Tektronix unveils portable waveform monitor

The monitor provides Eye pattern and Jitter measurement capability as well as Cable simulator / margin tests, Optical interfaces with SFP (Small Form factor Pluggable) module, Dolby E monitoring, Loudness meter in addition to the all features available in the existing WFM2200.

The instrument is extremely portable (H 8.5 in. x W 8.2 in. x D 1.4 in. and 4 lbs. with battery), engineered for low power consumption with a large bright LED back panelled LCD screen and replaceable battery.

The Eye/Jitter measurement feature helps identify issues in the physical layer. The cable simulation and margin test capabilities, only available from Tektronix, assists in determining the coax cable margin of a system to ensure it does not reach the “digital cliff” where the transmission error rate significantly increases. Engineers can also use a variety of status displays to ensure compliance to the standards and verify audio, video and data specifications. The video/audio test signals output from embedded test signal generator with Genlock capability can be used for identifying the signal path through a coax and optical interface.

The monitor provides optional features that can be tailored for specific applications in each facility. In addition to the SD/HD/DL/3G-SDI, AES/EBU, LTC and composite sync signal support as standard ( 3G-SDI is option 3G), the optical SDI interface option (opt. SFP) can be selected to provide the broadcast facility with capabilities to monitor SMPTE 297 SDI fiber transmission system installations.  This eliminates the need for an external optical/electrical converter unit offering the user greater flexibility and reducing the number of units an engineer needs to carry.

In a facility carrying Dolby E signals the instrument offers an option (opt. DBE) to monitor peak audio level and metadata of the incoming Dolby E signal to verify activity of the channels without the need for an external Dolby decoder. Audio loudness monitoring is a critical task to monitor within a broadcast facility and the loudness option (opt. LOUD) allows users to directly read the audio level from the numerical LKFS/LUFS units displayed on the screen.

This avoids the need to deduce the loudness levels from indirect measurements such as audio bars.  The data option (opt. DATA) of the instrument allows the engineer to verify the presence of ANC data packets and troubleshoot problems within the facility.