Tektronix, SenarioTek Introduce Wideband Microwave Frequency Up/Down Conversion

The companies will be demonstrating an industry leading 1.3GHz bandwidth up and down converter solution for up to 18GHz carrier frequencies in booth #1033 here at the IEEE MTT 2010 International Microwave Symposium, the premier annual international meeting for technologists involved in all aspects of microwave theory and practice.

Wideband radar and wideband satellite communications signals use carrier frequencies that are beyond the direct synthesis and direct analysis capabilities of wideband RF instruments. In order to test radar and satellite devices using these instruments, engineers often build their own test fixtures and signal conditioning capabilities. By using the new SenarioTek solution, engineers can instead take advantage of a calibrated and optimized solution for doing this testing using industry leading Tektronix RF test instruments such at the AWG7000 Series signal generators and the DPO/DSA/MSO70000 Series high performance oscilloscopes.

The approach used by the SenarioTek solution improves microwave test performance by matching microwave up and down conversion from and to an IF (intermediate frequency). This optimizes the performance of the Tektronix instruments and eliminates instabilities, cost and periodic calibration of IQ (in-phase quadrature) modulator conversion techniques. It also provides the widest bandwidth signal generation and analysis and can be used for both multi-band radar and satellite communication frequencies.

“This SenarioTek offering represents a significant breakthrough in giving our customers a standard, yet highly customizable solution, for demanding wideband radar and satellite test applications,” said Lynne Camp, Vice President, Performance Products, Tektronix. “Across the board, there is a need for more bandwidth to improve radar resolution and imaging or to increase the capacity of satellite crosslink communications. This new direct IF solution is significant because it provides the widest combined signal generation and analysis bandwidths designed to optimize the highest fidelity in our instruments. The total solution is the most cost effective method to analyze wideband microwave signals.”

Because the solution uses IF it offers improved performance compared to direct analysis at microwave frequencies. Further, the overall solution cost can be reduced by acquiring just the baseband performance required to support the IF frequency as opposed to the microwave frequency.

“Tektronix already makes the highest performance wideband signal generation and analysis tools for RF, so it made sense that we would work with Tektronix to develop a solution for leading edge radar development and satellite radar test applications,” said Simi Ghiasvand, CEO, SenarioTek. “With this solution we are both improving test performance and lowering costs.”