News Briefs

Agilent Technologies has introduced a series of instruments aimed at tackling RF measurement chores for R&D and manufacturing applications. Targeting high-volume cell-phone manufacturing applications is the E6601A communications test set, which integrates GSM, GPRS/EGPRS, WCDMA, and HSDPA test capability. It features a built-in open Windows XP PC, so users can develop, download, and execute test programs without the need for an external PC. Product manager Dan Aubertin reports that the E6601A operates up to 30% faster than alternative cell-phone test setups. Base price is $27,100.

The new MXG signal generators are mid-range instruments targeting component test, according to product marketing manager Frank Palmer, but he added that they don't scrimp on specs like adjacent channel power, achieving adjacent channel leakage ratios of better than –65 dBc for a four-carrier 3GPP WCDMA signal and –71 dBc for a single-carrier signal. Analog versions operate from 250 kHz to 1 GHz, 3 GHz, and 6 GHz and cost from $6200 to $15,000; vector-signal versions operate from 250 kHz to 3 GHz ($16,000) or 6 GHz ($25,000).

Finally, the MXA signal-analysis platform works with Agilent’s 89601A vector signal-analysis software to make WiMAX and other standards-based measurements. Product manager Ivan Clinton expects the instrument to find equal use in the lab and factory. Optional software provides preconfigured test routines for WiMAX, WCDMA, HSDPA/HSUPA, and phase-noise applications. Four models provide 20 Hz to 3.6 GHz, 8.4 GHz, 13.6 GHz, and 26.5 GHz, with base prices from $25,900 to $42,900. www.agilent.com.

Although the much-heralded IEEE 802.11n WLAN standard is probably a good year away from formal ratification, end products based on draft 1.0 of the standard were released by a handful of vendors in 2006. Approximately 300,000 total draft n routers, clients, and access points shipped out from Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Buffalo, and Belkin, according to market research firm In-Stat.

“Buyers of these draft n products are early adopters willing to pay two to three times the price of standard 802.11g products,” commented In-Stat analyst Victoria Fodale. “In-Stat expects the transition to 802.11n will be bumpier than that from 802.11b to 802.11g; comparatively, during the first quarter that In-Stat started tracking shipments of 802.11g products, in 1Q03, shipments totaled 900,000 802.11g units. Additionally, 2Q is typically a slow quarter, and it will be interesting to see how vendors position draft n products within their traditional 3Q back-to-school and holiday promotions.”

On the 802.11n chipset side, draft n chipsets from Atheros, Broadcom, and Marvell are powering draft n end-products. In addition, Intel is set to release its Kedron 802.11n wireless module within its Santa Rosa mobile platform in early 2007, even though the standard will not be ratified by then. Consequently, there is much pressure on Task Group N within the IEEE 802.11 working group to come up with a more solid standard to put PC OEMs more at ease with the thought of embedding draft n solutions into mobile PCs.

In-Stat is owned by Test & Measurement World’s parent company. www.instat.com.

Spirent Communications reports that the China Academy of Telecommunication Research (CATR) of the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) has selected Spirent for large-scale testing of 10-Gbps core routers. Spirent testers will enable CATR to test the performance of core routers under high-capacity configurations and extreme network conditions. The CATR test environment consists of 16 ultra-high-capacity 10-Gbps packet-over-SONET (PoS) interfaces. www.spirentcom.com.

In August, the IEEE unveiled its Internet-based TV network. The initial release was accessible by members only, but by September, programming that promotes engineering careers and demonstrates new technologies was expected to be available to the public. Programs will be added monthly, and membership will still be required to view some content. www.ieee.org/ieeetv.

Because of a copyediting error, Brian Doody's title was incorrectly stated in the August Viewpoint column (p. 64). He is chief operating officer of Dalsa. We apologize for the error.—Eds.

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of its LabView software, National Instruments has released version 8.20 of the popular programming environment. The new version adds features such as math scripts, a driver export wizard, and technical data management.

The MathScript feature lets you write and run "m-file" scripts designed for programs such as Matlab and Comsol. You can call math scripts from LabView programs to manipulate data, or you can write scripts that call LabView code to add data-collecting instruments to your scripts. You can also add user panels to your scripts and enter parameters and initiate scripts interactively or programmatically. MathScript gives you access to more than 600 math functions.

The driver export wizard helps you convert instrument drivers written in LabView into Windows DLLs, so you can develop custom drivers for use with any Windows-based language. The new technical data management schema lets you save data in XML format, and you can also document test results by embedding descriptions within test data.

Base price: $1195. National Instruments, www.ni.com/labview.

The RSA6100A Series of spectrum analyzers combine real-time performance, capture bandwidth, and dynamic range to meet the needs of digital RF applications. They employ Tektronix DPX waveform-image-processor technology to produce a live RF spectrum presentation that reveals difficult-to-detect RF signals and signal anomalies. The first offerings in the new series—the 6.2-GHz RSA6106A and 14-GHz RSA6114A—provide 110-MHz real-time acquisition bandwidth with a 73-dB spurious-free dynamic range.

The DPX technology displays the live spectrum by processing more than 48,000 spectrum measurements per second, compared to 50 per second for other analyzers. DPX achieves this rate (assuring a 100% probability of intercept for signals as narrow as 24 µs) by using dedicated, real-time hardware to process the incoming signal.

In addition to live RF, the waveform image processor provides an intensity-graded display to show the history of the occurrence for dynamic signals and immediate feedback on signal variations over time. The Windows XP-based instruments provide a user interface that includes default settings for particular measurements, but the engineer can override the settings for added control. Each RSA6100A also provides a 10.4-in. XGA touch-screen display, a mouse, a keyboard, and conventional front-panel controls.

Base price: 6.2-GHz RSA6106A—$69,900; 14-GHz RSA6114A—$75,000. Tektronix, www.tektronix.com.

International Test Conference (ITC), October 24–26, Santa Clara, CA. Sponsored by IEEE. www.itctestweek.org.

Vision 2006, November 7–9, Stuttgart, Germany. Sponsored by Messe Stuttgart. www.vision-messe.de.

Electronica, November 14–17, Munich, Germany. Sponsored by Global-Electronics.net. www.global-electronics.net.

To learn about other conferences, courses, and calls for papers, visit www.tmworld.com/events.