Aeroflex has added the 3036 RF digitiser module to its PXI 3000 series. It has a frequency range of up to 13GHz and is compact in size. The company claims that it achieves cost savings in the order of 40% without compromising critical performance needs. The company says it provides the wide instantaneous bandwidth, fast frequency switching, high linearity and low noise required to test devices and RF components used in high performance wideband RF and microwave communications. The RF digitiser operates over 250kHz to 13GHz, with up to 90MHz wide digitised -1dB bandwidth and 13bit ADC resolution. It supports high speed frequency switching in less than 325µs. To convert RF signals into digital IF or I and Q sample data, the module can be used with a 3010 series synthesiser module. The combination of modules has a compact size of four slots (three for the 3036 and one for the 3010) to minimise footprint. The extended frequency range up to 13GHz enables the measurement of harmonic characteristics of fundamental signals below 6.5GHz. The RF digitiser module is supplied with PXI Studio software application, to provide vector signal analysis of complex modulated signals. The software performs spectrum and time domain analysis for manufacturing and design verification.
