environment. Agilent also announced the new E6703H W-CDMA/HSPA lab application, which includes support for 42-Mbps DC-HSDPA test modes and IP data connections. The application uses the recently introduced E5515E 8960 Series 10 wireless communications test set. The application will also be demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress.

Omega has introduced the OM-WEB-TC series of thermocouple measurement devices with built-in web server. The embedded web interface provides viewing access to thermocouple data and configuration settings using a standard web browser. This product features eight thermocouple input channels and supports thermocouple types J, K, T, E, N, R, S, and B. The OM-WEB-TC has built-in cold junction compensation and open thermocouple detection, a 24-bit measurement system, and eight digital I/O channels user-configurable for alarms. Free configuration and logging software is included. Price starts at $599.

Saelig announced it is distributing the Aim-TTi I-Prober 520, a compact hand-held current probe for use with any oscilloscope. A user simply places the probe's insulated tip on a PCB track to observe current flowing in the track. I-Prober 520 is a general-purpose H-field probe based on the fluxgate magnetometer principle; it allows track currents to be measured over a wide dynamic range: from 10 mA to 20 A (pk-pk) with a bandwidth of DC to 5 MHz. I-Prober 520 has a low noise equivalent of <6 mA rms at full bandwidth and presents minimal disturbance to circuit conditions due to its very low insertion impedance and stray capacitance. Base price is $799.

Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corp. announced it has signed a global distribution agreement with Ramtron International Corp. to distribute Ramtron's nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (F-RAM) and integrated semiconductor solutions. “The adoption of F-RAM technology and products is growing quickly and Ramtron is a leading supplier in this product category,” said Mark Zack, Digi-Key’s vice president of semiconductors. Ramtron offers a portfolio of hundreds of F-RAM-based solutions including standard, ultra-low energy, and wireless memory products for industrial, consumer, automotive, and military/aerospace markets.

Multitest said its proprietary DuraPad surface has been proven to significantly reduce the effects of pad wear caused by Pogo pin style contactors, specifically for fine-pitch boards of 0.5 mm or below and boards for resistance-sensitive testing, which are particularly vulnerable to pad wear. Multitest said it has performed extensive pad wear analyses to understand the actual issues with established surface coatings. The company presented the results at BiTS; the papers are available for download at www.multitest.com/padwear.

Pickering Interfaces GmbH announced it has reorganized its sales region for Eastern Europe. The sales office, located in Třinec, CZ, which supported the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, and Poland, will expand its sales region to support Romania, Hungary, the Republic of Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republic of Serbia. Jaroslav Pyszko, who joined Pickering Interfaces s.r.o in 2005 as a software engineer, became sales engineer in 2010 and will now support the expanded Eastern European sales region.

Rigol Technologies has debuted its DS4000 Series digital oscilloscopes. Available in eight different models, the DS4000 instruments feature bandwidths between 100 MHz and 500 MHz, sample rates up to 4 GS/s, and two or four analog channels. These scopes can help find system glitches with 140 million points of memory depth and a 110,000 waveforms per second acquisition rate. In addition, the scopes can search and navigate within up to 200,000 triggered waveforms with mask tests. They feature the manufacturer's UltraVision technology and a 9″ WVGA intensity-grading display; they support real-time waveform recording and waveform visualization and replay, with customizable real-time hardware filters available. Pricing begins at $1999.

Aeroflex has announced a feature upgrade to its 3920 radio test set. The 3920 now supports P25 Phase II TDMA test functions and adds new features for the development, manufacturing, and field test of both analog and digital PMR radios and base stations used around the world. The 3920 test set's modularity offers users the ability to test virtually all PMR analog and digital radio standards within one single test system. Using Aeroflex Auto-Test II scripts, the 3920 also supports automated testing and alignment of TETRA, P25, DMR, dPMR, NXDN, as well as many analog legacy radio systems. Aeroflex also said its APM-424(V)5 IFF MK XIIA Mode 5 portable test set has received full certification from the U.S. Department of Defense AIMS International Program Office to support both AIMS 04-900A Option A (KIV-78) and Option B (KIV-77) crypto appliqués.

WinSystems has introduced two small, convection-cooled, AC/DC power supplies for embedded systems. The PS-RS25-5 is a 25-W unit capable of supplying +5 Vdc at 5A while the 50-W PS-RS50-5 supplies +5 Vdc at up to 10 A. The outputs have short-circuit and overvoltage protection and will recover and return to normal automatically after the fault is removed. Both power supplies accept 88- to 264-VAC input from 47 to 63 Hz so that they can work on AC mains throughout the world. The units operate from -20° to +70°C without the need for a fan.

Each unit meets various safety, EMI, and EMC standards. Both are UL60950-1 and TUV EN60950-1 approved. For EMI and conduction and radiation, each unit complies with EN 55022 (CISPR 22) Class B. Prices start at $33 in unit quantities.