National Instruments PXIe-5673 Vector Signal Generator

The NI PXIe-5673 (Part Numbers: 780418-01, 780418-02, 780417-01, 780417-02, 780416-01, 780416-02, and 780418-12) can create many types of signals when used with certain software. There is no one physical module called the PXIe-5673. Instead, this model is comprised of 3 hardware modules: namely the PXI-5650 (or 5651 or 5652) LO source PXI module, the PXIe-5450 (or 5451) AWG PXI Express module, and the PXIe-5611 Upconverter.

With the NI Modulation Toolkit for LabVIEW, this Vector Signal Generator can create several waveforms, such as AM, CPM, FM, QAM (4, 16, 64, and 256), ASK, PSK, MSK, arbitrary waveforms, multitone signals, and others. The PXIe-5673 Vector Signal Generator can also be used in conjunction with standard-specific software to create signals for GPS, ZigBee, GSM/EDGE/WCDMA, WiMAX, WLAN, etc. The stream-from-disk functions allow the user to create ongoing waveforms that are a few terabytes long at the most. This module utilizes RF upconversion from differential baseband I and Q signals.

The NI PXIe 5673 is comprised of the PXIe-5611 RF Upconverter, the PXI-5652 RF Continuous Wave Source, and the PXIe-5450 dual-channel Arbitrary Waveform Generator. The PXI-5652 utilizes a voltage-controlled oscillator, which allows for frequency tuning times of 6.5 ms or lower. The PXIe-5450 16-bit digital-to-analog converter creates baseband I and Q signals at data rates to 200 MS/s maximum. For this sample rate, the device can generate over 100 MHz of RF bandwidth.

A great benefit of PXI Express models such as the PXIe-5673 is the high-speed waveform transfer rates. With this Vector Signal Generator, the user can download waveforms onto an instrument’s memory much quicker than with standard instrumentation. While utilizing the x4 PCI Express interface, the user can download waveforms to memory at speeds to 800 MB/s at the most.