Narda Safety Test Solutions has revealed the SignalShark to the trade in a premiere at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Engineers at this RF measurement technology specialist have succeeded in developing an extremely powerful real time handheld Spectrum Analyzer. This device, with its handy format, is capable of dealing with today’s complex measurement and analysis tasks reliably and quickly to the same standard as laboratory instruments. For example, it can examine entire communications channels at once in real time without needing to jump to and between frequencies. It reliably captures field situations outdoors, without any gaps, and right there where the interference is happening. Back in the laboratory, this same flexible Spectrum Analyzer is the first of its kind that can be further used for complex evaluations, dependably and conveniently, as there is no need to set up and get familiar with additional equipment, or even to purchase such equipment in the first place.
Because of the latest developments in communications technology together with a drastic increase in the sheer volume of data that is to be transmitted wirelessly, there is heavy traffic in the occupied frequency bands, with the tendency being towards continuous growth. More and more wireless applications and devices have to share the available frequency ranges. This has been triggered by achievements such as the growing LTE/5Gwireless network and the Internet of Things (Iot), and Car to Car (C2C or C2x) or Machine to Machine communication (M2M), which also use a large part of the wireless network. Taken together with ever increasing data rates, this inevitably leads to higher signal densities and more complex modulation methods, wider signal bandwidths, and a greater probability that interference will occur between signals. The danger of transmission problems therefore increases, particularly for older services. Modern communications services, such as safety-relevant applications in automated production processes in the automotive industry cannot afford to have such problems, let alone a complete breakdown in communications.
Taken together, the technical parameters and capabilities of the newly developed SignalShark as well as its flexibility make it into the ideal real time handheld spectrum analyzer and direction finding system for both laboratory and field use. The features include its frequency range from 9 kHz to 8 GHz, its extremely high sweep rate of 40 GHz/s (RBW ≥ 100 kHz), and its real time bandwidth of 40 MHz, which is unheard of in this category. The SignalShark therefore defines the current state of the art, providing the best conditions for gapless detection and analysis, classification, and localization of RF signals, with a view towards future developments—5G is on its way!
