News Briefs
-- Test & Measurement World, 2/1/2009 2:00:00 AM
LXI Consortium names new president
The LXI Consortium board of directors has elected Von Campbell of Agilent Technologies as the consortium’s new president. He takes over an organization that has grown to 53 member companies since its inception in 2005—19 of which sell a total of 665 certified LXI-compliant instruments. Annual sales of LXI-equipped test-and-measurement equipment now exceeds $200 million.
Companies recently joining the consortium include Beijing Control Industrial Computer, Bustec, Colby Instruments, Data Physics, IPTE, Kikusui Electronics, LeCroy, Magna-Power Electronics, and Thurlby Thandar Instruments.
The board of directors also elevated the Compliance Technical Work Group to Board Committee status, with Jochen Wolle, head of research and development software for spectrum and network analyzers at Rohde & Schwarz, serving as the chairperson. This committee is responsible for approving all conformance applications.
Campbell holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue and a master’s in electrical engineering from Stanford. He joined Agilent Technologies (then Hewlett-Packard) as a development engineer in 1982, and today he oversees the company’s involvement in multiple industry consortia. During his 26 years with Agilent, Campbell has led several programs focused on general-purpose instruments, data acquisition, manufacturing test systems, connectivity software, and common instrument infrastructure. “As more and more test systems incorporate the power of Ethernet and the Web, the standardization and extended functionality offered by LXI-compliant instruments become even more compelling,” said Campbell. www.lxistandard.org.
ZigBee to serve smart-energy applications
Smart energy and automatic meter reading will make up leading applications for ZigBee and related wireless sensor networks based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, reports In-Stat. Other growing applications include consumer electronics, building control, industrial process control, and residential automation.
“A large number of technologies are being used for countless applications, with ZigBee usage becoming more focused on the fast-growing smart-energy application,” said In-Stat analyst Brian O’Rourke. “On a global basis, utilities and governments are leveraging these technologies to provision, monitor, and bill customers more efficiently while also benefiting the environment.”
Recent research by In-Stat found that 802.15.4 node and chipset units will reach 292 million in 2012, up from 7 million in 2007, but only one-third of 802.15.4 chips include a ZigBee stack, demonstrating the fragmentation among competing technologies and software stacks. The $3295 report “802.15.4—a New Sense of Energy” describes the market for 802.15.4 nodes and chipsets, providing forecasts through 2012. www.in-stat.com.
IEEE commemorates 125th anniversary
With a theme of “Celebrating 125 Years of Engineering the Future,” the IEEE is commemorating its 125th anniversary in 2009. Planned events include a competition for college students; a Webcast that will address emerging technologies; and IEEE Engineering the Future Day on May 13 that will include activities for increasing the awareness of technology advancements. www.ieee125.org.
VNA operates to 70 GHz
Able to handle S-parameter measurements on RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave devices, Anritsu’s VectorStar VNA (vector network analyzer) family delivers frequency coverage of 70 kHz to 70 GHz, a dynamic range of 103 dB at 67 GHz, and a measurement speed of 20 µs/point.
The VectorStar MS4640A family offers three standard frequency ranges that go to 20 GHz, 40 GHz, and 70 GHz. For true broadband applications such as device modeling, the 70-kHz low-end provides seven octaves of additional information below the traditional 10-MHz low-end cutoff of conventional microwave VNAs.
VectorStar offers a 100-dB dynamic range at 70 GHz. Supplementing the wide dynamic range is the +10-dBm, 0.1-dB receiver compression level at 70 GHz. With the new Precision AutoCal for 70-kHz to 40-GHz or 70-GHz calibrations, residual directivity of 42 dB can be achieved at 70 GHz and up to 50 dB can be achieved at 20 GHz.
Base price: $80,950. Anritsu,www.us.anritsu.com.
Oscilloscopes reach 30 GHz
LeCroy’s WaveMaster 8 Zi oscilloscopes and SDA 8 Zi serial data analyzers take the bandwidth lead to 30 GHz. Both lines consist of eight models, with bandwidths starting at 4 GHz.
The 8 Zi series consists of models with bandwidths from 4 GHz to 30 GHz, all of which are upgradeable. In addition, all models sample at 80 Gsamples/s on two channels and 40 Gsamples/s on four channels. Standard acquisition memory is 10 Msamples/channel on the oscilloscopes and 20 Msamples/channel for the SDAs with upgrades to 256 Msamples/channel on all models. You can interleave memory when using two channels to double the memory.
You can use the 8 Zi series with high-speed, 50-ohm active probes or with 50-ohm and 1-Mohm passive probes without adapters. The high-frequency connectors for the 20-GHz to 30-GHz models are microwave grade. The WaveMaster 8 Zi and SDA 8 Zi feature data analysis, triggering, a 16:9 aspect ratio touch screen, and a removable control panel. Options include expanded memory, a GPIB port, serial triggers, virtual-probing software, and compliance software for high-speed serial buses
Base prices: oscilloscopes range from $59,490 (4-GHz) to $199,490 (30-GHz); add $10,000 for serial data analyzers (all bandwidths). LeCroy, www.lecroy.com.
Calendar
OFCNFOEC, March 22–26, San Diego, CA. Optical Society of America. www.ofcnfoec.org.
Measurement Science Conference, March 23–27, Anaheim, CA. Measurement Science Conference. www.msc-conf.com.
APEX, March 31–April 2, Las Vegas, NV. IPC. www.goipcshows.org.
The Vision Show, March 31–April 2, Phoenix, AZ. Automated Imaging Association. www.machinevisiononline.org.
To learn about other conferences, courses, and calls for papers, visit www.tmworld.com/events.
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