USB-Capable Power Sensors

Rohde and Schwarz (RandS) has announced the NRP Z85 and NRP Z86, wideband sensors that measure power from 50 to 40GHz, suitable for microwave and radar development, maintenance and research. Instead of a base unit, the sensors are connected to a PC via a USB interface. This cost-efficient solution displays envelope power over a dynamic range of 47 to +20dBm. High-resolution pulse analysis is another exceptional feature.

Additionally, the RandS NRP Z85 and RandS NRP Z86 provide high-precision continuous-average measurements over the entire dynamic range from 60 to +20dBm. These performance characteristics make the sensors suitable for a variety of applications in the development and maintenance of microwave and radar systems as well as in the design and production of microwave components. The wideband power sensors can be operated from a PC via the RandS NRP Z4 USB adapter, or in combination with an RandS NRP/NRP2 power meter.

They can also be connected to any signal generator or virtually any signal, spectrum and network analyser from Rohde and Schwarz. Users can read the power measured from the DUT directly at the generator or analyser. A complete measurement solution comprising an RandS NRP Z85 or Z86 and an RandS NRP Z4 USB adapter is significantly more cost-effective than a conventional setup involving a power sensor and a power meter. With a video bandwidth of up to 30MHz and a sampling rate of 80MHz, the RandS NRP Z85 and Z86 are suited to analysing the time characteristics of modulated signals.

The rise time of less than 13ns enables easy measurement of the most frequently analysed pulse shapes. The power sensors can measure both peak power and average power over a defined time interval as well as perform statistical signal analysis (CCDF, PDF). With a measurement uncertainty of 0.18dB at 40GHz, these sensors offer good accuracy for continuous-average measurements. This combines with the sensors' other exceptional performance features to make them the market benchmark in peak power applications.

The power sensors' automatic pulse-analysis function provides peak power and average power measurements as well as detailed information on other important power and time characteristics of pulsed signals. These include, for example, pulse top level, pulse duration, pulse period, pulse duty cycle, and pulse rise and fall times. Using equivalent time sampling, the RandS NRP Z85 and Z86 can display pulsed signals with a very high time resolution.

This is done by sampling a series of consecutive waveforms of a pulsed signal. The measurements are time-shifted relative to one another, yielding a compacted sequence of samples, which over time are combined into a complete waveform. The new RandS NRP-Z85 and RandS NRP-Z86 wideband power sensors are now available from Rohde and Schwarz. The RandS NRP Z85 connects to the DUT via a 2.92 mm connector, the RandS NRP Z86 via a 2.4 mm connector.