Picking up the pulse for high performance testing

Specialist instrumentation distributor, Aspen Electronics has just announced the availability of two top of the range pulse generators from Tabor Electronics. Offering super high-performance, in a compact unit, the new Pulse Master Series models PM8571 and PM8572 are combined pulse/waveform generators aimed at all general purpose test applications in various sectors of the electronics industry, including automotive, defence, communications, telecoms, datacoms, medical and aviation.

A key feature of these single and dual channel pulse/ pattern generators, is that they can be configured to emulate a wide range of current and obsolete pulse and function generators. Tabor has made it extremely easy to upgrade existing test bench and automatic test set-ups, with these ‘drop-in’ replacements. Old, difficult to maintain instruments from HP, Agilent, Fluke, Tektronix, Tabor, Wavetek and LeCroy can be upgraded, ensuring continued application compatibility.

Test engineers can take full advantage of these 50MHz single (PM8571) or dual (PM8572) channel pulse/pattern generators, offering a complete range of standard, arbitrary and sequenced waveforms.

Technical specifications include 100MHz function generator, 16bit arbitrary waveform/sequence generator running at 300Msamples/s, up to 4M waveform memory, 10ps pulse resolution with 4ns transition time (3ns typical), 32Vpp into open circuit with programmable output impedance, 16bit digital pattern generator, internal PWM modulation and external width control.

In operation, run modes include: continuous, trigger, burst, gated, re-trigger with trigger and system delay control. Conveniently housed in a compact, rack mountable, 2U 1/2 rack-sized box, the instruments feature an easy to read 3.8in colour display, and Ethernet, USB and GPIB interfaces.

» Contact details for Aspen Electronics

High performance LeCroy oscilloscope sets the standard for fast debug

The latest LeCroy WaveSurfer oscilloscope, with the best raw performance in the 1GHz bandwidth segment, is now available in the UK from Aspen Electronics. The new MXs-Type 1GHz ‘scope features a 5GS/s per channel sampling rate, high signal fidelity and a large display in a small footprint. Developed to provide ease of use and faster design validation, it is offered at an excellent price for such high performance.

Additional features of the WaveSurfer MXs include 10million points/channel memory depth and advanced triggering functions, including HDTV trigger, for tracking down rare events and glitches in a wide range of design and development applications. An advanced maths package, including one million point FFTs, comes as standard. The instrument is compatible with optional low-speed serial triggering and decode packages for analysis of I2C, SPI, UART, RS-232, CAN, and LIN protocols. It can also be configured with LeCroy’s 36 channel mixed signal oscilloscope options.

The instrument is slim, just 6in deep, but features a 10.4in touch screen, capable of presenting easy to read transparent overlays, search/zoom capabilities, and tabular displays. Each oscilloscope is supplied with a full set of analysis tools as standard, including WaveScan™, an advanced search and analysis feature, WaveStreamTM, a fast viewing mode, and LabNotebook™, a unique tool for documentation and report generation.

The all-powerful WaveScan feature provides the ability to locate unusual events in a single capture, or scan for an event in many acquisitions over a long period of time. Engineers can select from nearly 20 search modes, such as pulse width, frequency, rise time and duty cycle, apply a search condition and scan for unusual events. In a single acquisition, WaveScan will clearly identify the failure and list the values in a table, ready for further analysis and debug.

The WaveSurfer MXs is the ideal instrument for benchtop use in research and development, design, product verification and most general-purpose applications in virtually all industry sectors.

» Contact Details for Aspen Electronics

» Read more Distribution News