News Briefs

During the 3GSM World Congress held February 12–15 in Barcelona, Spain, Aeroflex outlined its initial strategy for developing test products to support 3GPP's 3G LTE, which will involve the switch from W-CDMA to OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) modulation technology. Aeroflex reported that it is designing the Aeroflex TM500 LTE and 6401 LTE to support the physical-layer testing of networks and mobile devices, respectively. A new graphical user interface will allow engineers to configure the LTE products without needing to write software to execute tests.

The TM500 and 6401 will also incorporate tools that will permit the generation of scripts needed to select the different configurations and tests. Scripts can be initiated by a test controller to synchronize control of the prototype under test and the test equipment. Users can alter parameters in real time to enable test coverage to be extended across a range of configurations used in a live system both in relation to test of the 3G LTE network and test of early 3G LTE prototype mobile devices. Aeroflex will develop test features especially for MIMO functionality to ensure that both the network and mobile devices are able to get the signaling right.

Because 3G LTE will coexist with UMTS systems based on W-CDMA and will integrate with GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks, Aeroflex reports that seamless handovers will be critical to the rollout of the first 3G LTE networks and the deployment of LTE mobile devices. The company said that the TM500 and 6401 will allow testing of these handovers—both at an early physical-layer-only test stage and then at the system test stage. www.aeroflex.com.

The Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (IEST) reports that it will unveil a new certificate program for advanced environmental testing during ESTECH 2007, its annual technical meeting. This year, ESTECH is scheduled for April 29 to May 2 in Bloomingdale, IL.

The certificate program will comprise four tutorials, each of which may also be taken as a stand-alone class: weather-encounter testing, pyroshock testing, multi-actuator testing and control, and shock analysis using the pseudo velocity shock spectrum. There will also be a separate tutorial on design characterization.

The pyroshock testing tutorial will cover the concepts of near-field and far-field pyroshock and their criteria. The multi-actuator testing and control tutorial will address spectral-density matrices, phase/coherence relationships, fixture design, and singularities in test equipment.

The tutorial on shock analysis will cover the shock spectra and the pseudo-velocity shock spectrum plotted on four coordinate paper (PVSS-4CP). The weather-encounter testing tutorial will discuss test facilities used for system verification, state-of-the-art high-speed diagnostics, and improved modeling and simulation approaches to predict hydrometeor demise across shocks and material impact response. www.iest.org/estech/estech.htm.

Burnaby, BC-based power-supply maker Xantrex Technology has announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Elgar Electronics of San Diego for $108 million (US). Elgar’s product line includes AC-to-DC bench and system power supplies and AC-to-AC system power supplies, the latter coming from its acquisition of Sorensen in 1994. The company also manufactures electronic loads. www.xantrex.com.

National Technical Systems has obtained a 90-kVA variable-frequency programmable power supply for its test laboratory in Fullerton, CA, to support RTCA/DO-160D/E, MIL-STD-704D/E, and ABD0100.1.8 (Airbus) test requirements. The ability to supply 400-Hz and 800-Hz power allows for increased testing frequency on aircraft components for Airbus and Boeing. Dwight Moore, COO of NTS, said that the company’s Fullerton lab is one of the few US locations able to conduct this type of testing. www.ntscorp.com.

Tektronix has reclaimed the real-time oscilloscope bandwidth lead with the DSA72004. This scope stretches its 16-GHz analog bandwidth to 20 GHz when you enable its DSP bandwidth enhancement. You can control the bandwidth between 16 GHz and 20 GHz, and the instrument can achieve full bandwidth simultaneously on all four channels.

A 20-GHz bandwidth lets you see the fifth harmonic of serial data streams at 12 Gbps and the third harmonic of signals at 8 Gbps. The ability to capture the fifth harmonic reduces the “dip” between the rising and falling edges, giving you more margin when making eye-mask tests.

The DSA7000 line also contains 16-GHz and 12.5-GHz models. All models have a maximum sample rate of 50 Gsamples/s, come with 200 Msamples of acquisition memory, capture up to 300,000 waveforms/s, and include software for analyzing serial data streams.

High-bandwidth scopes need high-bandwidth probes, and Tek has introduced the 16-GHz P7516 and the 13-GHz P7513 that let you switch among differential, single-ended, and common-mode measurements without changing probe setups.

Base prices: DSA72004—$158,000; DSA71604—$125,000; DSA712504—$99,500. P7516 probe—$14,500; P7513 probe—$11,000. Tektronix, www.tektronix.com.

Intepro Systems’ SEMTest configurable stress-screening system can perform accelerated lifetime testing of power semiconductors and modules incorporating IGBT, MOSFET, SCR, diode, and bipolar parts. The system can serve both manufacturers and users of power semiconductors who want to qualify commercial off-the shelf-devices for use in high-reliability applications found in automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial, and medical systems.

The core of SEMTest is a flexible architecture that can be modified to meet each customer’s test requirements. Standard systems can be configured with from 20 to 1000 test cells; larger systems are available on special order. Each cell features its own local controller to set and monitor either applied or UUT power and other test parameters. Each cell also has a measurement unit for temperature, current, voltage, and timing, making it possible for complete characterization and production tests to accelerate failure mechanisms of individual devices and determine functional operating limits.

Capabilities include power cycling for thermal and electrical stressing, trend monitoring with user-defined control limits, rapid device temperature cycling and ambient temperature profiling, measurement of junction temperatures, and detection of nascent failures. Setups and measurements for each test cell are displayed on the screen and output into a SQL database for analysis.

Base price: $100,000. Intepro Systems, www.inteproate.com.

International Reliability Physics Symposium, April 15–19, Phoenix, AZ. Sponsored by the IEEE. www.irps.org.

SAE World Congress, April 16–19, Detroit, MI. Sponsored by Society of Automotive Engineers. www.sae.org/congress.

International Microwave Symposium, June 3–8, Honolulu, HI. Sponsored by the IEEE. www.ims2007.org/.

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