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test&measurementZONE Products for the week of December 10, 2007
Boonton Says:
Wireless Telecom Group Introduces the Boonton 7.5 GHz Portable Spectrum Analyzer
Boonton, a Wireless Telecom Group Company, and technology leader in fast power measurements, introduced its new 9103 handheld spectrum analyzer operating at frequencies up to 7.5 GHz.
The instrument supports many microwave applications, featuring the typical measurements of standard desktop spectrum analyzers such as channel power, occupied bandwidth and adjacent channel power ratio.
Additional measurements such as tracking generator based cable measurements (distance to fault, VSWR - voltage standing wave ratio), and RMS detector, radiation emission and RF pollution are optionally available.
The 9103 is immediately available.
"The Boonton 9103 Handheld Spectrum Analyzer combines high frequency range and versatility of a professional desktop analyzer with the portability of a handheld Multimeter", says Wolfgang Damm, Ph.D., Product Marketing Director at the Wireless Telecom Group. "It meets outdoor requirements of technicians to read the display even at bright daylight."
The 9103 is a solution for those with a need for spectrum analysis, reflection measurements, cable fault
finding, emission and RF pollution measurements. The frequency range of up to 7.5 GHz serves users in the communication industry.
Applications covered with the 9103 Handheld Spectrum Analyzer include aviation signals, directional radio, VSAT (very small aperture terminal), and signals in the 5 GHz unlicensed band, such as Wireless LAN (WLAN) and WiMAX. RFID signals are best analyzed in the zero-span mode provided by the spectrum analyzer. Boonton's 9103 supports a wide range of applications with accessories for cable fault finding, EMC and radiation measurements.
EN-Genius Says…
Boonton Wireless Telecom Group's hot-off-the-press news release leads you to believe this is a brand new instrument. In actuality, it's a re-labeled Willtek Model 9103 portable, introduced earlier this year.
Whether it's sold by Boonton or Willtek, Boonton's Wireless Telecom Group has some tough acts to follow with this battery-powered nomadic spectrum analyzer. At least a half dozen such instruments have hit the market recently, from the likes of top tier companies such as Rohde and Schwarz (whose $6600 FSH3 tracking-generator equipped spectrum analyzers are sold and serviced in the US by Tektronix), and Anritsu, as well as smaller companies such as Bantam Instruments and Berkeley Varitronics Systems. Anritsu's competing MS271xB family of so-called economy microwave spectrum analyzers, for example, includes competitively priced models that extend coverage out to 7.1 GHz (as well as 13 GHz and 20 GHz).
 Not mentioned in the Boonton Wireless Telecom Group release is pricing. A call to Boonton's sales department reveals that a basic unit costs about $11,000, but a Model 9150 tracking generator option (more on it in a moment) can add another $2500 to that price tag. A fully equipped 9103, with VSWR measuring capability and other options can set you back more than $17,000.
So, what do you get for your money? Literally, a handful. The compact package is replete with a lively 640 x 480-pixel VGA display, a lithium-ion battery pack, on-board DSP, 1-kHz resolution, greater than 70-dB of dynamic range, headphone output, an external frequency-reference input, and the ability to process signals as low as 100-kHz. The system also lets you feed in signals from either 50-Ω or 75-Ω systems. When switching between these impedances, a correction table automatically is loaded to ensure accuracy.
Automatic Compensation
Speaking of accuracy, the 9103 can also compensate for effects that might alter the applied signal. For example, coax cables, preamps, and attenuators can affect signal levels. To compensate for that, built-in software applies amplitude correction. In use, an external device compensation function takes a list of frequency and amplitude pairs. Connected linearly, these points offset the input signal accordingly.
Not mentioned in the company's press statement is the fact that the 9103, like its Willtek 9101 and Willtek 9102 predecessors, can be controlled from your PC. You can do that through either an RS-232 serial interface or via the unit's Ethernet TCP/IP port. All myriad functions of the 9103 can be controlled using SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instrumentation) commands.
You can also leverage the power of your PC to set up the instrument. A 9100 Data Exchange Software package, supplied with all of the company 9100 Series analyzers, lets you do this in a rather straightforward way. Channel systems, limit templates, settings, and correction tables can be set up and maintained on the PC. Stored traces can also be uploaded to the 9103 in order to set the unit to previous settings.
What's more, live traces can be continuously downloaded from the instrument, but you will need optional software to do that. Once done, traces can be exported to graphics formats such as .BMP bitmap files, or and compressed .JPG graphics files.
I mentioned the 9103 wide viewing-angle VGA TFT (thin film transistor) display. It imparts up to 256 colors, so that you can more easily compare traces, even outdoors in bright sunlight. Operationally, the instrument dishes up 500 measuring points in a trace. In contrast to its automated single-button mode, more experienced users can set measuring range, resolution, and sweep time.
As you'd expect, markers are available (up to six in all). Using these, a transmitter's performance can be checked, for example. Spurious signals can be seen, and sideband levels can be measured. By pressing a Delta Marker button, second harmonic and third harmonic levels can be measured. Power level and frequency are also displayed, relative to a reference point. You can optionally use this instrument to measure RF power levels as high as 50 W.
Pre-Set Threshold Operation
Pass/fail limit lines can also be invoked, which can make this analyzer useful in the hands of less experienced operators. These limit templates can be set up with 30 segments. Simultaneously, it can be established if a signal exceeds an upper and/or lower limit or not.
The tracking generator option I referred to above has an output frequency from 1 MHz to 4 GHz. With it, you can use the handheld to perform DTF (distance-to-fault) and VSWR. The level of the generator is adjustable from -10 dBm to -30 dBm.
A GPS receiver option can be used to get location coordinates. Position, speed, and altitude can be read out and displayed on-screen. There's also a built-in frequency counter, whose precision can be increased by connecting an external frequency reference. Additionally, you can use the 9103 to measure channel power, ACPR (adjacent channel power ratio), and OBW (occupied bandwidth). The ability to do an ACPR measurement is particularly useful to measure leakage power from one channel into an adjacent one. For its part, OBW measurements let you check the part of transmitted power that lies in a specified bandwidth.
The press release briefly refers to an rms detector. The Model 9132 Rms Detector adds precision to channel power measurements. The detector is capable of analyzing signals that are similar to noise on the spectrum display, with these signals smoothed and displayed with a precise rms level.
These are just a few of the functions and features of this portable analyzer.
Data Sheet
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