Spectrum Digitizers Designed to Deliver Precision Measurements for Up to 48 Channels - Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design

Spectrum Digitizers Designed to Deliver Precision Measurements for Up to 48 Channels

Spectrum Instrumentation recently added 12 new products to its family of LXI-based digitizerNETBOX data acquisition instruments. Designed specifically for situations where multiple signals need to be acquired, stored and analyzed, users can select from models that provide 24, 32, 40 or even 48 fully synchronized channels.

The new DN6.59x series digitizers are all based on the latest high-resolution 16-bit ADC technology and come with a choice of maximum sampling rates (20, 40 and 125 MS/s) and bandwidths (10, 20 and 60 megahertz) to best match applications found in a wide variety of industries. It’s a combination that makes these new instruments ideal for use in multi-channel applications where signals, in the DC to 60 megahertz frequency range, need to be acquired and analyzed with the highest precision and accuracy.

Importantly, each channel of a digitizerNETBOX has its own ADC and signal conditioning circuitry. The ADC’s all share a common clock so that the acquisitions made on all the channels are fully synchronous and have zero phase error. The design of the clocking system ensures that cross channel timing measurements are made with the highest possible precision while the independent signal conditioning enables the units to be used with signals that have a wide range of amplitudes. Each channel has its own programmable input amplifier, with ranges between ±200 mV and ±10 V, input offset for unipolar measurements, termination of 50 Ω and 1 MΩ and an integrated calibration circuit. The inputs also feature single-ended and true differential channel modes.

Delivering Dynamic Measurement Performance
The signal conditioning circuitry is further complemented by the high-resolution 16-bit ADCs which offer signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) up to 81 dB, spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) up to 103 dB and total harmonic distortion (THD) as low as -86 dB.

Oliver Rovini, CTO at Spectrum, says: “These new digitizerNETBOX systems offer an easy-to-use solution for anyone who needs to make accurate multi-channel measurements. They should be of interest to everybody working with multiple signals, such as those produced by arrays of sensors, receivers, detectors or antennas, and also to users who need to test signals from multiple electronic components or test points. As such, we believe the instruments will find wide application in areas such as Ultrasound, Laser, Communications, LiDAR, Radar, Power, Physics, Automotive, Medical and Materials Science, as well as general electronic Test and Measurement.”

Founded in 1989 as Spectrum Systementwicklung Microelectronic GmbH and renamed to Spectrum Instrumentation GmbH in 2017, the company is a pioneer in using modular design to create more than 500 digitizer and generator products in the most popular industry standards; PCIe, LXI and PXIe. These high-performance PC-based test and measurement designs are used for electronic signal capture, generation and analysis. The company is headquartered in Grosshansdorf, Germany.

 

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