National Instruments 778768-01 PXI Vector Signal Generator

The National Instruments 778768-01, an identifying part number for the PXI‑5670, is a versatile and powerful PXI Vector Signal Generator designed to meet the needs of product development applications from design through manufacturing.  It is the perfect option for scientific research, consumer electronics, communications, aerospace/defense, semiconductor testing, software-defined radio, RFID, and wireless sensor networks since it supports a broad range of modulation formats, such as AM, FM, PM, ASK, FSK, PSK, MSK, and QAM.

Within a small 3-slot 3U module, the 778768-01 creates vector signals from 250 kHz to 2.7 GHz with signal levels ranging from -145 dBm to +13 dBm. It seamlessly integrates with conforming systems by adhering to the PXI bus's industry-standard plug-and-play requirements. It can be used for many automation applications because of its onboard ultrahigh-stability oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO), which provides frequency stability of ±20 ppb and frequency precision of ±50 ppb.

The Modulation Toolkit for LabVIEW and the NI-RFSG instrument driver are included in the 778768-01. A software environment that may be used with NI LabVIEW 7 Express, LabWindows/CVI, and C is compatible with NI-RFSG. It offers simple-to-use features for defining time, synchronization, CW tone, and arbitrary waveform synthesis. Functions for creating, analyzing, and visualizing signals using both unique and common analog and digital modulations are available in the Modulation Toolkit. Along with features for injecting impairments such IQ Gain Imbalance, Quadrature Skew, and AWGN, standard measuring functions include error vector magnitude (EVM), modulation error ratio (MER), and ρ (rho). Its powers are further enhanced by visualization features including trellis, constellation, and 2D/3D-eye diagrams.

For emulating real-world signal transmission situations, the 778768-01's extended playback times for complex modulated signals—up to 256 MB of deep memory—allow for the synthesis and production of longer and more complicated waveforms, up to 1.28 seconds. Power level accuracy over a temperature range of 0 to 55°C is ensured by its complex calibration process, which is crucial for steady performance in production applications.