Tektronix, Inc., a leading worldwide provider of test, measurement and monitoring instrumentation, announced the new SA2600 handheld Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer that includes DPX(TM) waveform image processor technology that provides a live RF view of the spectrum. The handheld real-time spectrum analyzer offers unique capabilities to discover the unexpected with DPX™ Live RF spectrum display and locate signals on-site with integrated mapping capability, and provides benchtop performance in a handheld, battery operated, and ruggedized instrument designed for field use. DPX is now also available on the H600 “RF Hawk” handheld unit originally introduced in February. With these additions, Tektronix offers a full portfolio of Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers with DPX for use in the field and the design bench.

The SA2600 handheld real-time spectrum analyzer is ideal for a wide variety of applications, ranging from small radio repair depots, to spectral interference management in the field. Featuring true real-time DPX™ capability in a handheld spectrum analyzer, the SA2600 offers practical solutions to discover short transient spectral events that slip past conventional spectrum and batch processing vector signal analyzers. The rapid expansion of digital RF applications has driven the measurement needs of many applications including mobile communications and spectrum management beyond the capabilities of swept spectrum and vector signal analysis. Digital RF signals carry complex modulation and change from one instant to the next, hopping frequencies, spiking briefly and then disappearing. These transient and time varying transmission techniques help RF devices avoid interference, maximize peak power and, oftentimes, evade detection. Finding and physically locating RF emitters that are misusing the radio spectrum can be a challenging process, especially when risk mitigation and time to response are critical.

The new Tektronix Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers are designed to offer benchtop performance on a portable handheld platform, specifically to solve problems created by digital RF technologies from WiFi to WiMAX to UWB and UMTS. The SA2600 will help you to easily discover and locate problem signals that other spectrum analyzers may miss. The revolutionary DPX™ spectrum display offers an intuitive live color view of signals changing over time in the frequency domain, giving you immediate confidence in finding interfering signals as they occur. The new SA2600 and H600 handheld spectrum analyzers extend the application of DPX to serve a broad range of fielded wireless technologies. These units uniquely assist customers with the discovery of interference and the mapping of wireless technologies in a variety of environments, both indoors and outside.

The explosion of digital RF has created a highly complex technology environment that is moving from the design bench to the field, requiring the need for next generation test and measurement instruments. Having 100% probability of intercept for signals of 500 microseconds or greater, and crystal-clear spectrograms, the SA2600 is an ideal tool for surveying the RF spectrum, mapping received signal strength and resolving spectral interference disputes. It is perfect for engineers doing pre-deployment analyses, signal strength mapping or troubleshooting interference, as well as regulatory agencies who need portable measurement capabilities suitable for today’s RF systems. DPX waveform image processing provides a unique live RF view of the spectrum, enabling an unprecedented RF signal discovery capability for a broad range of applications including radio communications and spectrum management. DPX transforms volumes of real-time data and produces a live RF spectrum display that reveals previously unseen RF signals and signal anomalies.

Portable Real-Time Spectrum Analysis with New SA2600

The SA2600 with 10kHz-6.2GHz frequency coverage, 20 MHz real time bandwidth and -153dBm Displayed Average Noise Level (DANL) is designed to deliver benchtop spectrum analyzer performance in a battery-operated, handheld field unit. With a spectrum processing rate more than 100 times faster than any swept spectrum analyzer from other vendors, the SA2600 and H600 provide 100% probability of intercept for transients with minimum event durations of 500 microseconds on the SA2600 and 125 microseconds on the H600. The portability allows easy instrument sharing in the laboratory environment and robust all-day battery operation in the field, all with the largest display in its class. With field-ready, rugged hardware featuring outstanding displayed average noise level (DANL), spurious free dynamic range (SFDR), phase noise and easy LAN networking capability in a portable unit, the SA2600 is a great choice for general purpose spectrum measurements.

The SA2600 and H600 are designed for field measurements. The new models combine a high performance spectrum analyzer with an intuitive set of user controls, allowing for the quick and simple classification and location of both analog and digital RF transmissions. The user interface is designed specifically for enhanced productivity in the field including a touch screen for easy navigation. While other solutions may require offline GPS and mapping software, the SA2600/H600 includes integrated GPS and mapping tools to allow more efficient interference location capability.

DPX Makes All the Difference

DPX waveform image processor technology in the SA2600/H600 displays the live spectrum by processing >2,500 or >10,000 spectrum measurements per second respectively. This is orders of magnitude more information than is shown by any other conventional spectrum analyzer without DPX, minimizing the analysis gaps inherent in swept spectrum and vector signal analyzers. To achieve thousands of spectrum measurements per second, DPX makes use of dedicated, real-time hardware to process the incoming signal.

In addition to live RF, the waveform image processor also provides an intensity-graded persistence display that holds anomalies until the eye can see them to show the history of occurrence for dynamic signals and immediate feedback on signal variations over time. This provides engineers the ability to rapidly see on screen both transients and signals that ordinarily could not be seen, either because they are masked by other signals or could only be deduced after time consuming offline analysis. DPX waveform imaging will enhance productivity by quickly capturing elusive anomalies and transient events, improving accuracy and insight, and accelerating design debug.

SA2600 and H600 Are Part of Digital RF Test Portfolio

Tektronix offers digital RF test tools from signal generation to acquisition. In addition to Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers, Arbitrary Waveform Generators generate ideal, distorted or “real-world” signals. Logic Analyzers enable the capture and analysis of the digital I/Q information to more quickly debug elusive problems within the digital baseband segment of a Digital RF design. Digital oscilloscopes allow measurements of strict timing relationships including signal integrity analysis. With these instruments and supporting software, Tektronix provides what customers need to test demanding digital RF applications.

The SA2600 handheld real-time spectrum analyzer has a variety of unique features such as visual and audio signal strength indicators and integrated GPS measurements’ mapping with direction-finding vectors for easy location of signal emitters. The SA2600 is designed for general purpose field use in a wide range of frequency bands and modulation types. It incorporates a unique touch-screen interface that allows very fast tuning and zooming in and out on signals, improving operator efficiency when working across a wide range of frequency bands. The SA2600 offers both performance handheld spectrum analysis as well as innovative must-have technologies like DPX and GPS mapping at an affordable price.

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