agilent_feed

4 solutions for continuous acquisition of data.

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:29:48 +0000

The remainder of this application note describes four system configurations that support continuous data acquisition, the potential bottlenecks in those configurations, and possible solutions to the bottlenecks. Throughout the note, sidebars highlight Agilent digitizers and data converters that can be used to create effective solutions for continuous acquisition of data. Happy reading. Follow link to download complete paper.

ADC PCI cards used for injection efficiency monitoring

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:53:59 +0000

A team of 8 scientists working at the Australian Synchroton facility in Clayton presented the latest developments they have put in place at DIPAC 2011 in Hamburg. In their paper you will learn what they did and how our PCI U1071A digitizers have been used to monitor the injection efficiency of their operation which they aim to be top-up in 2012. Here you will find the paper: u1071A in australian synchroton

Simplify multichannel data acquisition system with AXIe

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:51:35 +0000

Simplifying the data acquisition system within big physics experiments, including plasma and inertial conﬁnement Fusion, particle acceleration, microwave and RF astrophysics, and x-ray imaging in hydrodynamics can be a non-negligible task.Agilent Technologies multichannel digitizers contain all the timing and synchronization technologies to create synchronous sampling across 10’s or 100’s of channels at a time. This application brief describes the newest multichannel solution that we propose to you in order to respond to your experiments challenges. Feel free to contact us if you would like to get further information. You can also order the hard copy of this note here, don’t forget to give us your mailing address.

High-performance digitizers enhance beam control quality

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:48:40 +0000

Creating particle collisions at nanometer scale and with picoseconds of duration requires extreme precision in spatial and temporal control. At facilities such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research, more commonly known as CERN, and the Australian Synchrotron, high-performance Agilent Acqiris digitizers are helping researchers achieve the levels of precision and control they need to perform more and better experiments in less time. Key attributes of the Agilent digitizers include high measurement throughput, very short “dead time” between acquisitions, excellent measurement fidelity, compact size and cost-effectiveness.

The remainder of this note describes the creation of high-energy particle beams, the control of particle beams inside CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), and the control of electron beams that produce high-intensity light in the Australian Synchrotron. It also explains how the digitizers are used in these experiments.

To get this complete note: online version here. You can also get a hard copy you rather read this note quietly in your coach;-). If you prefer the second option, please drop us a line here. Don’t forget to mention your mailing address.

Use of digitizers in physics

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:27:00 +0000

In June and July 2012 we have posted a series of articles written by different physicians around the world that were featuring Agilent high-speed digitizers. If you download this document, you will find short summaries as well as the direct links to the articles. Main topics: particle accelerators, fusion, environment, astronomy, X-, Z-pinch, and inertial confinement. Enjoy!

Absolute Time Recovery using Agilent TDC

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:54:07 +0000

Abtract: This document describes the methodology to utilize the Agilent (Acqiris) U1051A Time to Digital Converter (TDC) module in applications requiring absolute time measurements beyond the range of the module. The TDC module is a precise event counter with 50 ps timing precision. The module, however, has a limitation in that the counter circuitry in the module resets every 10.48 milliseconds (or more precisely 10.48576 ms). This poses a problem in applications requiring longer capture timesbeyond this time window. This document, however, describes a method to allow users to take advantage of the modules speed, precision, and channel count to extend the capabilities to virtually any event time measurement application.

http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/U1092-90055.pdf

AXIe 12-bit digitizer, up to 3.2 GS/s, on-board processing

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:19:02 +0000

What is better than images to understand things? Check the AXIE 12-bit digitizer video. The AXIe open standard opens a new era in data acquisition systems. We have developed the first 12-bit AXIe high-speed digitizer to respond to the highest requirements of large scale applied physics experiments and wideband multi-channel and high fidelity signal capture. Imagine that you could have up to 80 synchronous channels running into just 8U of rack space. Interested in getting the datasheet or get exclusive open views of this new product? Don’t hesitate to drop us a line here.

