News - Board and System Test

Reference Solution for Testing RF Power Amplifiers

23 June 2014 – Agilent announced the availability of a Reference Solutions for testing of RF power amplifiers (PA) with envelope tracking capability. It includes a graphical user interface program for easy solution evaluation, example source code optimized for speed, extremely fast modulation analysis, and excellent accuracy and measurement repeatability.

“Power amplifier manufacturers seldom have exactly the same test requirements, but they all want to quickly and easily bring their devices to production when developing a new test system,” said Mario Narduzzi, marketing manager, Modular Solutions Division, Agilent. “This Reference Solution for RF PA manufacturing test meets these needs by providing the essential components of a power amplifier test system with the right combination of hardware, software and measurement expertise, enabling fast integration into a test environment and dramatically reducing test system development time.”

The RF PA Reference Solution is built around the Agilent M9391A PXIe VSA and the M9381A PXIe VSG. It uses Agilent measurement software that provides consistency with Agilent benchtop signal generation and analysis instruments. The solution delivers high test throughput, reduces cost, and allows for rapid integration into a PA test environment. It supports the testing of devices that use envelope tracking for improved power efficiency by including the Agilent E33522B waveform generator, which is synchronized to the M9381A VSG.

The M9391A VSA and the M9381A VSG use hardware-accelerated measurements, combined with Agilent’s innovative fast baseband tuning technology, to provide unprecedented servo-loop test times through rapid frequency and amplitude adjustments, enabling test times of less than 300 ms for complete test programs. Leveraging the same user interface and best-in-class measurement IP of the X-Series measurement applications ensures extremely high confidence in measurement results through the entire design and production life cycle. It also allows reuse of existing test code and reduces test development time, facilitating easy migration between test hardware. The Reference Solution includes control of the Agilent N6700B low-profile modular power system mainframe and the Agilent U2004A power sensor, used for loss calibration.

The M9391A VSA and the M9381A VSG, with up to 6 GHz frequency coverage and 160 MHz bandwidth, are license-key-upgradeable to adapt to new and changing requirements, and benefit from Agilent’s standard three-year warranty and outstanding worldwide support.

Agilent is palnning to develop other Reference Solutions which include utilities such as example program source code — highly optimized for specific applications — which show users how to get the most out of their test system. Reference Solutions will not only enable quick evaluation of a test solution for specific applications but also dramatically reduce the time it takes to integrate a new test system into a test environment.

www.agilent.com/

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