Arbitrary Waveform Generator

Features & Benefits

• 10 GS/s (20 GS/s) and 5 GS/s Models
• 1 or 2 Arbitrary Waveform Outputs
  • Accurate Timing with only 20 ps_p-p Total Jitter (at 10^-12 BER, Typical)
  • 45 ps Tr/Tf (20% to 80%)
  • ±100 ps Range (1 ps Resolution) Interchannel Skew Control
• 2 or 4 Variable-level Marker Outputs
  • Accurate Timing with only 30 ps_p-p Total Jitter (at 10^-12 BER, Typical)
  • 45 ps Tr/Tf (20% to 80%)
  • Up to 300 ps Range (1 ps Resolution) Delay Control
• Vertical Resolution up to 10 bit Available: 10 bits (No Marker Output) or 8 bits (with Two Marker Outputs)
• Up to 64 M (64,800,000) Point Record Length Provides Longer Data Streams
• Down to 100 fs Resolution Edge Timing Shift Control
• Sequencing Creates Infinite Waveform Loops, Jumps, and Conditional Branches
• Real-time Sequencing Creates Infinite Waveform Loops, Jumps, and Conditional Branches
• Intuitive User Interface Shortens Test Time
• Integrated PC Supports Network Integration and Provides a Built-in DVD, Removable Hard Drive, LAN, and USB Ports

Applications

• Disk Drive (Magnetic/Optical) Read/Write:
  • Up to 5 Gb/s Data Rate (2 Points/Cell) or 50 ps Timing Resolution
• Telecom/Data Communications:
  • Up to 10 Gb/s Data Rate (Binary, Pre/De-emphasis, and Multilevel Logic)
• Wireless Communications:
  • Up to 5 GHz (4 Waveform Points/Cycle) Arbitrary RF/IF and Wide-bandwidth Modulation I and Q Baseband Signals
• Mixed-signal Design and Test:
  • 2-channel Analog plus 4-channel Marker Outputs
• High-speed, Low-jitter Data/Pulse and Clock Source
• Real-world, Ideal, or Distorted Signal Generation – Including All the Glitches, Anomalies, and Impairments
• Enhanced/Corrupted Playback of DSO Captured Signals
• Waveform Vectors Imported from Third-party Tools such as MATLAB, MathCAD, Excel, and Others

The AWG7000 Series of Arbitrary Waveform Generators Delivers the Industry’s Best Mixed-signal Stimulus Solution for Ever-increasing Measurement Challenges

The AWG7000 Series Arbitrary Waveform Generator delivers a unique combination of superior signal stimulus, unrivaled sample rate, bandwidth and signal fidelity, and uncompromised usability.

This family offers the industry’s best solution to the challenging signal stimulus issues faced by designers verifying, characterizing, and debugging sophisticated electronic designs.

With sample rates from 5 GS/s to 20 GS/s (10 bits), together with 1 to 2 output channels, the toughest measurement challenges in the disk drive, communications, digital consumer, and semiconductor design/test industries can be easily solved.

The open Windows (Windows XP)-based instruments deliver ease of use and allow connectivity with peripherals and compatibility with third-party software.

Application Examples

The need for performance arbitrary waveform generation is broad and spans over a wide array of applications. With the AWG7000 Series, Tektronix’ 3^rd generation of industry-leading Arbitrary Waveform Generators represent a new benchmark in performance, sample rate, signal fidelity, and timing resolution.

The ability to create, generate, or replicate either ideal, distorted, or “real-life” signals is essential in the design and testing process. Signal generation with controllable rise and fall times, noise or jitter; pre-emphasis, multilevel, and mixed signals; wideband RF, and fast-changing signals are just some of the capabilities of the AWG7000 Series.

Pre/De-Emphasized Signal Generation

With increasing transmission speeds and to compensate for frequency characteristics of “lossy” media, the technique of pre/de-emphasis is increasingly applied. Serial data standards such as PCI Express and others have also included pre/de-emphasis tests as a requirement to meet the respective compliance test specification.

The basic theory of pre-emphasis is that for any series of bits of the same value, the first bit always has a higher voltage level than the following bits. By doing so, frequency characteristics of transmission lines can be compensated thus the signal fidelity at the receiver side increased.

