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Test & Measurement World: From microwave microscopy to 110-GHz analysis at IMS

At the symposium, some of the highlights included Keithley Instruments displaying its Model 2820A RF vector signal analyzer and introducing its Model 2891-IQ upconverter. Agilent Technologies exhibited nonlinear measurements and scanning microwave microscopy. AWR introduced its AWR Connected for Rohde & Schwarz software.

Rohde & Schwarz demonstrated the use of coherent sources to make balanced device measurements, a nonstandard OFDM (orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing) modulation capability, and a group-delay measurement technique that doesn’t require local-oscillator access. It also, in conjunction with Noisecom, demonstrated noise-figure measurements at 60 GHz (see below). Boonton, Noisecom’s Wireless Telecom Group sibling, introduced the 59318 peak power sensor, which is optimized for its 4540 and 4500B peak power meters.

Giga-tronics showed its 2500B series microwave signal generators, which cover the 100-kHz to 50-GHz frequency range and deliver a fast switching speed, typically less than 500 µsec for a 1-GHz step. National Instruments exhibited its NI Measurement Suite for Fixed WiMAX (IEEE 802.16-2004). Anritsu expanded its VectorStar VNA’s coverage to 110 GHz, introduced four-port test sets and 18-GHz USB power sensors, and highlighted handheld VNAs that operate to 20 GHz.

Tektronix featured a range of products addressing radio communications, spectrum management, radar, electronic warfare, amplifier characterization, and ultrawideband applications. It partnered with Mesuro to highlight nonlinear measurements. Aeroflex expanded its PXI test platform with the 3021C and 3026C RF signal generators, which offer +17-dBm outputs. Crystek highlighted its RFPRO (RF Pocket Reference Oscillator) series, which integrates a SAW (surface-acoustic-wave) oscillator in an SMA housing to deliver 500-MHz and 1-GHz outputs. Centellax previewed a 10-MHz to 50-GHz power amplifier.

60-GHZ NOISE-FIGURE MEASUREMENT

Rohde & Schwarz and Noisecom jointly set up a test solution for making Y-factor noise-figure measurements in the 60-GHz frequency range. Noisecom, a division of Wireless Telecom Group, contributed to the demo its new noise-figure test set for the 60-GHz wireless communication band. Rohde & Schwarz contributed its R&S FSU67 spectrum analyzer, which provides continuous coverage from 20 Hz to 67 GHz, thereby eliminating the need for additional hardware such as harmonic mixers to cover the measurement frequency range. Rohde & Schwarz also provided its R&S FS-K30 noise-figure option.

According to Bob Muro, product manager and senior applications engineer at Wireless Telecom Group, 60-GHz wireless communications technology is gaining traction because the 60-GHz frequency band is suitable for applications that require high data rates over a short distance, such as HD video transmission within the home. Other potential applications include satelliteto- satellite links.

During the IMS demo, firmware in the R&S FSU67 controlled the Noisecom test set, and R&S FS-K30 noise-figure software enabled pushbutton collection of measurement results. The DUT used in the demo was a SiGe BiCMOS 60-GHz superheterodyne receiver IC that operates from 57 to 64 GHz and has an onboard image-reject filter, a 9-GHz IF filter, a frequency synthesizer, a lownoise preamplifier, and programmable IF gain blocks. It has a generic I/Q interface that accommodates all likely modulation types, as well as internal AM and FM demodulators.

Noisecom’s 60-GHz noise figure test sets come in two versions: the NC5115-60G has a waveguide flange, while the NC5115-60GT has a coaxial transition. The sets consists of precision noise sources that cover the 60-GHz band, isolators for optimal VSWR match, and very low-noise amplifiers with 30 dB gain to increase the DUT output if it is too low for direct measurement.

FOCUS ON MEASUREMENT

Away from the show floor, Darlene J S Solomon, CTO and vice president of Agilent Labs, gave a symposium presentation entitled “A singular focus on measurement”. “Science is inextricably linked to new measurement tools,” Solomon asserted, with measurement advances driving advances in fundamental knowledge, which in turn drive technology improvements, thereby enabling additional measurement advances in a virtuous circle. “Measurement is integral to our technology-surrounded lives,” she said.

Solomon cited three specific areas of focus at Agilent:
• Nonlinear RF/microwave measurements using X-parameters. Efficiency requirements are driving designers to operate active components in nonlinear regions, she said, making S-parameter measurements, which have been the fundamental microwave-measurement approach over the past 40 years, insufficient for adequately characterizing devices. She called X-parameters (a superset of S-parameters) the breakthrough solution for measuring large and small signals.

• LXI synchronization. “Increasingly, complex measurement and control problems require coordinated, integrated data acquisition and signal generation, she said, which can be accomplished using the time-synchronization features embodied in the LXI standard. She cited applications ranging from flight-test instrumentation (where LXI can cut the need for lengthy analog cable runs) to cellular backhaul measurements (which can help providers replace T1 and E1 lines with Ethernet) as ones that can benefit from LXI.

• New paradigms in data visualization and analysis. “Until recently,” she said, “test and measurement systems have focused on getting best data.” But now, she added, customers must “be able to effectively use complex data sets to make decisions as quickly as possible.” Test and measurement is a rather conservative discipline, she said, which means that, for example, today’s oscilloscope screens look much like those of many years ago, despite the addition of color and features such as eye diagrams and histograms. She pointed to gaming processors and multicore processors as enablers for better data analysis and display capabilities, and she demonstrated what she called a Signal Lens, which, in the demo she presented, aided the analysis four hours of ECG data representing 1 million data points.

Solomon concluded by discussing new measurement modalities in which electrical, physical, chemical, and biological measurements, once the domain of their respective and exclusive sets of instrumentation, are converging, especially at the nanoscale.