Electronics Automation

Exfo Electro-Optical Engineering has released a new IPTV quality of service (QoS) assessment package for its full-featured multilayered Colt-450P DSL test set.

Exfo Electro-Optical Engineering has released a new IPTV quality of service (QoS) assessment package for its full-featured multilayered Colt-450P DSL test set. This advanced software package allows wireline network service providers to view critical QoS parameters of delivered video streams in order to maintain a consistent level of service to each subscriber. It provides media deliver index (MDI) capabilities, which is a set of standards-based measurements (IETF RFC4445) that indicate the delay factor (DF) and media loss rate (MLR) at a particular measuring point in the network, namely the customer premises.

In addition, the new package offers a packet identification (PID) viewer and program clock reference (PCR) jitter measurement.

With these new measurements, field technicians can confirm the quality of the delivered video or identify degradations in service.

Among a myriad of capabilities, the Colt-450P was the first DSL test set on the market to be purpose-built for assessing the high bitrate throughput of multiple-channel HDTV.

This easy-to-use, modular test solution acts as a golden modem for confirming the connection rates and other measured parameters provided by asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), ADSL2, ADSL2+, and reach extended (RE) ADSL.

As well, the Colt-450P performs functional testing and QoS testing for video and television services over IP (IPTV), voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Internet services (ISP).

The Colt-450P has the power to support the highest DSL rates and performance, while simultaneously handling multiple standard and high-definition video streams.

A 10/100Base-T Ethernet interface enables the Colt-450P to operate as a complete home/office DSL modem and router, allowing it to work 'in-line' on a live IPTV service in conjunction with consumers' set-top boxes and television sets.

'With telecom service providers now starting to roll out large-scale deployments of IPTV services over DSL, the Colt-450P is an indispensable tool for rapid installation and efficient troubleshooting', said Robert Fitts, Exfo's Vice-President of Product Management, Copper Access Group.

'This enhanced measurement package builds on Exfo's reputation as a leader in IPTV testing in the DSL access market'.

'The Colt-450P supports an industry-leading and flexible suite for IPTV testing and features high-performance, video-packet processing speed and throughput'.

'Once equipped with a Colt-450P, technicians can establish a DSL connection, log onto a service provider's network, 'join' and 'leave' various streaming video channels, and measure the quality of the video stream'.

'The constantly updated histograms and tables of quality metrics allow network service providers to ensure the stability of their video services'.

Willtek Communications has a new option that is designed to speed up integration testing and production of TD-SCDMA mobile phones.

Willtek Communications has a new option that is designed to speed up integration testing and production of TD-SCDMA mobile phones. The TD-SCDMA call-mode option complements the non-call-mode option for the 4400 mobile phone tester series. These products integrate all the functions necessary to calibrate transmitter and receiver of the mobile phone, perform functional tests, and carry out the final test prior to shipment.

Willtek's updated TD-SCDMA product portfolio will be presented to the public for the first time at the ITU Telecom World 2006 exhibition in Hong Kong from 4th to 8th December.

The product will be available by end-December.

Says Matthias Weber, Director of Product Marketing at Willtek Communications: 'The call-mode option comes right in time before the start of TD-SCDMA phone mass production'.

'The 4400 mobile phone tester with TD-SCDMA is the first reliable test solution for production; it is not only cheaper but also much faster than the rack and stack equipment currently being used by integration teams'.

Weber explains: 'You do not want testing to become the bottleneck of your production'.

'This is why proper integration of test equipment into the production lines is so important'.

With many years of experience in test and integration, Willtek has the hardware, software and knowhow to help integrate the 4400 into production lines.

The support team in Shanghai has already helped a number of customers in China, with backup from the R and D team in the German headquarters.

The 4400 mobile phone tester series is the first true multiformat cellular phone tester also embracing TD-SCDMA.

As Chinese manufacturers produce phones for countries applying multiple standards such as GSM, GPRS, Edge, WCDMA, CDMA2000 and 1xEV-DO, testers need to accommodate those standards, too.

In addition to this, the 4400 can easily be switched between different 2G and 3G wireless technologies.

It is therefore possible to test mobile phones of various standards in the same production line.

Willtek was the first vendor of integrated test equipment for mobile phones committing to the Chinese TD-SCDMA standard.

The 4400 with TD-SCDMA supports the call setup and all the important transmitter and receiver measurements for validation, functional testing and calibration of wireless devices.

These measurements include peak and average power, open and inner loop power, error vector magnitude, frequency error, peak code domain power, spectrum, constellation display, BER and BLER.