PCIe 8-bit digitizer, up to 4 GS/s, on-board processing

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:18:02 +0000

Our PCIe 8-bit digitizer family with on board signal processing is available with 4 different types of firmwares and 512 MSamples memory . It’s therefore a versatile family which is primarly dedicated to OEM’s who design this module in their own equipment. If you would like to learn more about our OEM offer, you can drop us a message to get a copy of our OEM brochure here. Info on hot switch firmware

DOCSIS 3.1 Test Solution now available

Tue, 08 Jul 2014 14:41:55 +0000

Back in June the modular team announced a portfolio of Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) hardware and software test solutions for generating and analyzing signals up to a bandwidth of 192 MHz which includes our digitizers. The test solutions are used by R&D engineers to test transmitters, receivers and components against the requirements set forth in the DOCSIS 3.1 specification.

The DOCSIS standard continues to evolve to meet the needs of cable operators and their subscribers worldwide. Emerging applications, such as high-definition television (HDTV), video streaming around the home, and in-room gaming, are driving the demand for multi-gigabit data rates. This need for increased bandwidth has led to the development of version 3.1 of the DOCSIS standard.

DOCSIS 3.1 achieves its increased speed and capacity through the use of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and low-density parity-check (LDPC) forward error correction (FEC) technology. The new DOCSIS 3.1 specification provides:

up to 50 percent more data throughput over the same spectrum;
the ability to deliver 2.5 Gbps in the upstream; and
10 Gbps in the downstream on an existing hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network.

DOCSIS 3.1′s efficient spectrum use enables a significant decrease in the cost per bit for data delivery. It provides a cost-effective way for cable operators to increase capacity and speed, providing them a competitive advantage over satellite and wireless providers.

“While the DOCSIS 3.1 standard delivers much needed capacity and speed improvements, it also creates a number of new challenges in design and test,” said Jay Alexander, Keysight Technologies’ chief technology officer, previously vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Oscilloscope and Protocol Division. “Agilent’s portfolio of DOCSIS 3.1 test solutions easily handles the complexity of OFDM and LDPC FEC, while at the same time supporting legacy DOCSIS technologies.”

Designing DOCSIS 3.1-based transmitters, receivers and components, and verifying their performance against the new standard, requires stringent testing. This process is made more challenging by the standard committee’s adoption of new technologies and the need for backward compatibility with previous DOCSIS versions. Agilent’s portfolio of hardware and software provides a complete DOCSIS 3.1 test solution required to address these technical challenges.

Signal Generation

For DOCSIS 3.1 signal generation, Agilent’s M8190A arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) features deep memory, up to 5 GHz bandwidth and excellent spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR). This enables the M8190A to realistically stress DOCSIS 3.1 signals up to 192 MHz bandwidth and perform transmission network testing over the existing HFC network.

Agilent’s M9099 Waveform Creator Application Software, combined with the M8190A AWG, creates uncoded DOCSIS 3.1 waveforms for component level tests. Agilent’s SystemVue electronic system level (ESL) design software provides a fully coded DOCSIS 3.1 transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) simulation library. The library is used for generating waveforms with the M8190A AWG as well as conducting BER testing with low-density parity-check (LDPC) decoding. Additionally, SystemVue is the preferred platform for simulating stray signals to introduce as noise into the DOCSIS 3.1 transmission environment (e.g., LTE).

Signal Analysis

For DOCSIS 3.1 signal analysis, Agilent’s M9703A

Wideband Digital Receiver now with Advanced Open FPGA Design Flow

Fri, 20 Jun 2014 14:16:19 +0000

Things are moving fast still. This week eesof and high-speed digitzer team made a joint announcement as the M9703A AXIe 12-bit high-speed digitizer/wideband digital receiver’s FPGA’s can now be accessed with SystemVue electronic design automation (EDA) environment.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced custom algorithm development capability for the M9703A AXIe 12-bit high-speed digitizer/wideband digital receiver’s on-board field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) using the SystemVue electronic design automation (EDA) environment. The M9703A’s advanced multi-channel capability is ideal for early system prototyping and test system development in the areas of radar and satellite, electronic warfare and advanced wireless massive-MIMO 5G research.

