Introduction

Highlights of this issue include new product releases from CML Microcircuits and Zuken, Cypress Semiconductor and Keithley Instruments; design features on E-OTD testing and 30 GHz real-time bandwidth extension; test and measurement-related design ideas; schedule of the MTEC 2009 and SPIE Europe Optical Metrology 2009 events; and a research study on Wireless Sensor Networks, 2009-2019.
 

13 January 2009

Evaluation Kit for RF quadrature modulator IC
CML Microcircuits has unveiled an evaluation kit (EvKit), for its recently launched CMX993 RF quadrature modulator IC. The CMX993 is an integrated, general purpose, RF quadrature modulator, offering 100MHz to 1GHz operation and advanced wide-band noise performance. The EV9930 EvKit provides a platform for the evaluation of this device. The design engineer can achieve a complete evaluation of the CMX993, using the EV9930, giving access to all of the device’s RF, baseband and control signals by either connectors or test points. These test access points are available to accept common test equipments such as RF and baseband signal generators and also spectrum analysers.
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Spartan-3 FPGA simulation kits
Zuken has announced the availability of a simulation design kit for Xilinx low cost Spartan-3 FPGAs. The download service delivers design kits for Zuken's high-speed design environment CR-5000 Lightning, including simulation models, net topology templates and associated documentation. This simulation kit enables designers to perform faster analysis and verification of PCBs (printed circuit boards) that include Spartan-3 FPGAs.
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Environmental sensing kit
Cypress Semiconductor has introduced CY3271-EXP1, an environmental sensing kit. This environmental sensing kit includes two boards namely a weather station expansion board that includes sensors for atmospheric pressure, humidity, temperature and ambient light and a pigtail thermistor board for measuring temperature in remote locations. The kit is suitable for designers of systems such as HVAC system monitors, weather stations, and environmental sensor alarms.
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Characterisation and curve tracer software
Text: Keithley Instruments has announced the ACS Basic Edition, a characterisation and curve tracer software used for component test applications. The recent addition to Keithley's ACS (Automated Characterisation Suite) family is the ACS Basic Edition that integrates with the Keithley’s SourceMeter instrument family. ACS Basic Edition, pared with Keithley’s line of SourceMeter instruments, replaces the curve tracers with a solution that performs both basic curve tracing as well as parametric test while providing a cost-effective solution.
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Testing E-OTD capability in GSM/GPRS and W-CDMA handsets
Location-based services include a range of applications that have one thing in common—the ability to deliver high-value content to an end user based on the end-user’s location. A prime example is information services related to events, traffic, or other location-relevant services, which the mobile- handset user normally initiates. Tracking of both assets and people, as well as location-based—or location-sensitive— advertising and marketing, are two other compelling LBS application areas.
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30 GHz is the new frontier in real-time DSOs
With its latest range of WaveMaster digital oscilloscopes and serial-data analysers, the 8Zi series, LeCroy has extended real-time bandwidths to 30 GHz. Eight models span 4 to 30 GHz, and the ’scopes are upgradeable after purchase. Standard sample rate is 80G samples/sec for 20 to 30 GHz bandwidth, or 40G samples/sec on all four channels at lower bandwidth. Standard memory provision is 10M points/channel, expandable to 256M points/channel.
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Simple microcontroller-temperature measurement uses only a diode and a capacitor
Using a PN-junction diode for temperature measurement usually depends on its 2-mV/K temperature coefficient. Conventionally, you must amplify and digitize this voltage with an ADC before you can use the value in a microcontroller. Less wellknown is the fact that the reverse current of a PN-junction diode shows a good exponential dependency over temperature; increasing the temperature by approximately 12K doubles the leakage.
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Test & Measurement World: Measure power-supply-loop transfer
Power supplies use control-loop circuits to produce constant voltage or current. The transfer function—gain and phase as a function of frequency—provides valuable information about a control loop’s speed and stability. Knowing a control loop’s transfer function, as well as the poles and zeros of the transfer circuit, can help you select the right compensation and power-stage components. The user can measure gain and phase shifts and plot them with a network analyzer that sweeps the frequency of an injected signal and automatically computes the control loop’s phase difference and gain.
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MTEC
MTEC 2009 will be held from March 25 to 26, 2009, at Birmingham, UK. MTEC is the complete sensors, measurement and instrumentation event for the UK and Ireland and features technology related to instruments and techniques for practical measurement as required in engineering, utility, process, chemistry and life sciences sectors.
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SPIE Europe Optical Metrology 2009
SPIE Europe Optical Metrology is the premier conference in Europe that brings together scientists, engineers, researchers, and applications or product developers engaged in optical metrology, optical measurement systems, and optics for arts, architecture, and archaeology. The conference will be held from 14 to 18 June 2009 at Munich, Germany.
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Wireless Sensor Networks 2009-2019
This report is about automatically monitoring forest fires, country wide utility equipment, aircraft, hospitals and much more over wide areas, something previously impossible. It is becoming possible thanks to the new Wireless Sensor Networks WSN otherwise known as Ubiquitous Sensor Networks USN. Uniquely, these employ so-called "mesh networking" of tags to provide massive scalability - a small system is easily made into a very large one.
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