Platform Tests Digital and RF Interfaces Simultaneously

Jan. 4, 2024

Testing both the digital and RF performance of a system can be challenging, Here is one way to address this issue.

Testing challenging products like electronically scanned radar systems, which often use digital transmit/recieve modules, creates a situation where you have digital in, and RF out. To test these systems, one must be able to determine the digital and RF signals separately.

In the video above, an engineer from NI shows a vector signal transceiver solution based on the PXIe-6594, a 28-Gb/s, eight-channel PXI high-speed serial instrument designed for engineers who need to validate, interface through, and test serial protocols.

The platform includes a Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale+ FPGA to implement various high-speed serial protocols. The other major component is the PXIe-5785 two-channel PXI FlexRIO IF transceiver with a mezzanine I/O module and FPGA backend for user-defined signal processing.

Alix Paultre | Editor-at-Large, Microwaves & RF

Alix is Editor-at-Large for Microwaves & RF.

An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the U.S. military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications, most recently as Editor-in-Chief of Power Systems Design.

Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.