The 4400 also eases successful interoperability tests because major signalling functions are based on the Datang protocol stack, while other protocol parts have been developed in co-operation with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT).

The 4400 with the TD-SCDMA options forms a fast, accurate and reliable test system for wireless devices such as mobile phones, wireless PDAs and PC cards.

With its fast power measurements, production sites can use it to precisely align the phone's transmitter within very little time, increasing the production throughput and the quality of the devices.

With its outstanding performance and price, the 4400 provides vendors with extremely low total test cost per wireless device.

As all major cellular standards are available on the 4400 series, it drastically reduces production downtime because one test station can easily switch from one technology to another.

Baseband analyser is exactly tailored to the requirements of chipset development for mobile phones and basestations.

The new R and S FMU36 baseband analyser is exactly tailored to the requirements of chipset development for mobile phones and base stations. The cost-efficient instrument with a frequency range up to 36MHz performs the measurement ahead of the RF signal and measures the I/Q signals in the baseband. Spectrum and vector signal analysis for WLAN or 3GPP FDD, for example, can be performed by means of probes directly on the DUT's printed board, if necessary.

For low-frequency applications such as radio transmission via RFID or measurements on ADSL modems, the RandS FMU36 features consistently high sensitivity even at very low frequencies.

The baseband analyser combines all functions in one instrument and runs without an external PC.

For use in measurement systems, it can be remote-controlled via GPIB or LAN.

By means of the R and S FMU36, developers can check the modulation quality of their circuits even at the I/Q baseband.

For this purpose, the instrument features two analog inputs that can be operated either as balanced or unbalanced.

Probes available as an accessory allow you to directly perform measurements on the connections of integrated circuits.

During measurement, all parameters that are important for the respective application are determined in the frequency, time and modulation domain.

This also includes frequency response and spectrum mask, adjacent-channel power, carrier-to-noise ratio and modulation depth.

If a weak pulsed signal is close to a strong signal, the pulsed signal can be filtered out.

With a time-capture memory of 16Msample on I and Q, the R and S FMU36 can capture long sequences.

The memory can be extended to 705Msample, if necessary.

Moreover, the RandS FMU36 comes equipped with the established RandS FSQ-K70 vector signal analyser.

Thus, you can demodulate and analyse digital signals of all common mobile radio standards such as GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000 or Tetra down to the bit stream level.

Standard measurements such as modulation accuracy, carrier leakage or I/Q imbalance can be easily performed.

Small rugged automated fibre optic loss test set characterises single-mode fibre links at wavelengths of 1310, 1490 and 1550nm.

Scitec Instruments has announced the introduction of a small rugged automated fibre optic loss test set that characterises single-mode fibre links at wavelengths of 1310, 1490 and 1550nm. The Model LTS-1500 consists of a sensitive InGaAs based optical power meter calibrated at six wavelengths with better than -75dBm noise level plus a stabilised laser light source with up to three selectable wavelengths. In its Autotest mode, the master unit changes wavelengths at a fixed rate and informs the slave unit of the wavelength currently being measured.

Storing the loss measurement saves the loss at each wavelength in memory.

Up to 2000 triple wavelength measurements may be stored and recalled via the unit's USB port or from the front panel.

PC application software is provided for downloading stored data and organising the information.

The instrument also performs fibre identification functions with modulation frequencies of 270, 1000 and 2000Hz.

The LTS-1500 is powered either by a rechargeable lithium polymer battery that provides more then 15 hours of continuous operation, its universal power supply or, in an emergency, by a normal 9V alkaline battery.

Standard accessories include a protective rubber boot and stand, USB cable, adaptors for PC, ST or SC connectors, universal power supply/charger, CD containing application software and an operating instruction manual.

Amplicon signs agency agreement with Militram Israel, one of Israel's largest and most successful representation companies.

Amplicon is proud to announce the signing of an agency agreement with Militram Israel, one of Israel's largest and most successful representation companies. This partnership was a direct result of a very positive Electronica 2006 exhibition where Amplicon was showcasing a new product division, Security Automation; a new small form factor embedded PC, Impact-E, as well as an innovative workstation industrial PC to complement the already successful Amplicon Ventrix brand. Militram, an expert in network and multi-process systems has sales expected to exceed USD130 million this year.

Based in Tel Aviv, it has over 30 years experience in both the medical machine vision and industrial control fields in Israel.

Militram has chosen to partner with Amplicon as it considers the company's range of standard systems is now the most comprehensive available in the marketplace today from a single manufacturer.

