Instruments Simulate Batteries In New Designs

Aug. 22, 2003

At the recent Microwave Theory & Techniques Symposium (MTT-S) in Philadelphia, PA this past June, Keithley Instruments announced an innovative pair of instruments aimed at developers of battery-powered wireless circuitry. The firm's models 2306 and 2306-V dual-channel battery/charger simulators are essentially high-performance programmable power supplies that can simulate the dynamic conditions of a battery presented to such circuits as cellular handsets, power amplifiers for wireless local area networks (WLANs), and other battery-powered wireless devices and components. The design of the instruments earned a US Patent (No. 6,204,647) for their variable-output-resistance capability for simulating the changing response of a battery to a load. Output channels can be externally triggered to operate at predefined voltages, and built-in sequencing routines can execute as many as 20 different voltage and measurement sequences to help, for example, evaluate the turn-on performance of a GaAs cellular-handset power amplifier.

More information on these innovative battery simulators, including white papers and application notes, can be found on the company's website.

Keithley ==> http://lists.planetee.com/cgi-bin3/DM/y/eA0CWyaL0A0BB750A4

About the Author

Jack Browne

Technical Contributor

Jack Browne, Technical Contributor, has worked in technical publishing for over 30 years. He managed the content and production of three technical journals while at the American Institute of Physics, including Medical Physics and the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. He has been a Publisher and Editor for Penton Media, started the firm’s Wireless Symposium & Exhibition trade show in 1993, and currently serves as Technical Contributor for that company's Microwaves & RF magazine. Browne, who holds a BS in Mathematics from City College of New York and BA degrees in English and Philosophy from Fordham University, is a member of the IEEE.