Combining the M9703A AXIe 12-bit high-speed digitizer/wideband digital receiver with the W1462BP SystemVue FPGA Architect creates an open FPGA environment for system architects and FPGA program designers. The software enables the creation of a complete and integrated design-to-test flow. The M9703A’s four Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGAs, with automatic push-button programming, makes custom on-board data processing possible.

“This solution provides our advanced wireless and electronic warfare customers not only a complete design flow, from conception to actual hardware prototyping, but also the flexibility required to adapt to evolving technology,” said Mark Pierpoint, general manager of Agilent’s Modular Solutions Division.

The M9703A digitizer/wideband digital receiver provides up to 1.4 GHz instantaneous analog bandwidth and exceptional measurement accuracy. The digital receiver’s built-in multi-module processing synchronization, with greater than 100 phase-coherent channels, makes it ideal for multichannel applications requiring simultaneous wide-bandwidth and high dynamic-range measurements on multiple channels. This includes radar emulation, test and calibration, and R&D validation in advanced MIMO and baseband-IQ applications.

The W1462BP SystemVue FPGA Architect enables system architects and algorithm developers to create innovative designs for wireless and aerospace/defense communications systems. The software dramatically reduces design time and verification effort for system architects and algorithm developers doing communications PHY system design.

BrightSpec on the way to offer FT-MRR spectrometers for trace level gas sensing with help of Agilent

Wed, 11 Jun 2014 09:09:41 +0000

Our team likes to collaborate with companies such as BrightSpec Inc to push the limits of what is possible and see new technology being developed. Check this press release which was published by BrightSpec Inc. during the Pittcon conference back in March 14.

BrightSpec teams up with Agilent Technologies’ High-Speed Data Acquisition team to offer Broadband and Targeted MRR spectrometers for trace level gas sensing.

Pittcon Conference & Expo, Chicago, IL, March 2, 2014 – BrightSpec, Inc. today announced that it has teamed with the high-speed data acquisition team of Agilent Technologies Inc. to offer high speed Fourier transform molecular rotational resonance (FT-MRR) spectrometers. Agilent PCIe high-speed digitizers equipped with deep memory and real-time signal accumulation enable the high sensitivity of BrightSpec spectrometers used in manufacturing process control, environmental monitoring and defense applications. BrightSpec FT-MRR spectrometers, available in Broadband, Targeted and Dedicated configurations, rely on the digitization of broadband signals in microsecond time scales. The spectrometers are controlled by a PC equipped with a high-speed digitizer for accumulating 100 microseconds of data at 720 MHz of bandwidth in real-time. Operating at nearly 100% duty cycle, FT-MRR spectrometers are 10,000 times faster than competing techniques.

For trace level analysis of volatile organic compounds, BrightSpec offers a benchtop spectrometer, which determines the composition of gas mixtures from the pure rotational spectrum at millimeter wavelengths. FT-MRR is a high-resolution spectroscopy with absolute recognition capability for direct analysis of complex gas mixtures. The software-controlled instruments are automated and re-programmable. The BrightSpec One FT-MRR broadband product is on display at the BrightSpec booth at the Pittcon 2014 conference.

“The collaboration with Agilent Technologies allows us to offer new FT-MRR technology at a performance level that gives a significant edge over existing techniques for gas sensing”, says Brent Harris, Director of Analytical Services of BrightSpec. “With high-speed real-time digital electronics, BrightSpec is realizing the full potential of a new fundamental way to broadly analyze gas composition at trace levels. Under software control, the instruments are adaptable to a wide range of customer applications,” says Brent.

“It’s key to Agilent’s High-Speed Data Acquisition team to be able to collaborate with companies like BrightSpec that are pushing capabilities of what is possible”, says Didier Lavanchy, operations manager for Agilent’s high-speed digitizers group. “Using our high resolution PCIe card equipped with FPGA-based, deep memory signal accumulation, BrightSpec will be able to offer high dynamic range, high-speed analytical chemistry instruments. We are looking forward to serving the needs of the gas sensing market.”

