Product category: Stand-Alone Instruments
News Release from: Tektronix | Subject: RSA3300B and RSA3408B
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 05 February 2008
Analysers provide live RF view of the
spectrum
Unprecedented RF signal discovery capability for a broad range of digital RF applications including RFID, radiocommunications and spectrum management.
Tektronix has added DPX waveform image processor technology to its mid-range RSA3000B Series real-time spectrum analysers This provides a unique live RF view of the spectrum using the RSA3300B and RSA3408B family models, enabling an unprecedented RF signal discovery capability for a broad range of digital RF applications including RFID, radiocommunications and spectrum management
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 17 Jan 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Protocol analyser speeds Bluetooth development
Tektronix has developed a protocol analyser for Bluetooth wireless technology development applications.
Tester gets the measure of wireless basestations
Tektronix has developed a new compact, modular instrument designed to simplify routine field installation and maintenance measurement tasks in wireless networks.
DPX transforms volumes of real-time data and produces a live RF spectrum display that reveals previously unseen RF signals and signal anomalies.
The rapid expansion of digital RF applications has driven the measurement needs of many applications including mobile communications and spectrum management beyond the capabilities of swept spectrum and vector signal analysis.
Digital RF signals carry complex modulation and change from one instant to the next, hopping frequencies, spiking briefly and then disappearing.
Further reading
Tektronix ships world's fastest real-time scopes
Gennum, a major supplier of components, integrated circuits and subsystems to the video markets, has selected Tektronix digital phosphor oscilloscopes (DPOs) for use in its new development labs.
Tektronix gets the picture - and analyses it
Tektronix has announced the next-generation picture quality analysis system for broadcasters and video providers who need to ensure picture quality by analysing out-of-service video content.
Analyser addresses 2.5G design verification
Tektronix has announced an important new option for testing mobile handsets for General Packet Radio System (GPRS) compliance.
These transient and time varying transmission techniques help RF devices avoid interference, maximise peak power and, often, evade detection.
"Tektronix real-time spectrum analysers are the first and only analysers designed specifically to solve problems created by digital RF technologies", says Rick King, Vice President, Real-Time Spectrum analyser product line, Tektronix.
"The addition of DPX technology with live RF from the high performance RSA6100A Series combined with a broad range of application-specific measurements makes the mid-range RSA3300B Series and RSA3408B the best choice not only for the toughest RF discovery and debug problems, but also as an everyday spectrum analysis and system characterisation tool".
With a spectrum processing rate hundreds of times greater than any spectrum analyser from other vendors, the RSA3300B series and RSA3408B provide 100% probability of intercept for transients as brief as 31us on the RSA3408B and 41us on the RSA3300B Series models.
Combined with the exclusive ability to trigger on transient signals in both time and frequency domains, the RSA3300B Series and RSA3408B offer unmatched troubleshooting and debug of digital RF designs.
The RSA3300B series is available with frequency coverage from DC to 3 or 8GHz.
With 15MHz capture bandwidth and 70dB spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR), the RSA3300Bs are ideal for use in the design and debug of 3G mobile systems, near-field systems (such as RFID and Bluetooth), and narrow- to medium-bandwidth communications systems.
The RSA3408B with DC to 8GHz frequency coverage, 36MHz capture bandwidth and 73dB SFDR is tailored for higher bandwidth and dynamic range applications including 3G mobile components and system debug, WLAN and WiMAX system design, demanding spectrum management applications and general purpose digital RF debug.
"Many digital RF applications need to detect and analyse RF signals that quickly change frequencies or use complex characteristics", says David Saar, President, Saar Associates.
"Most spectrum analysers cannot adequately perform the needed measurements for these applications".
"Tektronix has addressed these problems by adding robust capabilities for the time domain through its RSA family of real-time spectrum analysers, often saving hours or days troubleshooting problems".
"The unique real-time presentation of live RF signals means that a user will always find a problem signal".
"This combination of capabilities makes the new RSA3408B and RSA3300B models very attractive for a wide variety of applications".
DPX waveform image processor technology in the RSA3300B Series and RSA3408B models displays the live spectrum by processing better than 48,000 spectrum measurements per second, similar to the previously announced top-of-the-line RSA6114A model.
This is orders of magnitude more information than is shown by any other spectrum analyser without DPX, minimising the analysis gaps inherent in swept spectrum and vector signal analysers.
To achieve this speed, DPX makes use of dedicated real-time hardware to process the incoming signal.
In addition to live RF, the waveform image processor also provides an intensity-graded persistence display that holds anomalies until the eye can see them to show the history of occurrence for dynamic signals and immediate feedback on signal variations over time.
This provides engineers the ability to rapidly see on screen both transients and signals that ordinarily could not be seen, either because they are masked by other signals or could only be deduced after time consuming offline analysis.
DPX waveform imaging will enhance productivity by quickly capturing elusive anomalies and transient events, improving accuracy and insight, and accelerating design debug.
"RF signals are complicated and often change substantially over time", says Takehiro Kawai, Assistant Manager, RFID Business Development Department, Business Development group, Omron Corporation.
"If we can quickly discover interference, then we can promptly analyse and solve problems".
"The DPX live RF display of the RSA3000B series makes this easy, providing an ability to see and intuitively understand RFID signal behaviour".
"Also, RSA3000B's analysis capabilities are also valuable for in-depth analysis of differences with IC tag chips that many companies provide".
The RSA3000B model with 15MHz bandwidth and the RSA3408B with 36MHz bandwidth are the only mid-range performance spectrum analysers that can offer a frequency domain trigger.
This is performed using the frequency mask trigger (FMT) feature, finding interfering and transient signals that no other instrument can.
FMT ensures that potential systems instabilities are eliminated from the design before they can cause a problem.
By displaying a seamless record of frequency and power changes over time, the Tektronix analysers can solve many transient problems ranging from modulation switching on software-defined radio systems to identification of rogue pulses in radar transmission to dynamic modulation changes during a WLAN transmission.
The explosion of digital RF has created a highly complex technology environment, requiring a need for next generation test and measurement instruments.
Tektronix offers a digital RF test bench from signal generation to acquisition.
Real-time spectrum analysers seamlessly capture RF signals changing over time and perform spectral, time, and modulation analysis with time-correlated multidomain views.
Arbitrary waveform generators generate ideal, distorted or "real-world" signals.
Logic analysers enable the capture and analysis of the digital I/Q information to more quickly debug elusive problems within the digital baseband segment of a digital RF design.
Digital oscilloscopes allow measurements of strict timing relationships including signal integrity analysis.
With these instruments and supporting software, Tektronix provides what customers need to test demanding digital RF applications.
Prices for the RSA3303B with DPX begin at Eur 27,800.
RSA3300B and RSA3408B software options are available for 3G, WiMAX, WLAN, RFID, signal source and general purpose modulation and RF analysis. Request a free brochure from Tektronix ...
• Tektronix: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page
