Rohde & Schwarz wins 2009 Elektra Award

Fleet, UK, December 14th, 2009 — Rohde & Schwarz UK today announced that the R&S®FSV combined signal analyzer and spectrum analyzer won the Design & Test Product of the Year at the 2009 Elektra Awards, organised by Electronics Weekly. Used in the design and test of wireless and wideband communications systems and in Aerospace and Defence, the R&S®FSV was designed with customers at both R&D and production stage in mind.

The R&S®FSV was picked by an independent panel of judges for its balance of technological innovation and ease of use. Among the design features the judges highlighted was the fast synthesiser for generating the local sweep oscillator, enabling the FSV to perform up to 1000 sweeps/s in remote operation and thus suiting the fast-paced production world. They also mentioned the dedicated ASIC that performs the digital processing of the IF signal and the innovative use of a YIG pre-selector starting at 7 GHz, rather than 3 to 4 GHz, as is traditional in a spectrum analyser. This is a clever feature that ensures maximum accuracy of amplitude, frequency and phase - characteristics that can compromise EVM measurements when demodulating signals in this band.

The R&S®FSV was designed from the ground up, with the goal of rethinking mid-range spectrum analysis. The result is a spectrum analyzer that is 30% more integrated than our previous models, reducing its PCB area, making it lighter and more sensitive thanks to its very low inherent noise (–139 dBm (1 Hz) at 40 GHz).

“The R&S®FSV’s high level of hardware integration is testament to the skill of Rohde & Schwarz’ innovative RF and system design capabilities and the  in-house ASIC development team – something that the company is immensely proud of and continues to build,” said Josef Wolf, Head of Spectrum Analysis Division at Rohde & Schwarz. “We are very honoured that these design skills have been recognized.” 

Frank Mackel, Managing Director of Rohde & Schwarz UK added: “Rohde & Schwarz’ full commitment to innovative design and development is no more evident than in the R&S®FSV, which offers unrivalled test capabilities for its class. The R&S®FSV is also a great example of cross-border design collaboration, as our UK software engineering team was heavily involved with our Munich-based design team in developing the R&S®FSV platform.”

The Elektra Awards, which are now in their seventh year, were held in London on 1st December. Seeking to recognise the achievements of individuals and companies across Europe, the awards are hotly contested and Rohde & Schwarz’ R&S®FSV was picked from a shortlist of six for this category.