Averager is added to PCIe Digitizers

Tue, 20 May 2014 12:21:10 +0000

As always this is the place to check out to learn before everybody the announcements concerning Agilent high-speed digitizers. Tomorrow we are announcing the availability of a new real time processing capability: an averager.

Agilent Technologies Adds Averager Capability to PCIe Digitizers, Extends Range of Real-Time Processing Functions

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 21, 2014 – Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today introduced a new averager real-time processing function for its PCIe digitizer family.

Averaging signals reduces random noise effects, which improves the signal-to-noise ratio and increases resolution and dynamic range. The fast sampling rate of up to 3.2 GS/s is achieved with a single trigger and acquisition, and does not require the use of equivalent-time sampling techniques. With averaging up to 520,000 triggers per record and a self-trigger mode to effectively minimize synchronous pattern noise within the application, the averager functionality adds a layer to the ever-growing versatility of the Agilent PCIe digitizer family.

The average capabilities, together with the recently announced peak detection and digitizer real-time functions, provide Agilent customers with a complete and flexible toolbox to achieve the best analysis possible for their applications’ requirements. The software driver included with the digitizer allows the application to easily switch between signal processing functions.

“With our frequent release of additional real-time processing, customers can benefit from ever-increasing measurement throughputs,” said Didier Lavanchy, operations manager for Agilent’s high-speed digitizers. “And by using the U5340A FPGA development kit, customers can rapidly address their development requirements.”

The averager option (-AVG) is available now on the 8-bit U5309A and 12-bit U5303A PCIe high-speed digitizers. Please contact digitizers@agilent.com for more information.

The Agilent U5303A PCIe 12-bit High-Speed Digitizer recently won ECN magazine’s Impact Award for Boards and Modules. More information is available at www.ecnmag.com/news/2014/05/ecn-impact-awards-honors-outstanding-achievement-design-engineering.

Single-Slot Eight-Channel 8-bit PCIe Gen2 Digitizer

Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:57:40 +0000

Minimum-Footprint Solution Delivers Unprecedented Channel Density

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 14, 2014

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today introduced an eight-channel version of its U5309A 8-bit single-slot PCIe® Gen2 digitizer with on-board processing, providing unprecedented channel density and minimum footprint at this level of performance.

Until now, customers requiring an eight-channel data acquisition system had to order a three-slot cPCI chassis, including two digitizer modules and an interface card to the computer. Today they can select the single-slot, eight-channel U5309A PCIe digitizer, which has multiple advantages in cost, reliability and performance-as well as the tremendous size reduction into a single slot card. The installation is as simple as a direct plug into the computer PCIe slot, immediately providing eight channels of simultaneous acquisition.

Size evolution from cPCI to Agilent’s new single-slot eight-channel 8-bit PCIe Gen2 digitizer

“This eight-channel product should interest universities and research institutes looking for a cost-effective, high-density, very reliable and high-performance high-speed digitizer,” said Agilent’s Jean-Luc Lehmann, product manager, Embedded OEM. “New applications will certainly benefit from this product, leveraging its high-channel density-particularly for OEM customers, where small footprint is an important factor.”

The eight channels at 1GS/s version increases the offering of the U5309A product recently launched with its two-channel version. Channels can be interleaved to reach a 2 GS/s sampling rate. Applications will also benefit from the high data throughput provided by the Gen2 eight-lane PCIe bus and the possibility to implement real-time signal processing algorithms into the on-board FPGA. Custom processing for the PCIe digitizer family (U5309A and U5303A) is created using the U5340A FPGA development kit.

The eight-channel option is available now on the U5309A, 8-bit, high-speed PCIe high-speed digitizer; please contactdigitizers@agilent.com.

Information about product configuration is available at www.agilent.com/find/U5309A.

High-resolution images are available at www.agilent.com/find/U5309A_8ch_images.