The company also values the many years of experience of designing and building sophisticated and rugged systems used both in security and industrial applications that Amplicon represents.

The Amplicon brand has become synonymous with innovative designs and high quality in-house integration - a critical component for this partnership choice.

Ram Lachover CEO of Militram commented; 'The combination of both our companies' capabilities guarantees the combination of the Israeli market and additional export markets'.

The agreement was finalised and signed-off during the Electronica show.

Douglas Saunders, Amplicon's International Sales Manager commented; 'This is a significant step forward in our international development'.

'We are already regarded as the UK's leading supplier of industrial and embedded systems and our reputation is now spreading throughout the world! Militram is a major move forward in our long-term goal to become the world's leading manufacturer of this type of product'.

Tektronix has introduced new software measurement capabilities to support digital RF tests using the WCA200A, RSA3300A and RSA3408A Series Real-Time Spectrum Analysers.

Tektronix has introduced new software measurement capabilities to support digital RF tests using the WCA200A, RSA3300A and RSA3408A Series Real-Time Spectrum Analysers. The new software provides test engineers with easy-to-use analysis tools that test RFID standards, 3rd generation mobile phone technology including High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), and the Project 25/Mobile Land Radio standard for digital two-way wireless communication. The new measurements help test engineers take-on the challenging issues associated with the growth of digital RF technologies in wireless communications.

The advance of digital RF technologies, spurred by increasing consumer demands has led to rapid growth in wireless communications.

However, test engineers face unique problems since digital RF signals carry complex modulation and are variable over time, changing from one instant to the next, hopping frequencies, bursting, spiking briefly and then disappearing.

These transient and time varying transmission techniques help RF devices avoid interference and maximise peak power.

The new Tektronix software measurements for Real-Time spectrum analysers expand the award winning capabilities to an even broader range of standards and applications.

'Digital RF creates the need for test tools whose capabilities mirror the time-varying nature of today's signals,' said Rick King, Vice President, Real-Time spectrum analyser product line, Tektronix.

'Real-Time Spectrum Analysers dramatically improve customers' ability to troubleshoot RF systems by providing insights into problems with their design'.

'The new software measurements for RFID and HSUPA provide new capabilities for engineers'.

'Customers will be able to capitalise on these capabilities in order to facilitate and expedite design characterization, system integration and validation to industry standards certification for emerging technologies used in a variety of devices from simple RFID tags to complex HSUPA/HSDPA systems'.

Interoperability continues to be a significant issue in the wireless world.

With more RFID standards and devices, and with the prospect of additional RFID standards being developed, interoperability is a key issue in RFID work.

To help ensure interoperability, Tektronix has expanded RFID support to include ISO14443 (Type A and B) and legacy support for EPCglobal Gen1.

Only the Tektronix Real-Time Spectrum Analysers offer patented frequency domain trigger capability, unique capture capability, and powerful time correlated multi-domain analysis features to help designers understand the full range of RFID interrogator and transponder behaviour.

Adding to existing support for High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Tektronix is now offering support for HSUPA 3GPP Release 6.

This allows test engineers to monitor the uplink channel and check signal quality such as Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) and Code Domain Power.

In addition, engineers can check the interaction between the base station and the handset using a Tektronix unique gain ratio view and codogram to enable the engineer to monitor power consumption, and validate total system operation.

The new capabilities also support the analysis of C4FM modulation as used in Project 25, an industry standard for the manufacturing of interoperable digital two-way wireless communications products, created to improve radio spectrum efficiency.

Project 25 is becoming increasingly important in the modern era to address communication among various emergency-response agencies.

The software offers new standard measurements as well as troubleshooting capabilities for the Real-Time Spectrum Analysers.

A pre-centred mercury-fibre illumination system that never needs alignment has been launched by Nikon Instruments.

A pre-centred mercury-fibre illumination system that never needs alignment has been launched by Nikon Instruments. The Intensilight provides stable, flicker-free illumination, making it ideal for a variety of industrial applications and its light levels can be controlled via Nikon's NIS-Elements software. With a typical life of 2000 hours, the Intensilight can be used for approximately ten times longer than a conventional mercury illumination system before lamp replacement is needed.

Furthermore, its fibre connection means neither heat nor electrical noise generated by the lamp can be transferred to the body of the microscope.

Stable light intensity, which completely fills the back aperture, is obtained through the use of direct current instead of an alternating current power source.

Intensilight includes matched adapters for different families of Nikon microscopes.

