Working at the test bench with as much measurement power as possible is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity for any engineering firm hoping to make progress in the rapidly changing modern RF/microwave landscape. But Rohde & Schwarz hopes to make it easier to procure the necessary measurement capabilities with a novel “package deal” by which customers can purchase several entry-level instruments, fully equipped for present and future requirements, at a discounted package price.
Called the “This Changes Everything” promotion, the discount applies to many different types of instruments, including oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, power supplies, and power analyzers. It allows customers to add an instrument with all of the options and features required for a test bench that delivers today’s and tomorrow’s measurement requirements, while saving on the test budget at the same time.
A customer can add available measurement power as part of an instrument package, with all the options and features, but supplied at a discount price. All too often, test instruments are added according to current requirements. But as test needs change, the performance limits of test gear can be quickly exceeded, calling for costly upgrades and modifications. The “This Changes Everything” promotion gives customers a chance to specify a full equipped, full-option instrument and pay much less than those options once cost, resulting in a new instrument on the test bench with more performance than might have originally been thought possible on an available budget.
Bob Bluhm, vice president of Value Instruments at Rohde & Schwarz, explains, “We want to equip our customers to prepare for the future now, before their design requirements change—because we know they will. Our all-inclusive promotion offers our customers thousands of dollars in savings on complete solutions.” The package promotion is planned from May 20, 2019 through December 31, 2019.
The package pricing promotion includes five oscilloscopes, two spectrum analyzers, three power supplies, and one power analyzer. Many of these are multifunction instruments, integrating a number of measurement capabilities within one benchtop enclosure. For example, all of the oscilloscopes are housed with a logic analyzer, protocol analyzer, waveform and pattern generator, and voltmeter in the same instrument case.
1. The R&S RTB2000 entry-level oscilloscope captures signals over a bandwidth of 70 to 300 MHz.
Among the oscilloscopes, the R&S RTB2000 (Fig. 1) covers bandwidths of 70 to 300 MHz at sample rates to 2.5 Gsamples/s. It contains as much as 20 Msamples of memory and features 10-b analog-to-digital-converter (ADC) resolution. Signal information is shown on a 10.1-in. capacitive touchscreen with 1280- × 800-pixel resolution. For this instrument as well as the R&S RTM3000 and R&S RTA4000 oscilloscopes, several performance-boosting options are available as part of the package plan: performance bandwidths to 1 GHz, as many as four analog and 16 digital channels, sample rates to 5 Gsamples/s, and up to 1-Gsample segmented memory.
The R&S FPC1500 (Fig. 2) is one of the two entry-level spectrum analyzers in the promotion, with a frequency range of 5 kHz to 2 GHz, resolution bandwidth settings as fine as 1 Hz, and built-in tracking generator and independent CW signal generator. As an option, it can be equipped with a one-port vector network analyzer (VNA) with Smith chart display. The R&S FPC1500 shows signals on a 10.1-in.-wide XGA (WXGA) display screen with 1366- × 768-pixel resolution. The other spectrum analyzer in the promotion, the R&S FPC1000, has a frequency range of 5 kHz to 1 GHz. Options for the analyzers include moving the frequency range to 3 GHz, having lower phase noise, and a lower displayed average noise level (DANL) of typically −165 dBm.
2. The R&S FPC1500 is a versatile spectrum analyzer with frequency range of 5 kHz to 2 GHz and option to extend to 3 GHz.
Among other instruments in the package pricing promotion are three power supplies, including the R&S HMP4040 power supply and the R&S HMC8015 power analyzer. The power supplies can be equipped with two, three, or four channels, with maximum voltages from 128 to 300 V and maximum current of 40 A, with as much as 10 A current per channel. The R&S HMC8015 power analyzer provides ac-dc load characterization with a power measurement range of 50 µW to 12 kW and basic accuracy of 0.05%. It can test over analog bandwidths from dc to 100 kHz at a sampling rate of 500 ksamples/s.
These are entry-level instruments that pack a great deal of measurement power, with or without the options. By purchasing the “loaded” versions of any of these instruments, including all options and extra capabilities, as much as 10% or more of the purchase price can be saved along with the time and headaches of having to upgrade the instruments as needed. This helps manage the test-and-measurement budget today while providing for the measurement needs of tomorrow.
Rohde & Schwarz USA Inc., 6821 Benjamin Franklin Dr., Columbia, MD 21046; (888) 837-8772, (410) 910-7800, FAX: (410) 910-7801, E-mail: [email protected].