The AWG7000 Series, with its performance and analog output, enables users to directly generate pre/de-emphasized signals for next-generation serial data standards. It also enables users to generate 3-level signals as required for SATA Out-of-Band (OOB) testing.

The direct generation of such signals provides an increased signal quality and avoids cumbersome signal generation using multiple channels and a power combiner. See Figure 1.

Multilevel Signal Generation

The requirements for serial interfaces are continuously increasing. Higher and higher data rates are required, and the performance of cables and circuits is moving closer to their theoretical limits. One technique to increase the data rate without increasing the transition rate is by applying multilevel signals, wherein a signal can assume more than the standard binary 2 levels.

In multilevel signaling one can think of multilevel discrete amplitudes of a signal. This phenomenon is known as Pulse Amplitude Modulation or PAM. A 4PAM signal, a signal with 4 different amplitudes, increases the data rate by four without increasing the transition rate of the signal. Multilevel signals are not only applied for data transmission. Multilevel memory chips, storing more than a single bit in an individual memory element, are being produced and multilevel coding of data for storage on optical disks is being considered as an efficient way to increase storage capacity.

The AWG7000 Series enables you to test your latest design by generating any kind of mixed or multilevel signal. See Figure 2.

Signal Generation for Storage Device Testing

Increasing capacity requirements for storage devices leads to the development of new and faster read-and-write strategies for magnetic as well as optical storage devices. Multilevel coding of data for storage on optical disks is also being considered as an efficient way to increase storage capacity.

The AWG7000 Series, with its ability to generate an accurate reproduction of the read­and­write signals, enables users to design, develop, and test the latest storage devices. With sample rates up to 20 GS/s, and the generation of up to 6 signals (2 analog plus 4 marker) with a clock timing resolution of 100 ps, the AWG7000 Series represents a new benchmark in the industry. See Figure 3.

Wideband RF-signal Generation

In the RF world, technologies ranging from a wireless mouse to a satellite image require test equipment that can provide enough sample rate and resolution to recreate even the most complex RF behavior. The latest digital RF technologies often exceed the capabilities of current test equipment to generate wide-bandwidth and fast-changing signals that are increasingly seen in many wireless applications such as radar, UWB, and others.

The AWG7000 Series enables the direct generation of RF signals and their output through the D/A converter for signals up to a carrier frequency of 5 GHz and a bandwidth of 5.8 GHz. The direct generation of IF or RF signals avoids I/Q degradations and lengthy adjustments associated with traditional generation using I/Q modulators. The AWG7000 Series with its maximum sample rate of 20 GS/s is the sole solution that allows a direct RF signal generation for up to 5 GHz. See Figure 4.

Additional Software Application Tools Extending Waveform Generation

RFXpress (RFX100)

RFXpress is a software package that synthesizes digitally modulated baseband, IF, and RF signals. It takes IQ, IF, and RF signal generation to the next level and fully exploits the wideband signal generation capabilities of Arbitrary Waveform Generators (AWGs). Supporting a wide range of modulations, as well as the symbol map functions, the software allows you to define your own modulation.

UWB-WiMedia signal creation, a software module for RFXpress, has the capability to digitally synthesize and generate RF signals in Band Groups 1 and 2 of the UWB spectrum. As per the latest WiMedia specification, signals will band hop in real-time over 1.5 GHz modulation bandwidth including all the different preamble synchronization sequences, cover sequences, TFCs, and band groups. All six band groups (BG1 to BG6) can be generated with band hopping in either IQ or IF. The conformance mode enables you to generate all signals that conform to WiMedia’s specifications, while the custom mode allows you to adjust the signals for stress and margin testing.

SerialXpress^® (SDX100)

SerialXpress enables creation of exact waveforms required for thorough and repeatable design validation, margin/characterization, and conformance testing of high-speed serial data receivers. It considerably simplifies the signal creation and Jitter simulations, thus reducing overall development and test time. In addition to supporting generation of Jitter (Random, Periodic (sinusoidal), ISI, and DCD) SerialXpress also supports SSC, pre-emphasis, and noise addition. This allows the user to create a combination of various impairments simultaneously to stress the receiver.

Both RFXpress and SerialXpress are powerful easy-to-use software packages to synthesize RF and high-speed serial data signals respectively for arbitrary waveform generators (AWG). It runs as an integral part of the AWG7000 Series arbitrary waveform generators or from an external PC.