Keithley Adds WiMAX Testing Capability to Its RF Test Instrument Family

By DE Editors

Keithley Instruments, Inc. (Cleveland, OH)  announced a set of signal creation and analysis tools that extend its RF test capabilities to include WiMAX signal testing.

Keithley’s new solution is built on a next-generation hardware platform that makes it simple and inexpensive to add support for new signal standards, such as 802.16e mobile WiMAX Wave 2 testing with up to 4x4 MIMO channels, without requiring expensive hardware upgrades or different instrumentation. In addition, the new instruments support testing to lower frequency bands down to 400MHz, an increasingly important capability for new WiMAX solutions being developed.

Keithley’s RF test solutions are based on the company’s Model 2820 RF Vector Signal Analyzers and Model 2920 RF Vector Signal Generators. The Model 2820 RF Vector Signal Analyzer ($25,000) and Model 2920 RF Vector Signal Generator ($23,000) at 4GHz enable users to test WiMAX in any frequency band between 400MHz and 4GHz faster and more easily than other available instruments.

The Model 2820 RF Vector Signal Analyzer is optimized for automated testing of wireless devices in production test environments, as well as in new product and device research and development. It features measurement speeds up to three times faster than competitive instruments; Keithley’s Model 2820 is the lowest cost,  widest signal acquisition bandwidth, stand-alone vector signal analyzer with both manual and automated operation on the market today.

When working in conjunction with Keithley’s Model 2920 RF Vector Signal Generator,  these two instrument families form a powerful RF test and measurement solution that reduces test times and capital equipment costs for testing RF devices. Plus, they use Version 2.0 of Keithley’s SignalMeister Waveform Creation Software, for creation of the entire range of signals in accordance with WiMAX and WLAN wireless connectivity standards and 3GPP and 3GPP2 cellular standards.

Keithley also introduced Version 2.0 of its SignalMeister Waveform Creation Software, an RF development tool with next-generation performance and usability. It includes an expanded signal library for both SISO and MIMO wireless standards and a new,  object-oriented graphical user interface (GUI). It uses a click-and-drag objects-based approach, allowing RF engineers to intuitively create basic and complex waveforms using graphical objects.

SignalMeister Waveform Creation Software enables users to test all aspects of WiMAX communications equipment from 400MHz to 4GHz, and to 6GHz if WLAN measurements are needed, with all available modulation methods. This integrated software package enables users to create signals easily across a wide variety of signal types and use common features such as signal impairments and channel models to modify reference signals for extensive product testing. The software includes built-in libraries for many different signal types.

SignalMeister Waveform Creation Software allows the user to change the composition of uplink and downlink signals, i.e., to modify the parameters of standard signals,  including the symbol rate, the bandwidth, the number of carriers, and more. It offers a choice of FFT sizes between 128 and 2048 and allows creation of WiMAX signals up to a bandwidth of 28MHz. The resulting signal can then be analyzed with Keithley’s Series 2800 Vector Signal Analyzer family with WiMAX enhancements in both time and frequency domains, either demodulating the signal or measuring its spectral performance using the Series 2800’s built-in spectrum analyzer or its spectral emissions mask measurement.

It is part of the solution being offered with all Series 2900 RF Vector Signal Generators. Software licenses start at US$2,500. SignalMeister can be downloaded from Keithley’s web site at no charge; specific software licenses start at $2,500.

For more information on SignalMeister or any of Keithley’s RF measurement products, visit Keithley.

Sources:  Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.