Electronics industry recognition

Sat, 15 Mar 2014 14:55:13 +0000

The team is quite proud as we have received 3 industrial distinctions lately. Indeed, following our win of the 2013 Best in Test in the category “signal analyzer”, our products have been distinguished again as follows: The U5303A PCIe 12-bit digitizer received the “Best in Test” Winner award (Data Acquisition), the M9703 AXIe 12-bit digitizer finished finalist of the “Best in Test” award (Manufacturing test ATE ) following its latest release, the U5340 FPGA Development Kit finished finalist of the Golden Mouse trap award (Design Tools: Hardware & Software). Didier Lavanchy states with pride on this general achievement. “These numerous awards in 2014 for both our hardware and software products reward again our distinctive modular strategy. By providing complete and powerful solution, we ensure that our customers can focus on what matters most to them.”

Yves Maumary, the U5303A project manager follows: The U5303A is a new 12-bit reference for our customers looking behind the banner specifications at purchasing a high-speed data acquisition product. Winning the Best in Test and measurement award is a great achievement for our team. Our first concern remains to guarantee our customers that they can count on previously unachieved signal integrity, measurement throughput and product reliability. Saying it is one thing, we hope that the potential end users will ask to get a concrete proof of what we state .Therefore they are more than welcome to contact us in order to request a U5303A evaluation unit.”

Giovanni Lucia, U5340A project leader has been actually quite surprised: “Being based in Europe, we honestly were not aware that the Golden Mousetrap award existed. We first thought the marketing team was making us a joke. That doesn’t reduce our great pride of seeing our U5340A FPGA development kit finalist of the Golden Mousetrap. Our team has put a lot of efforts to deliver this set of design tools and provide our customers unique new capabilities that will drastically reduce their development time. It’s a great feeling to see that we were recognized by our American pairs.”

Pierre-François Maistre, the M9703A project manager strongly believes in his product: “This is yet another distinction for our M9703A digitizer which reward the power of this product for high-speed multichannel test solution. The full potential of this platform is still to be fully uncovered and that’s what make it really interesting for us. We are listening very closely to the multichannel data acquisition application needs and it’s exciting to see that we could potentially see our digitizer being used in new applications.”

A week in the life of a digitizer support engineer

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 14:58:14 +0000

Is that an Electronics RD engineer workspace ? Imagine on the left, racks filled in with modules from cPCI to PXI beside open PC’s, on the right a table with an AXIe system, screens all around showing controls of digitizers. Do you notice any differences? Not really, don’t you? However what you find does not fill exactly the RD engineer office setting: first of all you would imagine to find a man hiding at the desk behind the chassis columns but instead you find Sylvie, a dynamic, smiling French woman and secondly you are in the room dedicated to the worldwide high-speed digitizer customer support rather than in the RD department. Let’s take this opportunity to learn more about both customer support and Sylvie.

The 44 years Doctor in Electronics Instrumentation who welcomes us, has been in charge of solving Agilent high-speed data acquisition customers questions for 7 years. With her experience, we could believe that she has faced the same issues many times already. “Routine? What do you mean? I never know in advance what is going to happen during my day” she exclaims frowning her eyes as we ask her if she could describe what a typical week would be for her. “That’s why I so much like this job” she pursues. “The product pipeline is continuously changing and the technical support engineer work depends a lot of the products introductions or discontinuances. On top of that, the data converters application, options and environment’s use ranges are so wide that you hardly ever see twice the same question.”

She considers herself as a central link between the end users and where to find which documentation, the latest software upgrades. She makes sure, the digitizers users enable the functionalities they do need for their applications. She needs to be aware of who could solve a problem if her experience is not sufficient. She actually enjoys a lot being in this position, first because the customers she has are really nice to her, secondly because she is luckily working very closely with both the hardware and software RD team. The way she speaks about it makes it sound as if she was an interpreter: translating customer requests into RD engineer detailed questions and reverse way when she sends the answers to the customers. “What does make sense for someone is not necessarily a pure evidence for someone else” she states with reason. “it’s important for me to take one’s place in order to translate one’s needs correctly”. The centrality of her tasks also reflects in the fact that she is often the first in line when bugs appear. She can then very easily raise them to the RD engineers that can take corrective actions in a timely manner.“Help me to fix this bug, it will help us in the long run” she would kindly tell them. The reverse way is also true, the RD department counts on her to test the latest

Simultaneous Acquisition and Readout (SAR) application

Mon, 10 Mar 2014 06:24:23 +0000

Today’s article is an application brief on simultaneous acquisition and readout using the U5340A FPGA development kit. A complete example application note can be provided upon request and it includes the HDL source code, a building script and the control application for the U5303A and M9703A products so that the user can speed up the development and customize easily the design to adapt it to its own need.

