Power sensor links to PC via USB

The MA24106A from Anritsu is a highly accurate power sensor that measures True-RMS power, regardless of the input signal or its bandwidth over 63dB of dynamic range from 50MHz to 6GHz. Suitable for measuring average power of CW, multitone, and modulated RF waveforms, such as those used in 3G, 4G, and OFDM designs, the MA24106A is a more cost-effective alternative to bench-top power meters because it easily communicates to a PC via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface.

The MA24106A facilitates lab quality measurements on the production floor for a fraction of the cost of traditional power meters.

Sensor speed is optimised for best accuracy and noise performance, making it suitable for a wide variety of ATE applications.

The reference calibrator typically needed by power meters has been eliminated, minimising test station complexity, sensor handling and reducing test times.
Further reading

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The standards used to calibrate the MA24106A are directly traceable to NIST.

High accuracy of typically +/-0.13 dB is assured because the calibration data is stored directly in the sensor and all necessary frequency and temperature corrections are done internally.

The MA24106A is highly reliable and rugged because of its +33 dBm power handling and 3.3kV ESD protection.

This type of performance and durability make the sensor well suited for installation and maintenance of basestations, as well as for testing 3G and 4G products, cellphones and general-purpose RF devices.

Valuable rack space is saved as the MA24106A is connected directly to a PC.

Anritsu's power meter application runs on Microsoft Windows, and can be used to control and operate the sensor to provide the user with a familiar interface.

It has advanced features, such as average power versus time display and data logging, plus a customisable offset table that enables flexible data capture and accurate measurements versus frequency.

Its low current consumption of 100mA preserves laptop battery life in the field.