Keysight FieldFox gains real-time spectrum-analysis capability
Keysight Technologies today introduced real-time spectrum-analysis capability to its FieldFox spectrum analyzers, available in 16 models with operating frequencies from 4 to 50 GHz and real-time bandwidths of 10 MHz.
Real-time spectrum analyzers can detect short-duration, bursty signals that traditional analyzers would miss. Cherisa Kmetovicz, product marketing engineer for FieldFox, said the real-time FieldFox analyzers have 63-dB spurious-free dynamic range and can detect pulses 12-μs-wide with a 100% probability of intercept. Pulses as narrow as 22 ns can be detected with proper windowing and sufficient FFT overlap.
Kmetovicz cited key applications areas. The instruments can test for network and microwave backhaul interference, locate the interference, and detect and record signals hiding inside main carriers. They can also verify radar pulse sequences and frequency-hopping signals, and they find use in public-safety radio interference monitoring and satellite ground-station interference analysis. She further noted that as cellular service providers rely on ever more closely spaced carriers, they require greater spectral purity.
The instrument is rugged, having no fans or vents. Kmetovicz attributed FieldFox’s performance in a portable form factor to Keysight’s ability to shrink the circuitry in its Santa Rosa III-V fab. The instrument offers real-time spectrum display with up to four traces, a density display with settable persistence, and a spectrogram display, which adds time-domain to the frequency-domain information.
Prices for FieldFox base instruments range from $10,924 for a 4-GHz “combo model” RF analyzer to $55,550 for a 50-GHz microwave spectrum analyzer. The real-time spectrum-analyzer option adds $5,175. Older instruments may require a processor upgrade to accommodate the RTSA functionality.
