Wireless Systems Design Conference and Expo 2003
Staff -- Test & Measurement World, 4/1/2003 2:00:00 AM
Test integrates with design at wireless conference
|
|
Advanced Wave Research's RF design tool links to test instruments from manufacturers such as Anritsu and Rohde & Schwarz. |
Wireless Systems Design Conference and Expo 2003, February 24-27, 2003, San Jose, CA,www.wsdexpo.com. Test made a significant appearance at this year's Wireless Systems Design Conference. Some of the technical presentations focused on test issues, including a study that challenges standard assumptions regarding EMI shielding. Several vendors displayed test equipment and materials on the show floor (see "Test product briefs from WSD"). Most intriguing, however, was the integration of test with design at the simulation stage.
Agilent EEsof (Santa Rosa, CA; eesof.tm.agilent.com) and Advanced Wave Research (AWR, El Segundo, CA; www.mwoffice.com), announced EDA tools that link to test instrumentation. Agilent's Advanced Design System (ADS) Connected Solutions tool provides for common algorithms and data exchange between the ADS design and simulation software and Agilent test instruments. AWR's TestWave software module creates a similar link between the company's Microwave Office and Visual System Simulator (VSS) software and third-party test instruments that use RS-232, IEEE 488, or LAN interfaces.
These integration links give wireless system developers a variety of new test-based design capabilities. The EDA tools can, for instance, drive a vector signal generator with results from the design simulation, which drives device under test, and then accept data from another piece of test instrumentation to close the simulation loop. Test engineers can use this capability to evaluate the performance of new components in an existing system design, through either emulation of the new component or by creating a virtual system and inserting the new component.
Models ease simulation
Engineers can employ the integration links to create measurement-based simulation models; they can then use these models to rapidly evaluate new components in practical applications without having to create prototypes or special test designs. Developers can simply exercise the new model in the EDA environment.
The EDA links also help with debugging. At virtually any point in a system, test engineers can inject simulator-generated signals in place of the system's signals. You can use this approach to independently test individual design sections and also to insert controlled distortions, noise, and errors into the system to test its response.
These new EDA tool capabilities reflect the growing connection between design and test in wireless systems. The show also had other indicators of this connection, including several technical presentations that focused on test. W.L. Gore (Elkton, MD; www.wlgore.com) gave an interesting presentation in conjunction with its introduction of a snap-on shielding enclosure for PCB designs.
In its presentation, Gore described its approach to testing the shielding effectiveness of the enclosure. One of the results of these tests was to demonstrate that the traditional models for the shielding effectiveness of perforated enclosures can be in error by as much as 15 dB to 40 dB. In addition, Gore's tests revealed the presence of resonance conditions within the enclosures that aggravated the shielding problem. The company plans to publish its test methods and results in a forthcoming IEEE publication.
Test product briefs from WSD
Several vendors demonstrated test-oriented products during the Wireless Systems Design show. In addition to the Agilent and AWR products described above, the show included:
-
Amplifier Research's 5-W, 4–10 GHz power amplifier, www.amplifiers.com.
-
Celerity's precision noise generators and broadband signal analyzers, www.celeritydbt.com.
-
Exatron's diamond particle interconnect contact pad for a micro "bed-of-nails" contact on test fixtures, www.exatron.com.
-
Focus Microwaves' electromechanical tuner for measuring transistor noise, www.focus-microwaves.com.
-
Gryphics 40-MHz QFN socket for SMT device test, www.gryphics.com.
-
Silicon Thermal's solid-state thermal-control system for benchtop temperature testing, www.siliconthermal.com.
-
Tektronix's 3G wireless communications analyzer, www.tektronix.com.
-
Temptronic's portable temperature-control station for test fixtures, allowing component temperature testing outside of a temperature chamber, www.temptronic.com.
-
VXI Technology's high-density power splitter/combiner module for 10-MHz to 1-GHz signals, www.vxitech.com.
In addition, Larson Automation (www.larsonautomation.com), a National Instruments (www.ni.com) partner, demonstrated an RF-device production-test station based on the NI PXI controller and signal-analyzer modules.
No related content found.
- 0 rated items found.
Datasheets.com Electronic Parts & Inventory Search
185 million searchable parts
- Part Number
- Description
- Inventory
- Products
- Manufacturers
View All Webcasts
