ISSUE DATE: JANUARY 2009   OPTIONS
Test and Measurement

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January 2009 - In This Issue

[Cover Story]
Speedy VNA Spans 70 kHz To 70 GHz
Bandwidth is crucial to a vector network analyzer (VNA), which is often called upon to make critical measurements on a passive or active device in order to develop a software model that is then used to optimize the design. In terms of VNA bandwidth, it doesn’t get much better than the new VectorStar VNAs from Anritsu Co., which includes a model (MS4647A) with standard bandwidth of 10 MHz to 70 GHz (and optional extension to 70 kHz). The new family of premium,...  — Harry Momjian

[News]
VNAs Support Production And Laboratory Testing
It may be the single most important measurement tool in the RF/microwave industry. It is used for research and on production lines. It gathers critical data from active and passive devices and components that can in turn be transformed into software models in computer-aided-engineering (CAE) programs. This majestic instrument, of course, is the vector network analyzer (VNA). Among test equipment, it is unique to this industry, in many ways a descendent of...  — Jack Browne

[News]
RF Primer: Spectrum Analyzers Scan RF Performance
Spectrum analyzers are among the most versatile of RF/microwave test instruments, providing a window into the performance of highfrequency components and systems. Selecting a new spectrum analyzer for a test lab or production line is not simple, given the number of choices. Making the right choice is a matter of knowing what is available and matching performance and features to an application. In contrast to an oscilloscope, which displays...  — Jack Browne

[News]
An Interview With The Unknown Editor From Microwaves101.com
Whoever said that engineers are humorless never read the editorials on Microwaves101.com. In an industry where web sites often seem to be a company’s last priority, this site offers a regularly updated microwave encyclopedia of technical and historical information. It credits anonymous insiders for their “class participation” and rewards technical contributions with a pink pocketknife. Technical content on the site runs the gamut from basic microwave design theory, a...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Design Features]
Program Calibrates VNAs For Lumped-Element Testing
Effective calibration is paramount to accurate vector network analyzer (VNA) measurements. Since the introduction of the VNA around 1970, a number of different calibration routines have been created for VNAs, based on the types of circuit standards used, such as short-openload- reflect (SOLR) to augment the classic short-open-load-thru (SOLT) calibrations. Both of these types of calibrations have a high dependence on the load model and this report...  — Dr. Lawrence P. Dunleavy , et al.

[Design Features]
Classify Digital RF Signals In The Field
Signal identification is critical to many local and federal government groups for security, law enforcement, and intelligence applications. With the growing congestion of complex digitally modulated signals used in wireless systems, especially in urban environments, signal identification and analysis becomes even more challenging in the field, requiring the right mix of measurement equipment and expertise to properly separate and identify the many ...  — Tom Elliot

[Design Features]
Build Lowpass Filters With Elliptic DGS
Defected-ground-structure (DGS) circuit elements show great promise for reducing the size of circuit designs at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies. 1 For active circuits, such as amplifiers, and passive component designs, such as couplers, DGS elements provide circuits with excellent performance at high frequencies. In particular, miniature filter designs can benefit from the use of DGS circuit elements.1,2 To demonstrate the...  — Xiao Qun Chen , et al.

[Design Features]
Assemble A Ku-Band Frequency Synthesizer
Frequency synthesizers are an essential part of modern digital-microwave-radio (DMR) communications systems. With new ITU-R recommendations for DMR communications bands at 15, 18, 23, 38, and 55 GHz, frequency synthesizers are needed for use as local oscillators (LOs) for the frequency upconversion chores in transmitters and the frequency downconversion in receivers for a variety of different frequency architectures. The design of a Ku-band (14.4 to...  — H. Ameri , et al.

