EndWave Speeds Production of Broadband Wireless Modules With New High Frequency Test System

Agilento meet the growing demand for high-performance transmit/receive modules used in broadband wireless Internet access systems, EndWave (Sunnyvale, CA) has installed and brought on line a next-generation test system that cuts 100-fold the test time for modules operating at 50 to 75 GHz.

According to EndWave representatives, the new 84000 Millimeter Wave Series test system from <%=company%> (Palo Alto, CA) is the world's first automated, high-speed module test system capable of testing multichip modules at these millimeter-wave frequencies. The test equipment is installed at EndWave, Diamond Springs, CA, a high-volume manufacturing facility that produces modules for Nokia and other well-known developers of telecommunications equipment. EndWave, which was formed recently by the merger of TRW Milliwave with privately held Endgate Corp., is a global provider of broadband wireless access equipment including specialized antennas, transceivers, and Outdoor Units (ODUs)—units that transmit and receive radio signals and serve as the "engines" of broadband wireless Internet access systems and cellular backhaul.

"The Agilent 84000 Millimeter Wave Series model E6520A test system dramatically improves our production rates by shortening measurement times for millimeter-wave transceiver modules. It eliminates the manual measurements that required technicians to reconnect test equipment to modules for separate tests," said Don Dodson, EndWave's chief operating officer.

Production engineers at EndWave are currently preparing the new test system for its first high volume production runs of millimeter wave transceiver modules, Dodson said. EndWave also uses Agilent production systems to test modules that operate at lower frequencies from 2 to 42 GHz.

Edited by Winn Hardin, Managing Editor