Building on the success of the company's PXI 3000 series RF test systems, Aeroflex today unveiled two new PXI modules and a new software suite that expands range of use, speed of operation, accuracy and flexibility of its PXI test systems.
New products are the Aeroflex 3020A 2.7 GHz digital RF signal generator, the 3030A 3 GHz RF digitizer with 33 MHz bandwidth and a cdma2000 reverse link software measurement library. The new products offer the benefits of PXI's much lower cost and flexibility compared to general-purpose rack instruments, while maintaining exceptional RF performance.
"Customers in RFIC design verification and handset manufacturing test have seen tremendous success after switching to Aeroflex's PXI test systems. Benchmark testing shows that PXI-based systems have been able to improve test speed by a factor of five," said Tim Carey, Aeroflex's product manager for PXI test systems. "Our new products will offer even more features and expand capability to cdma2000 as well as future communications standards."
Enhancements to PXI RF Signal Generation Capability
The Aeroflex 3020A digital RF signal generator introduces new features that improve its range, speed, accuracy and flexibility for RF manufacturing and design verification. Together with the Aeroflex 3010 RF synthesizer, the Aeroflex 3020A forms a compact 3U-high precision digital RF signal generator complete with integrated dual-channel AWG that occupies just three PXI slots.
The frequency range of the Aeroflex 3020A has been extended to 2.7 GHz to cover the entire UMTS spectrum allocation. Modulation modes are extended to include internal AM/FM and IQ Vector modulation.. List Mode and arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) file sequencing modes enable the user to set frequency, level and AWG waveforms much faster and with greater flexibility--especially important in high-speed manufacturing. AWG sequencing enables long files to be generated and a new option that offers analog IQ inputs and outputs allows the Aeroflex 3020A to be used for baseband stimulus generation as well as modulated RF generation. An external TTL trigger input adds to the broad range of available trigger sources.
Enhances to PXI RF Digitizer Capability
The new Aeroflex 3030A RF digitizer along with the Aeroflex 3010 RF synthesizer combine to make a compact 3U-high precision RF digitizer that occupies just three PXI slots. Together with measurement application software, they provide superior vector signal analysis of RF signals. Ideal for manufacturing or design verification for RF systems, the Aeroflex 3030A now adds extended digitizer bandwidth up to 33 MHz to cover emerging communications standards. Other improvements to the current Aeroflex 3030 RF digitizer allow the module to perform faster, more accurately and with greater flexibility, including more comprehensive triggering functions and a wider selection of sampling rates.
New cdma2000 Measurement Suite
Also announced today is new measurement software for the Aeroflex 3000 series, the cdma2000 Measurement Suite. This Active X control software measurement library is used in conjunction with the Aeroflex 3030 RF digitizer to provide measurement functions for power, spectrum and modulation analysis of cdmaOne and cdma2000 reverse link transmissions.
Basic Specifications of the New Aeroflex 3000 PXI Modules
The 3020A digital RF signal generator includes:
• Frequency range 250MHz to 2.7 GHz
• Level accuracy +/-0.3 dB typical (CW)
• List mode for fast switching
• Analog, Digital and Vector Modulation
• Dual-channel deep memory AWG (32Msample)
• AWG waveform sequencer
• Optional analog IQ inputs and outputs
• Low phase noise typically -115 dBc/Hz at 20 kHz Offset
• Flexible trigger routing from TTL, LVDS, PXI, AWG file
• IQCreator waveform creation software
The 3030A RF digitizer includes:
• Frequency range 330 MHz to 3 GHz
• 14 bit A/D resolution with flexible sample rates to 103.68 MHz
• Wide 33 MHz digitized corrected bandwidth
• 75 dB spurious-free dynamic range (typical)
• 75 dB intermodulation-free dynamic range (typical)
• Noise spectral density <-145 dBm/Hz
• Level accuracy typical 0.3 dB
• List Mode frequency settling in <250µs