Introduction

Numerous test scenarios require gap-free or continuous acquisition of digitized data for minutes, hours or days. A variety of system configurations will enable effective implementation of such applications along with the required processing and analysis of the captured data. One very common and effective arrangement is the implementation of a FIFO-like scheme in which the data are stored and read simultaneously to/from an on board buffer.

Figure 1 visually illustrates the concept of simultaneous acquisition and readout (SAR) versus a standard acquisition and readout scheme for a multi records acquisition.

From an application perspective is not relevant if the data are captured as a single record resulting from a unique trigger or as multiple records resulting from multiple events as long as the following two requirements are satisfied:

“Acquisition Data Rate” < “Readout Data Rate”
On board Buffer size > “Acquisition Data Rate” x “Maximum System Latency”

The first condition is necessary to guarantee the gap-free scenario and the second condition is necessary to compensate the unavoidable system latencies due to the OS pre-emption. Example applications that require SAR implementation include signal monitoring, software defined radio, microwave astrophysics, atmospheric research, pulsed radar and telemetry systems, analysis of particle-beam steering in cyclotron accelerators, medical imaging.

Data reduction and SAR with the U5340A FDK

When the volume of the digitized data is too high for the host system a data reduction treatment needs to be applied to the incoming data before transferring them to the storage media. Most of the Agilent Technologies modular digitizer products like the U5303A and M9703A adopt a FPGA based architecture where each processing channel contains a Digital Processing Unit (DPU) making them ideal to host User-Defined Core implementing such custom real time processing. That is where the U5340A FPGA Development Kit (FDK) comes into play by providing a complete development framework for the supported Agilent modular data converter platforms.

The U5340A-FDK allows the programmer to directly access the underlying hardware resources and the FPGA’s processing capabilities in an easy and effective manner hence allowing the implementation of custom Real-Time processing functions such as FFT, Digital Down Conversion (DDC), Peak detection etc. along with the SAR mechanism.

Conclusion

Implementing a SAR application using the U5340A FDK in one of the supported digitizer platforms is straight forward. Interested? As mentioned, a complete example application note can be provided upon request and it includes the HDL source code, a building script and the control application for the U5303A and M9703A products so that the user can speed up the development and customize easily the design to adapt it to

Our PCIe digitizer in an OCT swept source engine

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 06:21:55 +0000

Image description: Follow this link to be routed to image related article. You see here on the right images captured with a 3D OCT system compare with ERM images on the left.

We are pleased to publish the following press release which has been showing on the optical coherence tomography reference website octnews.org. EXALOS and YellowSys team up with Agilent Technologies’ High-Speed Data Acquisition team to offer high-performance real-time swept source OCT engines.

EXALOS AG (Switzerland) today announced that it has teamed up with the high-speed data acquisition team of Agilent Technologies Inc. and with the software/firmware team of YellowSys to offer real-time engines for swept source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) applications. This SS-OCT engine is an integral system containing a compact swept source module, an FPGA-based data acquisition (DAQ) card in a host PC, and proprietary software that enables real-time OCT signal acquisition, processing, and k-space remapping at an A-scan rate as high as 100 kHz currently.

For research and development, EXALOS is offering a compact PC console containing a miniature OEM swept source, an optical interferometer with an adjustable reference arm, a high-performance low-noise balanced receiver, and a low-speed DAQ card for controlling an external scanner. This real-time SS-OCT engine is on display in a live demo at the EXALOS booth in the South Hall, booth 8431 (BiOS) or booth 431 (Photonics West), respectively.

