Evaluation Engineering - 19

multichannel measurement capabilities,
fast measurement speed, and a small footprint.2 They also offer scalability and flexibility to configure solutions with a shared
processor, chassis, and other modular instruments. Keysight offers both benchtop
and PXI signal generators for addressing
different product development stages and
applications but uses the same software
applications, which provides measurement
consistency and compatibility throughout
the product development cycle. Specifically,
Keysight has introduced VXG microwave
signal generators in two different formfactors but with same performance and capabilities-the M9384B benchtop model and
the M9383B with PXI instrumentation.
James McGregor, global head of test,
tools, and production supplies at
Newark: First, handheld instruments
with display-While portability is the
clear advantage, handheld instruments
with displays generally suffer from lower
performance due to constraints on size
and weight as lots of functionality is being squeezed into a single instrument.
Second, USB instruments provide great
portability but again, performance is
restricted, and a PC is required to work
with the equipment, reducing flexibility.
Third, PXI modules are great for massproduction testing, and users are able
to customize with other modules in a
single test solution; nevertheless, they do
require a PXI rack to work with other PXI
modules. Fourth, traditional benchtop
instruments can provide all levels of performance depending on your needs but
can be bulky and space can be limited on
your bench if you choose all equipment
in single desktop formats.
Chris Armstrong, director of product
marketing and SW applications, RIGOL
Technologies: While each configuration
has its place, RIGOL focuses on benchtop
instruments that are easy to control via
USB or Ethernet. This provides the flexibility of stand-alone operation and direct
computer control in a platform that does
not incur overhead costs for the engineer.
Steve Fairbanks, senior director, marketing, products, and instrumentation at

Keysight Technologies VXG
microwave signal generators
in PXI (top) and benchtop
(bottom) configurations.

Astronics Test Systems: The worth of each
configuration is ultimately determined
by the deployment environment or use
case. Having the flexibility, as a supplier,
to provide similar capabilities in a wide
variety of form factors gives us a better
chance to address our customers' challenges, specifically for their application.
Mark Elo, U.S. sales manager for Tabor
Electronics: [An optimal] form factor allows an instrument to perform the best
job it can in the environment it is deployed in, whether it's R&D, production,
maintenance, or somewhere else. Our
philosophy is to have a signal-generator
platform that we can deploy in multiple
form factors-this provides consistency
across our customers' product lifecycles.

Multifunction
The trend toward multifunctionality has
resulted in modern instruments that incorporate a signal generator, oscilloscope,
DMM, and more all in one solution. What
are the main benefits of such a multifunction instrument?
Sandler, Picotest: As previously mentioned,
there is definitely a one-box desire. I'm
not certain, but I think it comes down to
usability. A single GUI interface to learn
would seem to be the heart of the desire,
with next maybe being bench crowding.
The response to expensive solutions is
good, so I don't believe it is about money.
What you lose is the performance in some
cases.

Malatest, Per Vices: These
multifunctional systems
offer greater flexibility
without the tradeoff of
performance, which was
evident in the past. The
new systems can utilize
the flexibility and performance of SDRs, which offer all of the performance
benefits of traditional
systems with the bonus
of flexibility, smaller physical footprint,
and lower cost.
Rovini, SPECTRUM Instrumentation:
While multifunction devices may be a
cost benefit with a trade-off in signal
quality and functionality, SPECTRUM's
approach here is the modular concept
that allows the combination of multiple
cards of different functions internally
with a synchronization concept called
Star-Hub.
Ache, Rohde & Schwarz: Actually, this
trend is not new. Radio-communication
testers are well-established products that
incorporate signal-generator and signalanalyzer functionality in one. Especially
in high-volume production, it is common
to have such a combined instrument,
which offers benefits regarding floor space
and test procedures.
Semancik, Marvin Test Solutions: The
clear advantage of this approach is a
reduced system footprint. However, as
with many all-in-one solutions, the overall
performance and specified accuracies of
the individual functional blocks may be
reduced. While this may not be an issue
for some applications, it is important for
the user to evaluate the performance of
each area prior to adopting this type of
solution.
Cassacia, Lee, Zhang, and Hsu, Keysight
Technologies: The key benefits for a multifunction instrument are precise timing
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Evaluation Engineering

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