Vector network analysers cover up to 40GHz

10th October 2014

Mick Elliott

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Datasheet

“It does what it says on the tin”. That’s how Jonathan Borrill, Anritsu’s Director of Market, EMEA described the company’s new ShockLine family of Vector Network Analysers (VNAs). “We took a step back and decided less is more,” says Borrill. The result is a family of mid-range VNAs at a much lower cost that will handle the basic RF test requirements of an engineer.

Incorporating Anritsu’s patented shock line VNA-on-a-chip technology, the MS46122A low-cost, full-reversing 2-port VNAs are packaged in a very compact 1U chassis. The VNAs will find test applications in manufacturing, engineering, and education environments. The MS46122A series includes the world’s first compact VNAs with frequency coverage up to 20 GHz and 40 GHz, respectively. A third model in the new ShockLine series covers 1 MHz to 8 GHz.

The MS46122A ShockLine VNAs offer the best in-class performance in key areas, such as speed, trace noise, stability, and dynamic range. The analysers minimise test times and maximise throughput, making them well suited for testing passive devices such as cables, connectors, filters, and antennas. Externally controlled via USB from a user supplied PC, the VNAs do not contain an embedded computer or solid-state drive.

Since there is no on-board data storage and all information is saved on an external user-supplied computer rather than the VNA, the VNA is ideal for secure area operation. The symmetrical design of the package creates flexibility and convenience when rack-mounting, as the VNAs can face front or back. At just 1U high, the VNAs save valuable rack space and are ideal for space-constrained test environments.

The instruments feature the advanced ShockLine Graphical User Interface (GUI) software, which brings extensive test capabilities to the small footprint test solution. Combining the easy-to-use GUI with wide variety of productivity enhancing features enable fast debugging and manual testing of passive RF and microwave devices in engineering and educational environments. The VNAs can be used in automated environments via IVI-C drivers in most popular application development environments such as LabVIEW, LabWindows, MATLAB, C# and .NET.