News Briefs

Tektronix has released a software package for its AWG5000 and AWG7000 families of arbitrary waveform generators (AWGs) that helps users create and edit digital RF/IF/IQ waveforms. The RFXpress software also provides UWB-WiMedia plug-ins and a library of waveforms for testing new designs.

RFXpress supports modulation schemes such as QPSK, QAM, and GMSK as well as custom-built modulation schemes, and it allows users to add impairments, interference, and distortions to signals captured on a spectrum analyzer or oscilloscope before replaying them on an AWG5000 or AWG7000. The WiMedia custom mode plug-in enables engineers to configure every part of the WiMedia frame/packet for characterization, limit, and stress test of the receiver's PHY layer. With RFXpress and the AWG7000, customers can generate bandhopping signals for UWB-WiMedia Bandgroups 1 and 2 without the need for multiple instruments.

“RFXpress is ideal for design and test engineers who need to perform validation and characterization of prototype digital RF wireless communication designs,” said Mike Higashi, VP of the company’s signal source product line. “Instead of needing to create mathematical formulas, the intuitive UI provided by the general-purpose RFXpress application enables efficient use by providing predefined, fill-in-the-blank templates for frequencies, modulation schemes, etc.” Prices: RFXpress—$5000; UWB WiMedia compliance plug-in—$2200; UWB WiMedia custom plug-in (including compliance plug-in)—$7200. www.tektronix.com.

Kicking off the second phase of an effort to ensure that the US measurement infrastructure can sustain US innovation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently created the US Measurement System (USMS) Office.

The first phase of the USMS effort culminated in February with the publication of a report about the state of the nation’s measurement system and its impact on innovation. To produce the report (available on the NIST Web site), NIST surveyed measurement needs across 11 industrial sectors and technology areas and identified more than 700 measurement-related barriers to innovation.

During the second phase, being led by the new USMS Office, NIST will continually collect information about the measurement needs of US industry, government, and the scientific community and will periodically assess the health of the US Measurement System. If there are areas that need improvement, the USMS Office will alert measurement providers as a way to facilitate the necessary changes.

NIST director William Jeffrey has named Clare Allocca as the chief of the USMS Office. Prior to this appointment, Allocca served as scientific advisor to the director of NIST’s Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory and also held several other positions at the agency. Before joining NIST, she was a senior materials engineer for Pratt & Whitney. www.nist.gov/usms.

During Semicon West 2007 (July 16-20, San Francisco, CA), startup firm Scanimetrics launched its first product for the semiconductor test market: a wireless noncontact “virtual probe.” The Wi-TAP (Wireless Test Access Port) technology helps manufacturers of system-in-package (SIP) chips identify defective devices before they are assembled into multichip packages.

To use the Wi-TAP technology, manufacturers must add special antenna and RF transceiver circuits to their chips, but Scanimetrics claims that these have no impact on performance or real estate. The Wi-TAP probe consists of a CMOS device with its own micro antennas and RF transceiver circuits; the probe interfaces to standard automated test equipment (ATE).

Wi-TAP relies on short-range, nearfield communications to transfer data at gigabit-per-second rates between the probe card and the device under test (DUT) on a wafer. Each antenna and transceiver circuit is capable of probing one I/O site on the DUT.

Chip makers can perform testing at the beginning of SIP assembly and again after the addition of each new chip. If Wi-TAP uncovers a bad die or an assembly defect, the package can be reworked before assembly is completed, saving the manufacturer money in both chip costs and manufacturing time. www.scanimetrics.com.

Our June 2007 article on spectrum analyzers incorrectly reported the capture bandwidth of the Tektronix RTSA on p. 48. The correct figure is 110 MHz.

JDSU, which acquired Acterna in 2005, reported test-and-measurement revenues of $494.5 million for 2006. The company should have been included in 10th place in the “Tops in Test” article in our July 2007 issue (p. 22).

LeCroy’s WaveExpert 100H four-channel sampling oscilloscope may offer a 100-GHz bandwidth, but it’s the measurement functions on this instrument that stand out. With the 100H, you can characterize transmission channels and even simulate signal integrity in impossible-to-reach places.

The instrument includes a time-domain reflectometer (TDR) that lets you measure two-port differential S-parameters (up to 20 GHz) on a channel. You can use those parameters in conjunction with oscilloscope measurements to predict the characteristics of a waveform in places such as inside an IC.

The Eye Doctor software feature acts as a virtual probe that simulates a signal wherever you need it. You can use it to simulate the effects of cables, backplanes, and fixtures. Eye Doctor uses graphical connections to steer measurements to S-parameters, process them, and produce simulated waveforms. Eye Doctor also simulates the effects that equalization can have on digital signals.

The WaveExpert 100H also has all the measurement capabilities you’d expect in a high-end oscilloscope, including jitter analysis, rise time, and fall time.

Prices: mainframe with S-parameter software—$22,150; options—$7000 to $52,500. LeCroy, www.lecroy.com.

The Agilent Technologies U2000 Series of USB 2.0-based power sensors can be used with a variety of the company’s signal sources, spectrum analyzers, and network analyzers, extending each instrument’s capabilities for performing average-power measurements. Because the sensors are USB powered and provide built-in triggering, they don’t require external power adapters and triggering modules for synchronization with external instruments or events.

The U2000 Series currently includes four models that deliver up to 250 readings/s. They operate over the 9-kHz to 24-GHz frequency range and the –60-dBm to +20-dBm power range. The sensors offer an internal zeroing capability, which means calibration can be performed without disconnecting a sensor from the DUT.

The sensor displays power-measurement results on a PC or an Agilent instrument running the company’s N1918A Power Analysis Manager software. On top of the normal waveform-monitoring option, the software also eases monitoring and troubleshooting with functions such as limit and alert settings, record and playback, multiple-list view, overlay, and channel mathematics.

Base price: $2300. Agilent Technologies, www.agilent.com.