New PXI Express Instruments Deliver Fast Measurements up to 6.6 GHz
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Figure 1. New 6.6 GHz PXI Express instruments offer a high-speed, flexible solution for automated RF test.
The new NI PXIe-5663 vector signal analyzer and NI PXIe-5673 vector signal generator offer a high-speed, flexible solution for automated RF measurements. The NI PXIe-5663 can analyze signals from 10 MHz to 6.6 GHz with up to 50 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth. The NI PXIe-5673 can generate signals from 85 MHz to 6.6 GHz with up to 100 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth. While you can use both modular instruments in a variety of applications, they deliver maximum measurement speed and software-defined flexibility in automated test applications.
Using a loopback between an RF vector signal generator and analyzer, you can observe both measurement speed and measurement accuracy. To provide a frame of reference for the NI PXIe-5663 RF vector signal analyzer, Table 1 compares its measurement times with various controllers versus a leading traditional instrument.
For a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) device, you can compare the processing time and accuracy of measurements such as adjacent channel power (ACP), occupied bandwidth (OBW), complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF), and error vector magnitude (EVM). Generating a WCDMA uplink stimulus at a center frequency of 1 GHz and an RF output power of -10 dBm, you can use several different RF vector signal analyzers to report the measurement results shown in the table.
As you can see in Table 1, the NI PXIe-5663 RF vector signal analyzer with the NI PXIe-8106 dual-core controller performs a suite of measurements more than eight times faster than leading traditional instruments. In addition, the NI 8353 1U rack-mount quad-core controller performs these measurements more than 10 times faster – with both options providing comparable accuracy. With the new PXI RF measurement platform based on NI LabVIEW 8.6 software, you can address the increasing need to lower the cost of test by decreasing test time.
Table 1. This table compares measurement and accuracy for multiple PXI RF systems versus traditional RF instrumentation.
View a demonstration of the 6.6 GHz RF instruments.
This article first appeared in the Q3 2008 issue of Instrumentation Newsletter.
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