Test’s essential ingredient: flexibility
In a recent interview, William Burrows of Aeroflex discussed the test challenges presented by wireless, broadband, and military applications.
Larry Maloney, Contributing Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 9/1/2009 2:00:00 AM
 WILLIAM BURROWS Business Development Manager Aeroflex Plainview, NY Bill Burrows began his test career 35 years ago as an RF engineer with Marconi Instruments in Britain and held technical, program, and market-management roles with that firm until its acquisition by IFR in 1998. He then spent eight years in the US in marketing and product management with a focus on public safety and land mobile products. IFR became part of Aeroflex in 2002, and in 2007 Burrows moved to the Stevenage, UK, operation of Aeroflex, where he is responsible for PXI, digital radio test, and general-purpose instruments. Contributing editor Larry Maloney interviewed Burrows by phone on the test challenges presented by wireless, broadband, and military applications. Read the continuation of thisinterview. |
Q: What’s behind the increasing popularity of PXI-based instruments?
A: The growth in the PXI platform is a result of the openness of the standard and the flexibility that it offers. The ability to build complex configured test solutions that are optimized for high throughput has spurred a lot of interest, particularly in manufacturing test. With PXI, you can largely define the functionality of the test system by software. That gives you a very flexible platform for the diverse technologies in the wireless and broadband areas where multiple technologies are needed to test just a single device. Among the important PXI products we’ve brought to market recently are the 3021C and 3026C RF signal generators, which provide high output—+17 dBm—for frequencies up to 3 GHz and 6 GHz, respectively. These products are particularly effective for RFIC applications, where the DUT (device under test) is often embedded deeply in the system.
| William Burrows addresses more questions on the new products and test solutions emerging from Aeroflex in the continuation of this interview. |
Q: Which of your target markets are poised for the greatest growth as the economy recovers?
A: Without a doubt, the cellular and wireless industry will remain our key growth area. The need for mobile broadband data services, such as those provided by LTE and WiMAX, will continue to increase. Our established TM500 Test Mobile and the new 7100 LTE Digital Radio Test Set are exciting products for future growth. This market is still very much in the R&D phase, so we’ve seen healthy levels of investment from global communications customers despite the downturn.
Q: With so many test companies targeting wireless, how does Aeroflex distinguish its solutions for that market?
A: Aeroflex looks for opportunities to develop test solutions that provide very good value for money spent. A good example is our new lower-cost 3250 series of spectrum analyzers, which offer many ease-of-use features, such as exceptional connectivity, while providing RF frequency ranges from 1 kHz to 26.6 GHz. Aeroflex has also been very successful in the PMR/LMR (private mobile radio/land mobile radio) market with solutions that address the needs of network support engineers.
Q: What special test challenges arise from multimedia broadband devices?
| Read past Viewpoint columns at www.tmworld.com/viewpoint. |
A: We are now in an era where “multifunction” is not an added bonus but a requirement. Designers and manufacturers can squeeze many different features into smaller packages, and complexities arise as we try to determine how to test all these features as accurately and quickly as possible. What we are seeing now is development of new automated test equipment for such devices. A good example is the MMTS (Multimedia Test System), developed by VI Technology, now an Aeroflex subsidiary. MMTS combines a number of test technologies, including solutions for digital audio and video, into one package.
Q: How do synthetic instruments fit into the Aeroflex product line?
A: In synthetic instruments, functionality is determined largely by the software and firmware applied to the device, which essentially consists of a signal source and measuring receiver. Our SMART^E line of synthetic instruments works especially well in high-performance, production, and complex test scenarios, such as military ATE. Earlier this year, for example, the company introduced a new synthetic solution for satellite payload test. Aeroflex is working on several products that use the synthetic concept, including our new 7100 LTE test set.
Read the continuation of this interview.
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