[Product Technology]
USB Commands Fast Power Meter/Sensors
Power measurements once required tracking down the right sensor for connection to a benchtop power meter. LadyBug Technologies LLC has simplified matters not only by integrating the sensor with the meter, but by adding a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface that allows a laptop or a personal computer (PC) to serve as the control center. The firm’s growing line of power meter/sensor instruments currently provides pulsed and CW power measurements...  — Jack Browne

[Product Technology]
Signal/Spectrum Analyzer Races Through Production Testing
Manufacturers of electronic equipment for wireless applications such as IEEE 802.11n, WiMAX, and Long Term Evolution (LTE) communications systems need test equipment with performance matched to these standards. The R&S FSV signal analyzer from Rohde & Schwarz fills the bill for wireless production testing, with manual speed of 500 sweeps/s and automated speed of 1000 sweeps/s. ...  — Richard Pieciak

[Editorial]
In Quest Of The Highest Accuracy
Vector network analyzers (VNAs) are instruments unique to the microwave industry. Other areas of electronics have protocol analyzers, or power meters, or spectrum analyzers, but only RF/microwave engineers have VNAs. In many ways, the microwave industry of the last few decades has been built upon these instruments, which provide measurement results accurate enough to model a device under test (DUT). The “ancient” among us can remember groundbreaking VNA...  — Jack Browne

[Feedback]
Feedback
Correction In the article, “Silicon Capacitors Eye Niche RF Microwave Applications,” (November Focus supplement, p. S1), the editors neglected to point out that AVX Corp. debuted silicon-based capacitors about 20 years ago. We thank the folks at AVX for setting the record straight on these capacitors. Unknown Legends While I rarely communicate concerning reader feedback, I...  — Various Readers

[The Front End]
Portable Breast-Cancer Screening Device For Use In Remote Clinics
AMHERST, MA—Anatoliy Boryssenko, an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is building a portable breastcancer screening-device alternative that uses low-power microwaves. This device could bring modern breast-cancer screening to third-world countries without the danger, expense, and access problems of X-ray-based machines. It also could be useful as a second opinion to...  — Dawn Hightower

[The Front End]
WiMAX Advocate Clearwire Eyes Long Term Evolution
AUSTIN, TX—The US mobile-broadband industry received a big shot in the arm with the announcement that Clearwire Corp. completed its transaction with Sprint Nextel Corp. to combine their next-generation wireless-Internet businesses. However, some of the statements made by Clearwire Corp. CEO Ben Wolff may indicate a shift in strategy for the next-generation network operator, which has built a WiMAX roadmap. In a conference call, Wolff stated, “We should assume...  — Dawn Hightower

[The Front End]
Wireless Technologies Merge On Future ICs
WELLINGBOROUGH, UK—The inclusion of multiple wireless technologies on a single integrated circuit (IC) is becoming increasingly common. Broadcom’s recently announced IEEE 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, and FM combination has ensured that this issue remains a hot topic. Clearly, the wireless industry is moving at an impressively quick pace. As a result, a lot has changed since IMS Research published its first combination IC report. The inclusion of...  — Dawn Hightower

[Financial News]
Sigma Designs Acquires Zensys Holdings
SIGMA DESIGNS, a fabless provider of highly integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Zensys Holdings Corp., a wireless startup company headquartered in Fremont, CA. Upon completion of the acquisition, Zensys’ headquarters will be physically merged into the headquarters of Sigma Designs in the neighboring city of Milpitas. Zensys also has a research and development center located in Copenhagen, Denmark,...  — Dawn Hightower

[Company News]
Company News
CONTRACTS Savi—Has been selected by the US Department of Defense (DoD) to compete for future task orders under the radiofrequency- identification (RFID) III procurement contracting vehicle. Three other prime contractors also were selected to bid for task orders during the initial three-year ordering period that is scheduled to begin early this year. RFID III is an indefinite-delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract ...  — Dawn Hightower

[People]
People
Hu Promoted to Conexant Chief Financial Officer JEAN HU has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President at Conexant. She joined Conexant in 1999 as Director of Strategy and Business Development. Hu was promoted to Vice President of Strategy and Business Development in 2001 with a range of responsibilities and activities that included strategic planning, financial...  — Dawn Hightower

[Educational Meetings]
Educational Meetings
MEETINGS 2009 IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium Jan. 18-22, 2009 (San Diego, CA) For more information, visit: www.rawcon.org 2009 IEEE Topical Symposium on Power Amplifiers for Wireless Communications Jan. 21, 2009 (Atlanta, GA) (MTT Radio & Wireless Week) Omni Hotel For more information, visit: ...  — Dawn Hightower

