Hewlett-Packard Launches First Modulation Domain Analyzer for Mainstream Applications

Breakthroughs in Speed, Cost, and Ease of Use Bring Benefits of New Measurement Technology to Broad Spectrum of Design Engineers

SANTA CLARA, Calif., January XX, 1991 -- Hewlett-Packard Company today brought time-dependent frequency and time-interval measurements within reach of thousands of design engineers with the introduction of the HP 53310A Modulation Domain Analyzer. The second-generation instrument boasts breakthroughs in speed, cost, and ease of use over previous methods for characterizing complex electronic circuits used in a broad range of modern applications.

Combining HP's ultra-fast continuous measurement technology with on-chip data processing, easy to use menu-driven operation, and moderate cost, the HP 53310A is the first instrument of its kind to provide a real-time interactive graphical display of changes in frequency and time-interval over time. As a result, designers of modern electronic circuitry can directly observe modulated signals and actual jitter characteristics, and more quickly analyze design problems.

"The trend in modern electronic design is toward greater use of complex modulation techniques in everything from cellular telephones and garage door openers to advanced weapons and radar systems," said Alex Peake, product marketing manager for modulation domain products. "Design engineers need a corresponding instrument capable of giving them a quick, qualitative insight into the performance of their designs during the prototype phase and beyond."

According to Peake, the capability to quickly and easily characterize these designs will significantly reduce time to market for new products, and ultimately lower product costs by limiting the need to "over design" them. Engineers will have greater confidence in their designs because of the increased understanding of how they operate.

Real-Time Display of Complex Signals

The HP 53310A offers designers an easy, low-cost way to directly view the precise behavior of servo and stepper motors, laser printers, flow meters, tape drives, anti-lock braking systems, and next-generation cellular telephones. It reduces the time required to study the transient response of voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) and phase-locked loops -- common yet essential circuits in many electronic applications -- from hours to minutes. The HP 53310A's statistical functions provide insight into the operation of a variety of spread spectrum applications, from wireless local-area networks and cordless telephones, to advanced military communications and radar systems. And the HP 53310A's dynamic display is essential to understanding potential sources of jitter and other undesired forms of modulation in integrated circuits, video and compact disk players, and digital communications systems.

"Until now, most designers have had to depend on their powers of deductive reasoning when characterizing the sublties of VCO responses and frequency agile signals," said Perry Jeung, R&D project manager for the HP 53310A Modulation Domain Analyzer. "The HP 53310A Modulation Domain Analyzer makes it easy for every designer to directly view the step response, settling time, and post-tuning drift of VCOs, phase-locked loops, clock recovery circuits, and servo systems."

The Next Standard in Instrumentation

Invented by Hewlett-Packard in 1987, the Modulation Domain Analyzer is the first instrument capable of graphically displaying frequency and time-intervals versus time, just as an oscilloscope shows voltage versus time. But conventional instruments like the oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer are no longer sufficient to design and test the growing number of systems that either incorporate complex modulation techniques or are troubled with undesired modulation or jitter.

The HP 53310A is the first continuous count analyzer to combine measurement and processing on a single integrated circuit. A custom, HP-designed universal counter integrated circuit -- the UCIC -- keeps track of data events as well as time through the use of zero-dead-time counters, and computes results on the fly, enabling them to be updated and displayed graphically 24 times per second. The UCIC's instantaneous computing capability also provides the HP 53310A with the unique ability to trigger on user-specified frequency or time-interval values.

Unlike conventional frequency and time-interval measuring instruments that lose valuable data while computing results and preparing for the next measurement, the HP 53310A Modulation Domain Analyzer uses HP's patented continuous measurement technology to provide up to 64,000 measurements at a rate of up to 2 million measurements per second. The analyzer makes continuous frequency measurements on signals up to 2 GHz and sampling intervals as short as 500 nanoseconds.

"Its unique ability to directly display complex signals in real time, affordability, and ease of use make the HP 53310A Modulation Domain Analyzer ready to take its place beside the circuit designer's other established test instruments," said Peake. "It represents a significant step in making modulation domain technology pervasive."

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