eeProductCenter Ultimate Products 3.4: TEST & Measurement
(1) AEMC INSTRUMENTS Multi–channel multi–function 100–MHz scope is battery powered eeProductCenter says: “The plug–and–play accessories of AEMC Instruments’s battery–powered Model OX 7104–CK Power Kit 100–MHz oscilloscope can be useful features, especially in the hands of electricians or semi–skilled operators out in the field.”
Readers say:
» "Need to know how much probes cost. What probes come standard?"
» "Hope I can have one for free. The ADC performance is amazing. What’s the power consumption for the ADC at 1Gsamples/s–12bit?"
» "I will have to review the Model OX 7104–C."
» "Is it water and dust proof?"
» "Still too big and heavy for portable scope."
» "Price constrained for my purposes."
» "Interesting product. It seems like it would be good for data logging with our battery performance testing; however, we already have a cheaper solution."
» "Not enough info on the offline features such as playing back, data transfer interface, etc."
» "Is it possible to use this as a field datalogger of AC watts, RTD’s, frequency, temperature, vibration velocity in addition to ac volts and amps? Our application is remote monitoring of AC generators."
» "Seems to be a great portable instrument."
USABILITY RANK: 1
(2) PICO TECHNOLOGY World’s fastest USB oscilloscope? eeProductCenter says: “Instrument maker Pico Technology unveils its PicoScope 5204, a dual–channel PC–connected digital sampling oscilloscope with a bandwidth of 250 MHz. The 5204 also gives you a memory depth of 128–Msamples and a realtime sampling rate of 1–Gsample/s. According to Pico Technology, other scopes in the 5204’s price range force you to compromise on one of three key specs; either sampling rate, bandwidth, or memory depth.”
Readers say:
» "Pricing is good."
» "It’s a very interesting possibility to have a first order instrument attached to a PC. My concern is that those instruments lack some protection characteristics that the standard instruments have."
» "Very cool!"
USABILITY RANK: 3
(3) FLUKE CORP. Multi–function DMMs make 4–wire measurements with two test leads eeProductCenter says: “Maintaining precision when measuring resistance, especially low values of resistance, demands that the resistance of the leads and connectors be compensated for. This typically is done with a traditional 4–wire Kelvin measurement technique. Significantly, Fluke Corp.’s latest Model 8845A and Model 8846A DMMs (digital multimeters) can make the same kind of measurements with two test leads. Fluke’s special split–terminal jacks let you perform equivalent 4–wire measurements using only two leads instead of four. You do that using an optional TL2X4W test lead accessory.”
Readers say:
» "Not for Field use, and overkill on most applications."
» "A little pricey for me."
USABILITY RANK: 2
(4) UNITED ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES Mini data–acq controllers accommodate up to 600 I/O ports eeProductCenter says: “Slated for slow–speed data acquisition tasks, United Electronic Industries’s (UEI) UEILogger diminutive data logger and recorder units are based on the company’s existing PowerDNA Ethernet DAQ Cube line. They add standalone data logging/recording capability to the PowerDNA (Distributed Networked Automation) products. The UEILogger’s so–called Logger Cube is the heart of the system. Each cube contains a Freescale Semiconductor 400–MHz 32–bit MPC5200 controller, network and SD Card (Secure Digital) interfaces, and appropriate power sources.”
Readers say:
» "Good."
USABILITY RANK: 4
(5) PRECISIONWAVE CORP. RF vector signal generator is Windows–based eeProductCenter says: "Based on a Windows PC platform, precisionWave's p1411A vector signal generator packs a dual-channel I/Q (in-phase and quadrature) generator. What's more, each channel provides 16-bit resolution, and a 1-Msample/channel depth. Although this unit is PC-hosted, if you lift the lid you'll also see lots of gold-plated SMA connectors and coax plumbing."
Readers had no comments.
USABILITY RANK: 6
(6) WAVECREST Signal integrity analyzers encompass triple–domain measurement eeProductCenter says: “Slated for signal integrity analysis during design, characterization, and production, Wavecrest is rolling out a family of instruments dubbed SSAs, or Signal Source Analyzers. Wavecrest’s SSA–20 and SSA–50 analyzers are for testing clock circuits, PLLs (phase locked loops), and oscillators.”
Readers say:
» "The ability to measure the same piece of hardware in either time domain or frequency domain is very valuable."
USABILITY RANK: 7
(7) ANRITSU INSTRUMENTS Portable OTDR troubleshoots optical fiber waveguides, connectors eeProductCenter says: “Maintaining optical waveguide infrastructure typically demands reliance on a variety of pieces of test gear, including the likes of OTDRs (optical time domain reflectometers), specialized visible and infrared laser light sources, power meters, and the like. Hauling that into the field can be a chore. In daily practice, single–mode and multi–mode waveguides complicate the picture. What’s more, most core and backbone networks use long fibers, but optical access networks usually use short fibers. Access networks are typically a few kilometers in length. But metro networks can extend for 100–km. These disparate systems demand different types of measuring instruments. That’s where Anritsu’s MT9083A ACCESS Master OTDR (optical time domain reflectometer) comes into play. It essentially addresses most optical system measurement functions in a nomadic all–in–one box priced at about $6500 to $13,000, depending on options.”
Readers say:
» "I’d like a demo."
USABILITY RANK: 10
(8) GAGE APPLIED TECHNOLOGIES Low cost systems address Wi–Fi test eeProductCenter says: “Enterprises working with the IEEE–802.11 Wi–Fi equipment and modulation standards are crying out for low cost WLAN (wireless local area network) test gear. Meeting this requirement, GaGe Applied Technologies’ NEXUS 802.11 WiFi Testing Systems comprise a family of turn–key assemblages built upon the company’s existing CompuGen and CompuScope hardware and software. Significantly for a company known for its high–speed digitizer boards, this product family relies on a software partnership to comprise a test system.”
Readers say:
» "The cost is quite prohibitive. Other than that, it looks like a fine product."
USABILITY RANK: 9
(9) KEITHLEY INSTRUMENTS Portable RF power meter provides laboratory accuracy to 6–GHz eeProductCenter says: “RF test equipment maker Keithley Instruments, Inc. is dishing up its handheld Model 3500 Portable RF Power Meter. Billed by the company as the first lab–quality portable RF power meter, it’s designed to make RF measurements in both field and lab. The company claims its Model 3500 provides the accuracy of a benchtop low–power RF power meter with the convenience of a portable instrument––at half the cost of competing products.”
Readers had no comments.
USABILITY RANK: 5
(10) AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES Faceless Web–interfaced oscilloscopes are LXI compliant eeProductCenter’s Alex Mendelsohn says: “The concept of an oscilloscope without local controls and a front–panel display may be unsettling to traditionalists, but in most engineering enterprises the benefits of Agilent Technologies’s space–saving 6000L Series of DSOs (digital storage oscilloscopes) will soon outweigh any discomfort. It’s all a matter of LXI (LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation).”
Readers say:
» "Agilent always has very interesting instruments."
» "Competitive pricing. Well done!"
