R. A. Wood Associates QuickNews

Painless Extraction 2.0 has been released!

Apple TV, iPhone... How many more technological marvels can we take this week?

We decided to add our own surprise to a big technology week with the release of Painless Extraction 2.0!

Painless Extraction 2.0 adds some great new features to the previous version:

• Capability to extract 1-4 channels of measurements from HP (Agilent) 8757 Series Scalar Analyzers,
• A new script creation page that allows the user to set up test scripts, which compare the measurements against user-defined test limits, and a test summary report is created.

8757 Series Scalar Analyzers:

Painless Extraction 2.0 has been designed to extract up to 4 channel measurements from HP 8757 series scalar analyzers. The extracted data is stored into the magnitude arrays of the S2P files (Phase arrays are zeroed out). Up to 4 channels can be extracted from the scalar analyzers. The 4 channels could be S-parameters (S11, S21), or they could be any channel setup from the scalar analyzer (A/R, B/R, C/R, A/B, etc.) Whatever the user sets up on the scalar analyzer channels, Painless Extraction retrieves the data from the analyzer, analyzes it, and stores it in "S2P format" files for future retrieval and data analysis.

Now the same capability we've provided for network analyzers (HP 8720 Series, HP 8510 Series, HP 8753 Series) is available for HP 8757 Series scalar analyzers. (Please note that we have verified the program specifically with a 4-Channel HP 8757C scalar analyzer.)

Statistical Analysis and Test Scripts:

We've added a new "tab" which can be used to perform statistical analysis on the various measurement channels. For example, let's say you have the network or scalar analyzer set up to take S11 (return loss) and S21 (gain) measurements over the frequency band of 1.0 to 3.0 GHz. You can very quickly set up a test script which sets the Pass/Fail limits for the S21/gain measurements, and sets up the Pass/Fail limits for the S11/return loss measurements. Now when you connect the amplifier, and the measurements on the analyzer are set up, you can retrieve the measurements from the analyzer and compare the measurements with the test limits and make Pass/Fail determinations. You can then save the test summary report in a tab-separated text format, which can be imported into spreadsheet programs (Excel and others).

This is a great feature if you are using a network analyzer or scalar analyzer for high volume production testing!

More information is available from our software products page, and the associated links for downloading a demo version of this program.

Thanks to Amelia for her great support in updating this program.
Bob Wood

Painless Extraction 2.0 Coming Soon

We just wanted to give you a quick "heads up" about the upcoming version 2.0 of Painless Extraction. We have added some pretty significant features, such as:

• The capability to retrieve S-Parameters or other Channels 1-4 measurements from HP8757C Scalar Analyzers. We believe this will open up a whole new market for this program.
• The capability to create a quick test script that will allow the user to set various test parameters for the retrieved data, such as average gain, minimum gain, maximum gain, P-P flatness, RMS, standard deviation, best fit line slope, and many others. The measured data from the network or scalar analyzer is then compared against these test parameters, and Pass/Fail results are reported. This is a great feature for production testing, or testing multiple parts with the same test parameters.

We expect to have this version released within the next 2 weeks. Please stop by again, try it out, and let us know what you think about the new version.

Thanks!

Bob Wood

New Version 1.3f of RFPathAnalysisToolkit Available

We've just uploaded a new version 1.3f of RF Path Analysis Toolkit. This new version contains several minor fixes and several new features:

• Excel messages (save file before closing. etc.) are now displayed after RF Path Analysis Toolkit is closed. Excel messages are suppressed while RF Path Analysis Toolkit is running. Previously when RF Path Analysis Toolkit was closed, Excel messages were still being suppressed causing updated Excel files to possibly not be saved (no warning to save file before closing).
• You can now include a custom description to the Simple Transmission Line component. This allows the user to create quick RF parts (cables, pads, equalizers, etc) and label them without having to take time to add components to the RF Component Library. The custom description information is saved in the RF Path file.
• The registration process has been modified. Hopefully it is simpler and more robust.
• The Template Analysis Spreadsheet and the RF Component Library have been modified slightly to make custom changes to these files easier to implement:
• Custom changes to the library (such as more parameters) are more robust. The database grows as more columns are added.
• Custom changes to the Template Analysis Spreadsheet are simpler. A new button on the Settings panel will create an unprotected Template Analysis Spreadsheet for customizing (for registered users).
• The "About" screen now shows the RF Path Analysis Toolkit logo and software version number

TunerHelper Update Released 2/1/2005

Flash Demo Added for TunerHelper

TunerHelper 2.2 Released

We are adding Flash demonstrations of our software products

SpurFinder 3.2 Released

Painless Extraction 1.4 Released

RF Path Analysis Toolkit now available!

• Use Excel "template" spreadsheets to perform RF path analysis (1 template included)
• Analyze noise figure, gains, signal levels, third order intercept points, any other parameters for any RF paths
• Use Excel "library" spreadsheet for organizing a database of RF components
• A preliminary RF component library is included with 100's of parts to start with
• The program is built with a LabVIEW user interface, controlling Excel where needed
• Load and save RF paths and parameters from text files

New Software Program Painless Extraction Version 1.3e now available

• The capability to extract S-parameters from Agilent (HP) 8510, 8720 and 8753 Network Analyzers!
• The capability to load and save files in ".S2P" (Touchstone) format
• Improved and simplified user interface
• A great way to view S2P files!