high frequency power measurements

[andyke001]

Hey,

I'd like to know if there are developments in measuring electrical high frequency signals with labview without using an extern power analyser. At the moment i'm using a yokogawa power analyser but i'd like to know if it's possible to log HF signals without the help of a power analyser... Are there NI products on the market for this purpose?

Thx,

Andy

[Joeri_Wingelinckx_NI]

Hello Andy,

First of all I would like to know which frequency range you want to measure.
What do you understand as high frequency?  Several GHz or only a few hundred kHz?

No matter what frequency, you always need an analog to digital conversion to be able to analyse the measured data with PC Technology.
For lower frequencies you can use a data-acquisition board or digitizer (scope) board.  These products exist in PCI format.
For higher frequencies (up to several Ghz), the original signal will always be 'downconverted' before it can be analysed  No matter if you use a stand-alone desktop instrument or modular solution, they all have a component in it which will bring the original down to a lower frequency which can by analysed.
An example of a downconverter is the NI PXI-5600 (http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/fr/nid/11535).

So, to help you find a solution, we first need to know of what frequency range you need to analyse the spectrum of.

Please contact you local NI Branch Office.  They can help you find the best solution for your needs.
For Belgium you can reach them on 02 757 00 20.


Best regards,
Spacetronics

[andyke001]

Hey,

Thx for replying! I'd like to measure signals up to 200KHz.  

[Joeri_Wingelinckx_NI]

Hello,


In the case of frequencies up to 200 KHz, NI can provide several solutions using the 'standard' data-acquisition boards or digitizers (scopes), from a low to very high accuracy solutions.

A good solution can be one of the high speed M-series boards (PCI-625x).  These boards have up to 32 multiplexed channels with a resolutions of 16-bit at a speed of 1 MS/s  (500 KHz).
A better solution would be a S-series boards.  These data-acquisition boards sample all input channels simultaneously.  We have boards with 2, 4 and 8 channels and sample frequencies of 10 MS/s  (up to 5 MHz if needed).  S-series board are the boards with product numbers PCI-61xx.
The best solution is to use a digitizer (scope).  Also here a lot of possibilities going from low to higher bandwidth and resolution.
The most flexible is the PXI-5922.  A 24-bit digitizer if you sample @ maximum 500 KS/s.  This board only exist in the PXI platform.
Then NI has 8-bit digitizers (normal resolution for scopes) from 15 till 125 MHz bandwidth.  If you need a higher resolution they have solution up to 14-bit (very high for scopes) @ 100 MHz.

Please give your local NI Office a phone call.
They have technical engineers who can discuss your needs and provide you a solution.