AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT SPECTRUM INSTRUMENTATION'S DIGITIZERS AND GENERATORS

Spectrum Instrumentation, founded in 1989, uses a unique modular concept to design and produce a wide range of more than 200 digitizers and generator products as PC-cards (PCIe and PXIe) and stand-alone Ethernet units.

During an interaction with Vidushi, Greg Tate, Technical/Sales Manager, Spectrum Instrumentation discussed various aspects of their high-speed digitizers and arbitrary waveform generators, including key features, sampling rates, data throughput, software support, quality management, modular design, applications, and international service and sales network.

What are the key features that distinguish Spectrum Instrumentation’s high-speed digitizers from standard signal generators?

Please note that digitizers acquire analog electronic signals and convert them to digital information, using analog-to-digital (ADC) components. As such they are not signal generators at all! I suspect the question may be, what makes our products different to other standard products? There are a number of key differences.

A) Connectivity to a PC. We offer products in three formats PCIe (cards that plug directly into the PCIe bus of a PC), PXIe (modules that use the same technology, that plug into an industrial PXI chassis) and LXI (standalone units that connect to PC’s and Networks via LAN).

B) Data transfer speed. PCIe technology allows the transfer of data, between the PC and the products, at rates orders of magnitude faster than other bus standards (such as USB or GPIB). This greatly improves the measurement speeds that are possible in automated testing applications. Furthermore, PCIe  technology exhibits lower latency, particularly when using multiple cards, and scalability as it can have multiple lanes in Spectrum Instrumentation.