At last week’s National Instruments NI Week conference in Austin, Texas, I couldn’t believe I was actually holding a vector network analyzer (VNA) in my hand (see the figure). Yet there it was, ready to be plugged into a PXI chassis configured for automated design validation or production test. Most VNAs are large, expensive benchtop instruments. But this miniaturized device should open the door to more sophisticated tests on RF equipment not only in the lab but also in production environments.

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The two-port, 6-GHz NI PXIe-5630 is the industry’s first VNA available in a compact PXI form factor. It supports full vector analysis of transmission and reflection (T/R) parameters, precision automatic calibration, and flexible software-defined architecture. Its modular PXI architecture and small, two-slot footprint make it possible for test engineers to incorporate vector network analysis into their test systems without the added cost and large footprint of traditional benchtop VNAs.

Also, the NI PXIe-5630 delivers transmission and reflection coefficients in the form of the forward S-parameters S11 and S21. It is optimized for automated test with a feature set that includes automatic precision calibration, full vector analysis on both ports, reference plane extensions, and a flexible LabVIEW application programming interface (API) that’s ideal for parallel test.

The VNA additionally boasts delivers advanced performance specifications, including a frequency range of 10 MHz to 6 GHz, a wide dynamic range of greater than 110 dB, and sweep speeds of less than 400 µs/point over 3201 points. Other specifications include a –123-dBm/Hz noise floor and a power range of –30 to +5 dBm. And because of its PXI configuration, you can combine up to eight NI PXIe-5630 modules in a single PXI chassis and perform multisite RF test in true parallel fashion.

You also can control the NI PXIe-5630 interactively using its full-featured soft front panel or programmatically using APIs for NI LabVIEW software and NI LabWindows/CVI ANSI C development environments. Both APIs are optimized for multicore processing to facilitate parallel test of multiple RF components, which provides a significant throughput advantage over sequential, switched testing.

The NI PXIe-5630 further expands the already wide selection of PXI modular instrumentation for automated test. As an added benefit of its industry-standard PXI configuration, the VNA integrates with more than 1500 PXI instruments from NI and more than 70 other vendors to address the requirements of almost any test application.

National Instruments PXIe-5630 is a full two-port vector network analyzer with a frequency range of 10 MHz to 6 GHz. Its reduced size and cost brings VNA testing to many other RF products. It targets lab measurements as well as production test applications.

The basic price of the naked 5630 is $25,999. A wide range of accessories, priced separately, is available. The VNA will be available in October. For video of the device, go to www.engineeringtv.com/video/PXI-Vector-Network-Analyzer-fro.

National Instruments