How often, as an engineer, do you have to cross over into the unknown? There is no shortage of new information domains (pun not intended, or maybe it is) that we all encounter every single day. At a recent seminar, we asked attendees what their design challenges were - and the most common answer was “There is a need for wireless on almost everything.” Integrating wireless onto the traditional/mixed-signal designs has become increasingly necessary, especially as the IoT (Internet of Things) market continues to expand. In keeping with the notion that increasingly complex designs require increasingly sophisticated testing, Tektronix presents the AWG4000 3-in-1 Signal Generation Solution.
The AWG4000 combines an Arbitrary Function Generator, an Arbitrary Waveform Generator, and a Digital Pattern Generator all in one instrument. It works on a Windows-Based system, with a 10.1” Touchscreen for flexible usability. It can also utilize Tektronix’s RFXpress software to generate RF waveforms. Stimulating DUTs with signals across the time and frequency domains just got much easier, and lighter!
A recent survey indicated that sharing instruments has also started to become very common with more cross-functional engineering teams working closely together. As you will notice, the AWG4000 appears to be in a form factor similar to that of a Tektronix Oscilloscope; it can be carried around (~14 lbs.) and shared among engineers working across different groups and on different projects. Engineers can also create their own folders or workspaces within the instrument so as to store their waveforms/sequences.
The AWG4000 can serve several applications, and one of them is RADAR. Pulse modulation is the foundation of RADAR systems, and over time these systems have evolved by using various modulation schemes such as linear FM, Chirp, step FM, Frequency Hopping etc. – all with the objective of improving the accuracy and efficiency of the RADAR system. helps radar designers generate the radar pulses with the desired pulse shapes, modulation schemes, and even impairments and noises.
Much like generating signals for RADAR system design, the AWG4000 can also generate vector modulated signals in the Tx or Rx paths, and in the formats of Baseband IQ or IF. As you can see in the image above, the AWG4000 can be used as a stimulus across all the components in the wireless communications system.
Now that you know a little about this new signal generator, I encourage you to learn more about it through the AWG Tour video. For those of you who are more interested in specific applications, here’s a video on generating pulsed signals for RADAR systems and one on characterizing a Digital-To-Analog Converter.