With the release of 11 new RF switches, National Instruments has doubled its PXI RF switch offering for 50 and 75 Ohm applications. The new modules include 4x1, terminated 4x1, dual 4x1 and 8x1 multiplexers as well as quad SPDT and dual-terminated SPDT general-purpose configurations. As a result, said the manufacturer, engineers have more choices to optimize their RF switch networks around price performance and improved signal integrity. The six new 2.5 GHz 75 Ohm modules are the company’s first switches for high-frequency video applications, such as set-top box testing. While the five new 2.7 GHz 50 Ohm modules add to the company’s current RF switch offering of 10 modules for routing signals between DC and 26.5 GHz and are designed for expanding the channel count of RF generators, such as the NI PXI-5671 2.7 GHz vector signal generator, or RF analyzers such as the NI PXI-5661 2.7 GHz vector signal analyzer.

Article Tools

• 

All 11 modules offer extremely low insertion loss (less than 2.1 dB at specified bandwidth) and VSWR of less than 1.75 at bandwidth to minimize power loss, voltage attenuation and signal reflections. The new modules also offer relay count tracking, a unique feature available on NI’s PXI modules. With this feature, engineers can keep track of relay closures on board the hardware to estimate the lifetime of individual relays on the module and avoid unexpected system downtime, said the maker.

All of the new switches can be programmed using the full-featured NI-SWITCH driver software for basic relay operations in common development environments such as the LabVIEW graphical development environment, LabWindows/CVI for ANSI C development and Microsoft Visual Basic/C++.

New RF switch modules