What you'll learn:
Power and test equipment are fundamental tools for RF and wireless design. Here are a few products on display at this year's Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC ) that fit this mold.
BK Precision MPS1000 DC Power Supply
Automatic test equipment (ATE) used with RF and wireless systems requires controlled power supplies like BK Precision’s latest MPS1000 DC Power Supply. The MPS Series Modular System DC Power series handles up to four output channels (1,200 W) in a 1U form factor.
The four-channel power supply supports eight different power modules with a range of voltage and current ratings, including modules capable of outputting 100 W (multi-range) or 300 W (fixed range). Total power output is 600 W or 1,200 W. Serial and parallel operation is supported along with adjustable voltage and current slew rates.
Communication support includes USB (USBTMC-compliant), Ethernet (LXI-Class C compliant), and GPIB interfaces supporting SCPI commands. The system supports advanced list mode programming with a command processing time of under 10 ms. Drivers for LabVIEW, IVI-C, and IVI.NET are provided.
Texas Instruments Active EMI Filtering
Active electromagnetic-interference (EMI) filtering (AEF) allows for more compact and efficient power-supply designs. AEF can extend the life of filtering capacitors, thereby increasing system reliability.
Texas Instruments offers standalone AEF integrated circuits, including the single-ended TPSF12C1 and three-phase TPSF12C3. Commercial and automotive versions are available.
The chips have a very low impedance path for common-mode (CM) noise. They support up to 30 dB of CM noise reduction at the lower end of specified frequency ranges that are typically 150 kHz to 3 MHz. The chip’s sensing and injection impedances paths can use relatively low capacitance values, leading to more compact system designs.
The TPSF12Cx, configured via voltage sense and current inject (VSCI), leverages a capacitive multiplier circuit to emulate the Y-capacitors in a conventional passive filter design (see figure below). High-frequency noise is detected on each power line using sense capacitors. It injects noise-canceling currents back into the power lines with an injection capacitor.
Tektronix RF Isolated Scope Probes
Tektronix simplified the measurement of fast-charging current with its TICP Series IsoVu isolated current probes.
The probes utilize RF isolation to improve precision and safety. They can handle low- and high-voltage systems that make them good for current measurements on shunts and CVRs for high-side SiC and GaN switching FET applications.
The probes are available in 250-MHz, 500-MHz, and 1-GHz versions. Common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) is 90 dB at 1 MHz. Shielded probe tips help minimize noise contribution, which is under 4.7 nV/Hz and under 150 µV at 1 GHz. The probes have a 1,000-V CAT II Safety rating and a common-mode voltage of 1,800 V RMS.
