N1090A DCA-M

Introduction

High accuracy, low cost solutions for optical and electrical waveform analysis including solutions for < 1 Gb/s through 11.3 Gb/s, very low noise and jitter, and fast sampling rates for high throughput. The Keysight Technologies, Inc. N1000 and 86100 digital communication analyzer (DCA) family is recognized as the industry standard for verifying optical transmitter compliance to communications standards. For years engineers have trusted the DCA to provide accurate and easy measurement of digital communication waveforms. The Keysight N109X DCA-M family has built on that legacy by using the high-performance elements of both the 86100 oscilloscope mainframe acquisition system and the optical and electrical channel hardware of the 861XX and N104X plug-in modules. 

Small Form Factor Ideal for Both Manufacturing and R&D Applications 

Unlike the 86100D and N1000A, which use modules to create a waveform analysis system, the N1090A is completely integrated instruments built in a small form factor. Low noise, high-sensitivity calibrated optical reference receivers — compliant to industry standard tolerances — are available for both multimode and single-mode, creating a measurement system with very high dynamic range. Electrical channels are available with 20 GHz bandwidths. 

Controlling the N1090A 

There are three ways to control the N1090A system 

• A PC directly connected to the N1090A with a USB cable 
• An 86100D or N1000A mainframe connected to the N1090A with a USB cable. (The mainframe can then be controlled via GPIB or LAN) 
• For an automated test system environment, the simplest and preferred method to control the N1090A is to connect the primary test system PC to a low-cost modern PC via LAN. The FlexDCA interface resides on the second PC. The second PC is then connected to the N1090A via USB. This eliminates most issues of compatibility between an existing test system PC and the N1090A hardware and can greatly simplify converting an 86100D system to an N1090A system The N1090A user interface and operating system is identical to the modern FlexDCA interface of the 86100D and N1000A. A user-provided PC running N1010A FlexDCA software controls the N1090A over a simple USB 2.0 or 3.0 connection. 

System setup 

The following guidelines indicate the fundamental requirements for PC’s connected to the N109X and running the FlexDCA interface: For a single channel setup 

• Intel I3 processor or better 
• 4 GB memory 
• Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit) For a parallel test setup (multiple instruments or multiple channels) 
• Intel I5 or better 
• 8 GB memory 
• Windows 7 (64 bit) 

The communication API between your system controller and the PC is SCPI over LAN, either VXI-11 or HiSlip. If NI-VISA or IO Libraries are used to communicate with GPIB instruments, the switch to SCPI/LAN is very simple. It is important to note that there is no need to do any USB programming. This is all handled by the FlexDCA interface. 

Remote programs previously developed using the 86100 or N1000 FlexDCA interface can be leveraged directly to control an automated N109X system. Use FlexDCA SCPI programming tools to simplify conversion of legacy 86100-based automation to FlexDCA compatible code. Measurement results are generally faster with the new N109X due to significantly faster sampling rates. Similar to the 86100 and N1000, a reference clock, synchronous with the signal being measured, is required to trigger the N109X. Timebase calibration, previously performed at service centers, can now be performed by users, reducing cost of ownership and instrument down time. 

N1090A Configurations 

Choose from the following reference receiver options to best meet your measurement needs. Select one option. Options cannot be combined. However if test needs change, the N1090A can be returned to a Keysight service center to convert from any of the five reference receiver options to one of the other four options listed. Unfiltered mode is not available in any option. 

Module SIRC Filters 

System Impulse Response Correction (SIRC) filters provide channel SIRC measurement and data files to give an ideal channel response. SIRC data can be applied in FlexDCA's System Impulse Response Correction dialog. The SIRC correction data feature is a digital filter that is used to: 

• Improve the response of module reference filters to more closely match an ideal receiver. 
• Enable non-standard reference receiver rates or bandwidths. 
• Increase the bandwidth of the channel by up to 50%. 
• Ensures that an eye diagram will look identical between different modules.