Copper Mountain Technologies has introduced a new series of high-performance vector network analyzers (VNAs) designed to efficiently handle advanced test applications at the 2015 International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Phoenix. The Cobalt series, which presently features the C1220 and C1209 models, offer an unmatched price-performance combination for S-parameter measurement between 100 kHz and 20 GHz.
To achieve high performance and an affordable cost, the design and production of Cobalt VNAs incorporates several new proprietary manufacturing and test approaches. Innovative new test grade coaxial connector technology for internal interconnect and tighter tolerances contribute to Cobalt’s exceptional metrological accuracy. Advanced electromagnetic modeling optimizes the 20 GHz Cobalt’s ultra-wideband directional coupler design, and new production methods for precision airstrip lines give the directional couplers extraordinary stability, both over temperature and over very long intervals of time.
In addition, Cobalt’s hybrid dual-core DSP+FPGA signal processing engine, combined with new frequency synthesizer technologies, propel Cobalt’s measurement speed to among the most advanced instruments in the industry, and well past the achievements of any cost-competitive products. These extremely fast measurement speeds and compact design make Cobalt VNAs optimal for engineers looking for fast production and BTS filter tuning applications without requiring a lot of space.
The top-of-the-line C1220 analyzer boasts a frequency range of 100 kHz to 20 GHz. It offers a typical dynamic range of 145 dB, an output power adjustment range of -60 dBm to +10 dBm, and measures up to 500,001 measurement points per sweep. C1220 can reach a measurement speed of 10 microseconds per point and has dimensions of 14.8" x 16.3" x 5.5" (376 x 415 x 140 mm).
The C1209 features many of the same technical specifications and is capable of analyzing the frequency range from 100 kHz to 9 GHz. With dimensions of 14.8" x 8.3" x 3.7" (377 x 210 x 95 mm) and a weight of just 4.8 kg, the smaller C1209 is about a “half rack” in width.
Like all VNAs in the Copper Mountain Technologies portfolio, Cobalt VNAs are PC-driven, meaning the design separates the measurement module from the processing module so that its proprietary software can offload processing of the measurement results to an external PC. This allows for improved processing power, better display capabilities and more reliable performance. Copper Mountain Technologies also offers customers a wide range of standard features that include time-domain with gating, fixture simulation (embedding and de-embedding) and frequency offset mode for mixer/converter testing.
