National Instruments USB-5680 RMS RF Power Meter

Posted by Ken Cheung in Test Solution on Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The 6 GHz NI USB-5680 power meter is National Instruments (Nasdaq:NATI) first USB-controlled true RMS RF power meter, which provides a highly flexible solution for automated test, measurement, and monitoring applications in a small footprint. The USB-5680 power meter features high measurement accuracy and wide dynamic range packaged in a size similar to a typical power head. In automated test applications, the small size frees up valuable rack space without sacrificing performance. Powered solely from the USB cable, the new power meter is also ideal for portable applications because it consumes only 100 mA of current without an external power supply.

Traditional power meters feature a power sensor or head located close to the unit under test and connect via cable to an accurate A/D converter located in conventional instrumentation housing. Using the latest PC and A/D converter technologies, the USB-5680 combines both the sensor and the A/D converter in one package occupying less than 9.6 cubic inches – much smaller than the benchtop equivalent. The USB-5680 simply connects directly to an available USB port on any PC or PXI controller.

The USB-5680 comes with a full-featured, executable soft front panel and intuitive, easy-to-use software libraries to help engineers quickly set up their systems. Engineers who need to measure continuous wave RF signals up to 6 GHz can use the USB-5680 in a stand-alone configuration with a VXIplug&play-compatible executable soft front panel to facilitate interactive control. To incorporate the USB-5680 in an automated test and measurement system, engineers simply use the intuitive application programming interface (API) with their programming environments of choice including NI LabVIEW, LabWindows(tm)/CVI and the Microsoft .NET environment.

USB-5680 Features

  • Wide frequency range: 50 MHz to 6 GHz
  • High dynamic range: 63 dB
  • Amplitude accuracy: ±0.18 dB
  • Small size: 8.5 by 3.0 by 5.6 cm (3.35 by 1.18 by 2.2 in)

The USB-5680 is priced from $2,499; €2,299; ¥366,000.

More info: National Instruments RF and Communications

If you found this page useful, bookmark and share it on:

Possibly of Interest

 
EDA Blog Newsletter
Don't have time to visit EDA Blog everyday? Then sign up for our free newsletter. We'll send you an email when we have something to share with you. Your email address will be kept confidential and we will not share, sell, or rent it to anyone. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking a link in the email.

Enter your email address to sign up for our free newsletter:   

If you are familiar with RSS feeds, you can also sign up for our free blog feed. Our RSS feed is updated in real-time while our newsletter is updated daily.