With spectral stitching, VSTs team up to extend analysis bandwidth
Austin, TX. NI last month introduced its second-generation vector transceiver, which I wrote about here. The new version—the NI PXIe-5840 offers some impressive specs. It combines a 6.5-GHz RF vector signal generator, 6.5-GHz vector signal analyzer, high-performance user-programmable FPGA, and high-speed serial and parallel digital interfaces into a single 2-slot PXI Express module. It also offers 1 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth.
One feature NI representatives did not disclose during a recent press tour is called “spectral stitching.” This feature, described yesterday at NIWeek, permits multiple VSTs to be chained together to expand the analysis bandwidth. On display at NIWeek were four VSTs combined to offer 3.5 GHz of analysis bandwidth. Larry Desjardin of Modular Methods has more details in his post “National Instruments’ NIWeek Trifecta.”
Other instrument systems offering wide instantaneous bandwidth include the Rohde & Schwarz R&S FSW85 signal and spectrum analyzer, which with the R&S FSW-B2000 option offers an analysis bandwidth to 2 GHz. With the option, the R&S FSW downconverts a signal up to 67 GHz; an R&S RTO oscilloscope digitizes the downconverted signal. The R&S FSW equalizes this digital signal and adjusts the sampling rate.
