Lab classes become much more meaningful when students can operate their own test instruments rather than watch an instructor turn knobs and push buttons. Paul Cracknell, Liquid Instruments Consider the typical EE lab in the average university. Labs must be outfitted with costly equipment to give students exposure to the breadth of measurements that characterize […]
Featured Contributions
Debugging digital and analog signals with cross-domain analysis
Multi-domain signal analysis is blurring the line between real-time oscilloscopes and real-time spectrum and signal analyzers. Fernando Gomez, Tektronix Inc. Multi-domain signal analysis is enabled by advanced oscilloscope features such as 12-bit ADC, digital down conversion (DDC), and flexible channel inputs where each can be either analog or digital. As Signal Integrity (SI) and Power […]
Key considerations for RF power measurement equipment
The choice of power sensor and meter greatly depends on the qualities of the signal being measured. Bob Buxton, Boonton Electronics Today’s complex modulation schemes and pulsed communication modes have brought the need to measure RF power ever more accurately and efficiently. There are multiple technologies available for the measurement of RF power, falling into […]
Audio measurements for product development
It pays to know the fundamental parameters that quantify the performance of sound equipment. By Daniel Knighten, Audio Precision Quantitative, objective audio measurements have a role to play not just during design validation and as a manufacturing quality control tool, but during all stages of product development . They even come in handy during the […]
What you need to know about error analysis in PCIe 6.0 designs
The much-awaited next generation of PCIe makes it important to understand bit error-rate measurements. Hiroshi Goto, Anritsu Co. PCI Express (PCIe) 6.0 is being developed to meet the high-speed data transmission needs of emerging applications, particularly data centers supporting 5G. It features a doubling of data rates and other enhanced performance specs but at a […]
Measuring picoseconds without breaking the bank
Modern analog/digital converters can help implement equivalent time sampling to provide picosecond timing resolution. Dave Guidry, Texas Instruments Inc. A picosecond is an astonishingly short period of time. Imagine a stopwatch with a trillion divisions between each tick of the second hand. While it sounds fantastical, this resolution of time measurement is indeed necessary for […]
Test and measurement connections in the world of 5G
Connectors and cabling can be as important as the test instruments used to check out systems operating in the 5G realm. John Muzzio, Times Microwave Systems Andrew Dinsdale, SV Microwave Unlike previous cellular technology generations that were focused on a specific frequency band, 5G deals with a much larger potential frequency range. For example, 4G […]
Raspberry Pi for DAQ
Though they are more closely associated with the maker space, Raspberry Pi boards can be effective at handling stringent industrial measurements. Steve Radecky, Measurement Computing Corp. Originally designed to be a cheap, almost disposable computer, Raspberry Pi was created to get kids interested in programming. Since its introduction in 2012, Raspberry Pi has become the […]
A scope-based technique for optimizing EMI input filters
A simple oscilloscope setup can size common-mode and differential-mode noise filtering components separately and more accurately. Marcus Sonst, Rohde & Schwarz Any switched-mode power supply (SMPS) needs an EMI (electromagnetic interference) input filter to avoid disturbing power lines. Input filters generally contain both common-mode and differential-mode filter elements, and the two are rarely optimized separately. […]
Verifying 5G with OTA testing
The 5G realm puts a new emphasis on making measurements without hardwired connections. Adnan Khan | Anritsu Co. 5G systems are being rolled out globally, bringing with them throughput speeds of up to 10 Gbps, higher frequencies that extend into the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum, and devices operating in multiple radio access technologies (RATs). Engineers […]