The FPGA code, the firmware and software of the SS-OCT engine, is delivered by YellowSys, who is offering the code as a stand-alone IP core in combination with an application programming interface (API). YellowSys specializes in customized data acquisition solutions, including adaptations of firmware and software to custom electronics.

“The collaboration with YellowSys and Agilent Technologies allows us to offer real-time SS-OCT solutions to a wider range of customers”, says Dr. Marcus Duelk, CTO of EXALOS. “We are focusing on our core competencies to deliver high-performance broadband light sources and optical sub-systems. Customers can purchase state-of-the-art DAQ cards from Agilent for their OCT systems and have the option to upgrade the card to a real-time SS-OCT engine later on. They can also integrate the existing core of the engine into their own real-time processing environment and into their own software platform, if desired”, says Duelk.

“It’s key to Agilent’s High-Speed Data Acquisition team to be able to collaborate with companies like EXALOS that are at the top of complementary technologies”, says Didier Lavanchy, operations manager for Agilent’s high-speed digitizers group. “With our PCIe card allowing custom signal processing, EXALOS will be able to offer a real-time FPGA-based swept source engine dedicated to high-performance SS-OCT systems. We are looking forward to serving the OCT community and markets.”

About Agilent High-Speed Data Acquisition

Agilent’s High-Speed Data Acquisition team is based in Geneva, Switzerland. It concentrates on developing the most effective and reliable analog-to-digital conversion technology at high resolution and fast sampling rates. Besides hardware, on-board processing and interoperable software are the key assets released by the team. More information about this division of

Agilent high-speed ADC raises interest in China

Fri, 10 Jan 2014 10:46:19 +0000

Didier Lavanchy, head of our team, has been interviewed last month by Electronic Component Trading Network China(ECTN) to provide further details around our PCIe 12-bit digitizer launched in the 3rd quarter of last year and speak about gsps ADC technology in general . You will find in this post the translation of his interview. It may be interesting to read it even though you are familiar with this blog as Mr Lavanchy usually stays away from the medias so you may learn about details that have not yet been published. Have a nice reading. In the name of the team, happy and successful new year to all of you. GO TO THE INTERVIEW.

ECTN: As it is stated in the launch press release, the U5303A is an 12-bit high-speed digitizer for systems in commercial, industrial, aerospace and defense applications. Its uses include medical imaging, environmental monitoring, analytical time-of-flight, ultrasonic nondestructive testing and radar. Would you give me some specific examples or case studies? Besides, what are U5303A’s unique aspects when comparing with other digitizers?

Didier Lavanchy (DL): The U5303A is based on the PCIe Gen2 platform and is targeting OEM applications such as the one you mentioned where customers designed our products into their system. Besides OEM, the U5303A can also be used in research application such as in the measurement of plasma temperature, replacing current radiometer. Adding to that, the U5303A features excellent analog performance characteristics with very low noise and distortion, guaranteed by powerful shielding and cooling design, extensive validation and full production test.

ECTN: Is there any Agilent high-speed digitizer used in general equipment ? If yes, what kind of general equipment and what are their functions? Has Agilent established any form of partnership with other brands?

As a matter of fact Agilent digitizers are used generally inside specific equipment such as high-resolution medical imaging and analytical time-of-flight instruments. Their first function is to convert incoming fast analog signals into digital data, digital data that are then real time processed in the FPGA on the board or post processed in the computer. Our intent is to deliver technology with high signal fidelity, which can be easily plugged-in complex system with demanding signal processing requirement. In this regards, we work for example with the FPGA designer tool software provider Mentor Graphics. Together we have released a FPGA development kit dedicated to the efficient and fast deployment of custom signal processing algorithm directly in the heart of our hardware. As a result our customers can focus and protect their proprietary IP.

ECTN: Is the U5303A an industry-leading product? In other words, how advanced U5303A is compared to other high-speed digitizers? In terms of high-speed ADC technology, are there any technological bottlenecks in this industry? If yes, would you please further explain? Will we have solutions for them?

DL: That’s an interesting question. The U5303A banner specifications are alike competitive products since you may find the same ADC on our competitors boards. Indeed, 12-bit, 3.2 GS/s are