A conventional AM broadcast generally begins in the studio as a music or voice audio signal. The audio signal modulates the amplitude of a radio-frequency electrical signal. This AM signal–also referred to as double-sideband amplitude modulation to distinguish it from single-sideband modulation–produces equal frequency sidebands on either side of the center frequency. In single-sideband modulation […]
Test and Measurement Tips
Instrumentation software gets automation, signal processing, measurement precision capabilities
A number of new functions have been added to SBench 6-Professional, the software used for controlling Spectrum Instrumentation’s 130 different high-performance digitizers, 55 different Arbitrary Waveform Generators and 5 Digital I/O products. SBench 6 provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for instrumentation control as well as data acquisition, generation, display, analysis and documentation. The new features, […]
Compact dc electronic loads measure voltage, current, calculate power
The Keysight EL30000 Series bench dc electronic loads offer a compact bench form factor with a built-in data logger that delivers insights for immediate, real-time decisions, and minimizes the need for additional instruments with an accurate system that measures voltage, current and calculates power. An electronic load is an instrument designed to test sources by […]
Certification tool checks out last-mile fiber deployments
The VIAVI Optimeter is a new type of network test tool to speed and simplify last-mile optical fiber activation and maintenance. As the leading fiber test and measurement supplier, VIAVI is focused on helping communications service providers (CSPs) and contractors improve first time install completion rates for faster service activation and revenue. It’s estimated that […]
Measuring the Hall effect
The Hall effect, first described by Edwin Hall in 1879, results in an electrical output when a thin metal plate is immersed in a magnetic field of sufficient strength. The magnetic field must be perpendicular to an electrical current conducted through the plate. The Hall effect voltage potential depends upon the strength of the magnetic […]
Laptop-based instrument records wireless environment and motion for playback in testbeds
Tracker is a Wi-Fi test solution that enables recording of an environment such as a house for playback in the octoBox personal testbed. Mesh Wi-Fi deployments with multiple access points, either in the home or in the office have unique challenges related to motion that require optimization. To operate well, it is important that Wi-Fi […]
When RMS amplitude is important and when it isn’t
There are a variety of ways to specify the amplitude of a waveform. Here are a few of the most common forms and a primer on when specific types are most appropriate. In physics. amplitude is the absolute value of the maximum displacement from zero during one period of an oscillation. In electrical waveforms, amplitude […]
Compliance tests cover 2.5/5/10GBASE-T1 automotive Ethernet speeds
Rohde & Schwarz, together with connector and cable assembly manufacturer Rosenberger, have successfully demonstrated compliance testing for MultiGBASE-T1 supporting 2.5/5/10GBASE-T1 automotive Ethernet speeds, based on the OPEN Alliance TC9 working group test specification. This development enables vehicle manufacturers and component suppliers to have confidence in the performance of future, high-speed in-vehicle networks. Automotive applications such […]
Test instrument enables Wi-Fi testing, OFDMA wireless packet capture in the field
The fieldPal is a precision Wi-Fi test instrument that enables Wi-Fi testing and OFDMA wireless packet capture in the field. To test performance of the new wireless technologies and applications, engineers use controlled laboratory testbeds like the octoBox in combination with field testing. New types of test tools are needed that allow testing in the […]
Detecting gravitational waves
Gravitational waves were first proposed by Henri Poincaré in 1905 and further described in Albert Einstein’s 1916 General Theory of Relativity. Gravitational Waves are powerful perturbations of the space-time continuum. However, the sources of gravitational waves we know about are enormously distant and therefore faint by the time they reach earth–like EM radiation, their intensity […]
