A Glimpse at a Morning in Electronica’s Test and Measurement Hall

The All About Circuits team had a busy week last week at Electronica 2024. While our editor-in-chief Jeff Child had nearly every hour booked with meetings, he used a free block of time one morning to explore Hall A3, the hall with all the test and measurement companies. In this article, we'll examine three new test and measurement products Jeff saw on display.

Rohde & Schwarz's Entry-Level Oscilloscope

Rohde & Schwarz introduced its newest portable oscilloscope, the R&S RTB 2, at the show. The scope is an improvement over the prior model, the RTB2000, which was the first entry-level scope to include a touchscreen and 10-bit vertical resolution. The RTB2 includes those features and adds an integrated arbitrary waveform generator and 160 Mpts segmented memory.

Jeff Child (left) with Jithu Abraham, product manager oscilloscopes at Rohde & Schwarz (right), and the new RTB 2 oscilloscope.

Rohde & Schwarz has placed emphasis on high-end features in its entry-level oscilloscopes, and the new RTB series continues this legacy. Models range from 70 MHz to 300 MHz with two or four analog channels and up to 16 digital channels.

Key Features of the R&S RTB 2

Other key features include:

• 70-MHz to 300-MHz bandwidth
• 2.5 Gsample/s maximum sample rate
• 20 Msample maximum memory depth
• 10-bit ADC resolution
• 10.1" capacitive touchscreen display
• Integrated arbitrary waveform generator history
• Segmented memory capabilities

The RTB 2 models are MSO-ready. The units can use up to 16 digital channels with the appropriate probes. The 10-bit analog-to-digital converters improve fourfold over the more common 8-bit ADCs in competitive entry-level scopes. This enables more precise measurement and a better ability to distinguish small signals from larger signals. The segmented memory can capture 160 Msamples for several seconds of protocol capture, such as I²C or SPI.

Keysight's Portable Millimeter-Wave Analyzer

Keysight introduced its latest FieldFox handheld microwave and RF analyzer. Keysight developed the new portable analyzers as a collaborative effort with Virginia Diodes, bringing the capability of Virginia Diodes’ VDI PSAX frequency extenders to allow the instruments to reach sub-THz frequency ranges.

Keysight solution engineers Gabriele Baldassarre (left) and Edward Boland (right) showing the FieldFox handheld analyzer and VDI's module.

Traditional mm-wave test and measurement setups typically require multiple desktop analyzers and signal generators. By including the VDI technology, the Keysight FieldFox instruments can provide mm-wave measurements in a portable instrument.

Many up-and-coming applications, including 5G, 6G, aerospace, defense, and automotive radar systems, require high-GHz signal generation and signal analysis tools. Such tools have not previously been available in portable form. The Keysight tools with the Virginia Diodes Inc. extensions now provide this capability in the field in a much more convenient and cost-effective desktop environment.

Key Features of the FieldFox Instruments

Other key features include:

• Frequency coverage from 18 GHz to 170 GHz for both signal generation and analysis
• In-band mm-wave performance in three modes: spectrum analyzer mode, IQ analyzer mode, or real-time spectrum analyzer (RTSA) mode with a sensitivity of -155 dBm/Hz typical
• 5G and 6G testing with 120-MHz bandwidth
• Real-time analysis of small, interfering signals

Siglent's High-Bandwidth Digital Oscilloscopes

Siglent brought its newest 6-GHz SDS7000A series oscilloscopes to Electronica this year. In most oscilloscopes, high resolution and high speed are traded off against each other. Siglent strives to deliver both with the SDS7000A series. The new scopes come in bandwidths of 6 GH, 4 GHz, and 3 GHz with up to four analog and 16 digital channel simultaneous displays.

Siglent marketing director Chris Armstrong with the new SDS7604A H12 scope.

Key Features of the SDS7000A

Other key features include:

• 300 µVrms of noise or less at 6-GHz bandwidth
• DC gain of 1.5% at lower ranges and 0.5% at ranges ≥5 mV/div
• 12-bit ADCs with sample rates up to 20 GSa/s
• Maximum record length of 1 Gpts/channel
• Channel-to-channel isolation up to 60 dB

Protocol analysis has become a much larger segment of the signal engineer’s job in recent years. As speeds have reached dramatically higher and protocols have become much more complex due to error correction and security needs, a simple analog or digital signal view is no longer adequate. The SDS7000A series includes advanced automated protocol analysis functionality. Along with the protocol analysis, the scopes also support compliance tests such as MIPI D-PHY, DDR2, industrial Ethernet, automotive Ethernet, and USB 2.0. Results can be generated automatically and delivered via HTML or XML test reports.

T&M Tools Level Up for Next-Gen Applications

Electronica 2024 did not disappoint, and Jeff’s time in Hall A3 was a fitting cap. These three new products showed that test and measurement technology is improving device useability and performance to meet the needs of high-speed, complex operations.

All images used this article were taken by All About Circuits staff.