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oday,
engineers
and
technicians
typically
experience multiple cable testing
challenges in the field. Keysight
Technologies recently introduced two
innovative measurement options that
make its FieldFox handheld analyzers
the industry’s most comprehensive
and effective cable test solution to
meet these challenges head on.
Common Cable Test
Challenges
Cables (e.g., waveguide, coaxial and
twisted-pair) are by far the most
widely used components in modern RF
and microwave systems like wireless
and data communication, satellite
communications and RADAR. They
are also the leading cause of failure
in these types of systems. That’s why
their proper maintenance and using
the right tool for testing in the field is
so critical.
The typical cable test process starts
by determining whether or not a
cable is faulty or performing outside
the desired specification. If it is, the
failure’s physical location along the
cable must then be located. Once the
location is determined, the next step
is to understand what the error is
and repair it. During troubleshooting
and maintenance, engineers and
technicians can identify a fault’s
location with Return Loss (RL) and
Distance-to-Fault (DTF) methods,
but they are unable to determine
the cause or type of fault, making
it difficult to repair. In many cases,
the failures (e.g., loose or damaged
connectors, water ingress or broken
solder joints) can’t be seen by just
looking at the cable.
Also problematic is that measuring
cable performance has traditionally
required engineers and technicians to
transport a cable and antenna analyzer,
network analyzer, signal generator,
and power meter into the field. That
process is all the more complicated
when the cables are used in systems
located in hard to reach or even
potentially hazardous environments.
Once in place, the instruments would
need to be correctly set up for testing.
While effective, the process is error
prone and leaves the instruments
subject to accidental damage.
Further
complicating
matters,
traditional vector network analyzers
(VNAs) have difficulty making
precise and repeatable high-loss
measurements for in-situ microwave
cables where test ports are long
distances apart.
Easier Cable Measurements
with FieldFox’s Enhanced
Cable Test Suite
FieldFox’s new Time Domain
Reflectometry
(TDR)
cable
measurement option (Option 215)
complements the analyzer’s current
RL and DTF measurements. The RL
measurement capability exposes
mismatch of cable connections,
while the DTF capability indicates
the location of any faults or poor
connections along the cable. The
new TDR option provides engineers
with new insight to help measure the
impedance changes along the cable
and identify the cause (type) of specific
faults, such as short, open or water
ingress. To date, FieldFox is the only
handheld analyzer than can perform
RL, DTF and TDR measurements in
the same instrument.
FieldFox’s TDR or step measurement
T
Making Quick and Easy Measurements of
Cables in the Field with FieldFox
Tom Hoppin, Keysight Technologies, Inc.
New-Tech Magazine Europe l 62