[R&D Roundup]
Antennas Prove Feasibility Of Future Space Arrays
FOR SPACE-TO-GROUND VOICE, data, and telemetry, both the Space Shuttle and future Crew Exploration Module rely on the constellation of geosynchronous satellites dubbed the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). At the heart of the TDRSS satellite architecture is a multiple-access, S-band phased-array antenna. Recently, prototype antenna elements have been produced for the next-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellite Continuation (TDRS-C) ...  — Nancy Friedrich

[R&D Roundup]
VLF Propagation In Earth-Ionosphere Waveguide Pinpoints Lightning
USING ONLY 30 LIGHTING SENSORS, worldwide lightning location (WWLL) has been successfully achieved via very-low-frequency (VLF) propagation in the Earth-ionosphere-waveguide (EIWG) atmospheric layer. To avoid ground propagation or mixed “sky” and ground propagation, the researchers demanded evidence of Earth-ionosphere waveguide dispersion. In addition, each lightning strike had to be within the perimeter defined by the lightning-sensor sites that were detecting...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Application Notes]
Filter Choices Help To Eliminate Interference
AS TIME TO MARKET for RF and microwave products has shortened, wireless service providers and consumers have unearthed many shortcomings in frequency management. Such shortcomings, which include noise, crosstalk, and signal dropouts, often have a solution in the simple filter. To provide tips on avoiding filter-related interference, Anatech Microwave has created a white paper titled, “Say What? My Cross-talk Problem is at the Component Level? A Filter, You Say?” ...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Application Notes]
Channel-Emulation Testing Aids 4G Product Design
AT THE HEART of fourth-generation (4G) wireless products and systems like Long Term Evolution (LTE) is multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. For engineers to accurately characterize the effects of multichannel RF interactions on the conformance, performance, and interoperability of MIMO-based systems in a laboratory environment, channel emulation is needed. In a nine-page white paper titled, “Improving 4G Wireless Broadband Product Design through ...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Editor's Choice]
16-b ADCs Flaunt 86-dB Dynamic Range To 10 MHz
A PERFORMANCE GAP HAS EXISTED between pipeline and SAR analog-to-digital-converter (ADC) architectures because no converters could satisfy emerging applications that simultaneously demand high dynamic range, wide bandwidth, and low power. Now, the 16-b AD9261 single-channel and AD9262 dual-channel continuous-time sigma-delta (CTSD) converter ADCs and AD9267 CTSD modulator couple low noise and 86-dB dynamic range with a bandwidth to 10 MHz. The AD9261 and AD9262 ...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Editor's Choice]
WiFi Solution Puts Full Matched PAs On One Die
FOR CONSUMER APPLICATIONS like wireless networking, integration and higher performance are key. A new RF frontend solution for WiFi applications, dubbed the SE2566U, provides a pair of matched 2.4-GHz power amplifiers (PAs) on a single die to facilitate multiple- input multiple-output (MIMO) applications. Each amplifier delivers +19 dBm output power at 3-percent error vector magnitude (EVM) in 54-Mb/s IEEE 802.11g wireless-localarea- network (WLAN) systems...  — Nancy Friedrich

[Editor's Choice]
Modulator Translates Baseband IQ Into RF Signals
TO SATISFY BOTH WIRELESS DATA and two-way radio systems, an RF quadrature modulator supports a wide range of modulation types through its in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) architecture. The CMX993 general-purpose, RF quadrature modulator covers 100 MHz to 1 GHz. It operates at +3.3 VDC and features a noise floor of –155 dBm/Hz and wideband noise of –148 dBc/Hz offset 5 MHz from the carrier. It offers 30 dB of gain control in 2.5-dB steps with 10-microsecond gain switching speed....  — Nancy Friedrich

[Editor's Choice]
Standalone LXI Digitizers Boast High Resolution
Untitled Document DESIGNED FOR WAVEFORM ANALYSIS, the L4532A two-channel digitizer and L4534A four-channel digitizer offer simultaneous sampling to 20 MSamples/s with 16-b resolution. These digitizers include...  — Nancy Friedrich