Tektronix (www.tek.com) announced a new oscilloscope software application for validating all types of ultrawideband (UWB) devices. The TDSUWB software utility extends the debug and analysis capabilities of the Tektronix TDS6000C Series real time oscilloscopes to include real-time analysis of UWB signals. The software utility is available for a limited time at no cost. UWB is a wireless radio technology that uses pulses or waveforms compressed in time, allowing frequency energy to be spread over a very wide bandwidth to very low levels enabling UWB radios to share spectrum with existing narrowband transmissions without causing undue interference. Due to the infancy of the marketplace, performance and interoperability debugging and regulatory compliance measurements for UWB transmissions are often difficult, expensive, and time-consuming.  TDSUWB assists the design and debug of UWB signals in real-time for defense electronics, industrial, consumer, and computer applications.  Extensions for the WiMedia Alliances’ UWB Common Radio Platform offer single-button tests such as automatic bandgroup detection (patent pending) and Power Spectral Density (PSD) mask tests.

The extreme bandwidth of UWB systems, which operate across the FCC-mandated 3.1 to 10.7 GHz band, requires advanced measurement solutions, such as a real-time spectrum analyzer with wide measurement bandwidth or high-speed digital oscilloscope. By bringing spectrum analysis through software to the TDS6000C — instruments with sufficient bandwidth to evaluate and debug UWB communication and radar in real time — TDSUWB provides UWB design engineers with essential debug and compliance testing capabilities. The software is available as TDSUWB and TDSUWB+WiMedia.  TDSUWB adds wideband spectral analysis capabilities to the TDS 6000C oscilloscopes for evaluating and debugging UWB communications and radar in real time.  Analyzing changes in frequency with time is also applicable to a wide variety of electrical and optical signals.  The TDSUWB+WiMedia software provides additional capabilities focusing on testing WiMedia radio bandgroups.  TDSUWB+WiMedia software automatically identifies Time Frequency Code (TFC)  — frequency of operation and hopping sequence — selects the correct PSD mask for that TFC, performs the PSD mask test, and measures channel power.