Agilent RF signal generators

Agilent has announced N5161A and N5162A MXG ATE analog and vector RF signal generators for automated test equipment.

The company has also announced a series of enhancements to the MXG RF signal generators designed to deliver up to +23 dB output and provide phase coherency support for MIMO and beamforming applications.

The enhancements make the generators solutions for R&D and manufacturing engineers.

The MXG ATE RF signal generators provide the same capabilities, performance and form factor as the MXG RF platform — all cheaper.

These signal generators have been streamlined for ATE needs with removal of the front-panel display and all connectors relocated to the rear panel for secure rack configurations.

The N5161A provides CW and analog modulation, while the N5162A MXG ATE supports a multitude of digital modulation types up to 6 GHz.

A key enhancement to the MXG is a hardware change that results in the best combination of high output power and low distortion. Output is increased from +13 to +23 dBm (20 MHz to 3 GHz) and from +11 to +16 dBm (3 to 6 GHz) with option 1EA.

Distortion is specified as ACPR performance of -71 dBc for single-carrier W-CDMA up to +5 dBm.

The generators now offer complete solutions for WLAN, WiMAX and LTE MIMO test, in as little as four rack units.

The MXG offers a compact, phase coherent test for 2xN MIMO and beamforming and also enables system expansion to support up to 4xN.

The N5181A comes in 1/3/6 GHz frequency ranges, while the N5182A, N5161A, N5162A come in 3/6 GHz frequency ranges.

The optional 100 MHz (125 MSa/s) bandwidth arbitrary waveform generator in the vector version supports W-CDMA/HSDPA, cdma2000, WLAN, LTE, WiMAX, GSM/EDGE and more general and format-specific arbitrary waveforms.