Hello,
I'm wondering if the new 'B' series family of the PNA/PNA-X still has that 200 channel limitation or not. Also, is the 200 channels limitation just an arbitrary number and can be increased in future firmware revisions? I'm hitting that limit right now. Other test equipment vendors we have talked to stated they don't have a set limit on their systems. (only limited by the amount of memory available) Just wondering what are the reasons behind the 200 channel limit.
Thanks.
Hi daras,
Thanks for the reply. For this current file I am working on, I would need another 50 channels on the 'A' model firmware. (i.e. 250 channels) This is a rather complex converter we are testing that requires multiple LO combinations. Typically, our channel usage is 100 to 150 channels for a single converter product in my area of testing.
For my company's future needs, we would ideally want to test multi-packs of converters at the same time. (different area of testing from mine). Assuming worst case scenario (i.e. 250 channels x 4 converters per pack), we would ideally need 1000 channels. If we assume typical usage (i.e. 150 channels x 4), then 600 channels.
Hope that helps.
Thanks Rok,
I'll relay this information to our engineers who are working on this problem. In the meantime, have you considered using the segment capability in the SMC channel to consolidate some of these channels into a single multi-segment channel?
Hi again,
No, I haven't yet, but I'll look into it. But roughly 80 to 90% of our measurements are primarily spurious using the opt 90 based channels. We typically use a couple of broadband cal files applied to those channels. If there's a way your team can optimize that portion (i.e. use some pointers to associate the many channels to the cal file) in terms of reducing the memory and disk space footprint, that might help in allowing more channels to be created.
Sorry for the delay in responding, but we've actually been discussing this issue. the short answer is that there is a project underway that would extend the number of channels beyond 200 and that would be on the 'B' series branch of firmware targeted for a fall release. we are trying to determine what the new limit should be and how far we can extend it so that if the user creates the maximum number of channels with 1 trace per channel and the default 201 points per channel, the system is still responsive. you can help us make that decision by letting us know how many channels you foresee needing long term. Also, is the 200 limit something you would need increased on the 'A' model firmware?
longer term, our goal is to remove the limit all together, but that is a much longer term project that requires a lot of testing on the various hardware platforms we support.