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•White Paper: Uncovering The Emerging Trends In Handheld Instrumentation

By Rolland Zhang, Agilent Technologies

Today's electronics industry is in a constant state of flux, prompted in part by continual technology advances in virtually every conceivable market. Breakthroughs in printed circuit board (PCB) technologies and IC integration, for example, are enabling R&D engineers to pack more functionality into compact, lower cost measurement instruments — much of which was unimaginable just a few short years ago. Newer integration technologies also guarantee the measurement integrity offered by handheld instrument, as matter of fact, the performance of some handheld instruments is fast approaching or even passing similar midrange bench-top instruments. At the same time, it has uncovered some of the challenges for engineers and technicians working in the field.

One trend that has emerged to address these challenges is the migration of RF testing to handheld instruments. In the field, testing for RF issues (e.g., faulty cables, connectors or antennas) in a system like a wireless base station is absolutely essential to its successful installation and maintenance. Traditionally such testing has required multiple instruments, including dedicated cable testers, spectrum analyzers and power meters, just to name a few. While this approach allows field engineers and technicians to meet their RF testing needs, it also causes them undue hardship since they have to learn, calibrate and carry each of the instruments into the field. Consequently, it not only compromises their flexibility, but their speed and productivity as well.

Click Here To Download:
•White Paper: Uncovering The Emerging Trends In Handheld Instrumentation