Agilent Ignites Interest in Science at Washington, D.C. Festival

Agilent joined more than 500 leading science and engineering organizations at the Inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., Oct. 23–24, to ignite the interest of youth in the sciences. More than 1,500 students stopped by Agilent’s booth on the National Mall to conduct hands-on experiments using Agilent After School science kits.

At Agilent’s exhibit, young students played the role of crime scene investigators, solving a “Who Wrote the Ransom Note” mystery using paper chromatography. In another activity, older students played environmental engineers investigating different materials to contain and clean up a simulated oil spill using olive oil.

“Many students waited patiently in line twice so they could do both experiments,” said Jim Hollenhorst, festival volunteer and senior director of Intellectual Property strategy for Agilent Labs. “They told us they think science is fun and they want to be scientists or engineers when they grow up.”

Agilent’s Americas Field Marketing Center at the Little Falls site in Wilmington, Del., organized the exhibit and staffed it with 25 volunteers. The Stratagene team supported planning by sharing their successful experience from two years at the San Diego Science Festival. The Agilent Technologies Foundation provided support funding to the festival.

Agilent Technologies Hosts Webcast on How to Verify the Data in LTE downlink signals

What:       The format of the LTE downlink RF signals are defined using a mixture of messages across several layers in the protocol stack, from the DCI to MIB and SIBs. This presentation shows in detail how some of the most important messages are built up, and how to verify step by step whether the signal you are dealing with is constructed according to the 3GPP Release 8 standard.  The presentation makes extensive use of the Agilent 89600 Vector Signal Analysis software application to show the link between protocol messages and the actual RF signals they control.

When:          September 28, 2010 / 10a.m.-11a.m. PT

Where:         Register Online or at: http://seminar2.techonline.com/s/agilent_sep2810

Additional Information:   www.agilent.com/find/lte

Two New Applications Notes for LTE Testing

For engineers involved in LTE product design and development who need to meet tight schedules as they bring high-performing LTE products to market, Agilent has two new application notes on LTE design and test.

“TD-LTE E-UTRA Base Station Transmit ON/OFF Power Measurement” describes the LTE TDD E-UTRA base station transmit ON/OFF power measurement—also known as the power-versus-time measurement— as provided in the Agilent N9082A LTE TDD measurement application.

“Using SystemVue to Integrate a Flexible R&D Testbed for LTE” describes an integrated solution for testing wireless communication systems based on the quickly evolving LTE standard.  See how Agilent SystemVue is used to integrate all test instruments, create new test waveforms, enable advanced mea­surements, and provide a software reference receiver.

Where:         www.agilent.com/find/LTE-Forward registration is required to download the application notes.

Additional Information: www.agilent.com/find/lte

Agilent Technologies presents Webcast on Simplified Receiver Test of Retiming Architectures as USB3/SATA

Many of today’s digital interface standards use 8B/10B coding and a concept of inserting or removing filler symbols (Aligns or Skip symbols) to compensate for different clock speeds within the system.

This webcast covers the basics of 8B/10B coding and data re-timing as these concepts are deployed in most common standards. It explains how such receivers are tested with Agilent’s latest J-BERT N4903B. Examples from SATA and USB 3.0 will be used to  illustrate the benefits of the new approach.

When:          Wednesday, July 28, 2010 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET

Where:         Register on line at:
http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/redirector.jspx?action=ref&cname=AGILENT_EDITORIAL&ckey=1908692&cc=US&lc=eng&mcr=true&cmpid=36385

Additional Information: www.agilent.com/find/sata_rsg and  www.agilent.com/find/usb3_rx_test.

Backgrounders about USB and SATA technology and Agilent’s test solutions are available at www.agilent.com/find/usb_backgrounder and www.agilent.com/find/sata_backgrounder.

New Brochure on Migration for HP/Agilent 8566 and 8568 Spectrum Analyzers to Agilent PXA Spectrum Analyzers

Test managers are faced with three main choices: maintaining (continuing as is), migrating (specific instrument upgrades) or modernizing (complete redesign) of their ATE systems to take on more support tasks and improve overall reliability. Whether you are migrating or modernizing, your objectives may include reducing footprint required by the previous testers, improving the quality of test, and increasing efficiency while reducing the cost of ownership.

The free brochure covers the transition requirements to a new, high performance signal analysis instrument.  Whether it is for manufacturing, operations ATE, or R&D requires careful consideration, this document provides an overview and comparison of the new Agilent N9030A PXA signal analyzer with the legacy HP/Agilent 8566 and 8568 spectrum analyzers for Technology Refresh purposes within existing programs and ATE systems.

Downloadable on the Agilent website at: http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5990-5434EN.pdf

Agilent Technologies Offers Free LTE Design & Test Fundamental Webcast Series CDs

What:           The popular Agilent webcast series LTE Design & Test Fundamentals is available now in a two-volume set of CDs. Volume 1 includes five webcasts covering design & verification challenges, SC-FDMA, RF measurements for LTE, LTE protocol control and signaling, and more. Volume 2 includes seven webcasts covering MIMO, SDR, and the future of LTE Advanced.

Where:         www.agilent.com/find/lte-forward, registration is required to receive the CDs.

Additional Information: www.agilent.com/find/lte

Behind the scenes: J-BERT Best in Test award

How does a company win a Test and Measurement World Best in Test award? And how does it win five Best in Test awards? The answer is technology leadership, and this is one “behind the scenes” story of an award winner.

Winner for the 2010 Best in Test product in the Bit-error-rate testers category, the Agilent J-BERT N4903B owes its success to early and in-depth collaboration with key customers, focusing on their’ leading-edge technological needs for high-speed digital buses used in computer chips. The J-BERT N4903B is a high-performance serial BERT that provides the most complete jitter tolerance test for embedded and forward clocked devices.

R&D engineers sought feedback on product requirements, placed prototypes at customer sites, and visited customers often to help them turn on and test chips while getting feedback during the design phase to optimize features and specifications. In addition, the team worked with standards bodies to understand and implement early requirements. Since its launch in February 2009, no other competitor product offers the value and capability of the J-BERT B and it continues to gain market visibility with awards from Electronic Products 2009 Product of the Year, EDN Hot 100 Electronic Products, finalist in the Design Vision award, and the Best in Test honor.

New Application Note on Stimulus Response Testing for LTE Components

The Stimulus/Response Testing for LTE Components application note gives testing requirements and considerations for LTE components.  It also provides test equipment setups, information on creation of LTE stimulus test signals for components, and analysis of LTE signals from components and transmitters.

Where:         www.agilent.com/find/LTE-forward, registration is required to receive the application note.

Additional Information: www.agilent.com/find/lte