A built in open-close shutter makes it easy to transfer the illumination source to multiple microscopes on the move or to shutter the illuminator's light to the specimen.

Two sizes of light guide fibres, 1500 and 3000mm, are available.

The Intensilight system includes two models: a manual version, with manual shutter and neutral density selector controls; and a motorised and PC controllable version that has an optional desk top control pad for standard use.

Anritsu confirms its leadership by introducing full HSUPA capability for its highly successful Protocol Test System (PTS).

Following success in completing the first 3GPP HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) protocol conformance test case, Anritsu confirms its leadership in the field by introducing full HSUPA capability for its highly successful Protocol Test System (PTS). PTS is a highly stable, well-proven test environment for testing higher data rate HSUPA capable mobile terminals as they are developed. This commercially available HSUPA capability means the mobile communications industry can take another major step towards the 2007 target date for HSUPA deployment by greatly reducing time to market for developers and manufacturers.

A unique solution, PTS has been developed with the future in mind and supports the maximum 5.7Mbps HSUPA data rate combined with a proven 14.4Mbps HSDPA capability, meaning future upgrades are not required, providing valuable protection to investment.

PTS is also the only test system available that can support 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 3.5G, all within a single hardware platform solution.

HSUPA is a 3GPP Release 6 feature that provides higher uplink data rates, which when combined with High Speed Downlink Capability (HSDPA), improves spectral efficiency, reduces latency and delivers the data bandwidth vital for services such as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and video telephony.

Anritsu continues to work at the forefront of 3G and 3.5G mobile test technology, working closely with the world's leading mobile terminal equipment suppliers within the industry to help them deliver market-leading products.

Kevin Ingrams, Marketing Manager at Anritsu commented : 'By continuously focusing on our customers' needs coupled with our commitment to work closely with them throughout their development cycle we are able to deliver a timely and high quality HSUPA test technology solution that ensures our customers' time to market objectives will be realised'.

Anritsu's Protocol Test System (PTS) builds on the highly successful MD8480C W-CDMA Signalling Tester for W-CDMA/GSM/GPRS and HSDPA/HSUPA terminals launched earlier this year.

Agilent has released a new Evolving Wireless Standards poster and application note based on IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMAX.

Agilent has released a new Evolving wireless standards poster and application note based on IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMAX.

As a quick reference guide for engineers working in the communications industry, the wireless poster highlights a range of information on the latest cellular and wireless connectivity technologies and applications.

The 'IEEE 802.16e WiMAX OFDMA Signal Measurements and Troubleshooting' application note provides engineers with a guide for measuring and troubleshooting mobile WiMAX signals, components and systems.

Mikropack has introduced a compact, easy-to-use, bench-top spectroscopic ellipsometer for thin film measurement.

Mikropack has introduced a compact, easy-to-use, bench-top spectroscopic ellipsometer for thin film measurement. The SpecEL-2000-VIS is ideal for semi-transparent flat samples such as wafers and glass plates. It provides fast, precise measurement of layer thickness, refractive index, absorption and components ratio at the touch of a button.

Half the price of standard spectroscopic ellipsometry equipment, the all-in-one system has a footprint of only 52x33x24cm and features an integrated light source, spectrometer and two polarisers.

It comes with a 32-Bit Windows PC featuring easy-to-use software and measures polarised light reflected from the surface of the substrate to determine the thickness and the refractive index of the material as a function of wavelength.

Depending on the layer and substrate material, the SpecEl can detect layer thickness between 1 nanometre and 5 micrometres, and refractive indices over the full spectral range.

After putting a sample on the wafer-chuck, analysis is carried out within seconds at the touch of a button.

The software enables experiment methods to be configured and saved for one-step analysis.

The powerful analysis software provides a range of modelling possibilities such as Cauchy, OJL,Tauc-Lorentz, Drude, EMA and different types of oscillator.

Compared to reflectometry, spectroscopic ellipsometry measures relative changes in the phase and amplitude of the light instead of absolute intensity.

Ellipsometry is therefore independent from any reference measurement and multiple parameters can be determined simultaneously.

Rohde and Schwarz reckons it can now meet almost every requirement in spectrum analysis with its product portfolio of 33 instruments.

Rohde and Schwarz reckons it can now meet almost every requirement in spectrum analysis with its product portfolio of 33 instruments, ranging from small portable spectrum analysers to premium microwave signal analysers. The company first entered the field of spectrum analysis in 1986 with the R and S FSA. Since then, the company has continued to fulfil its role as pioneer in developing innovative solutions.

Now the R and S ESU EMI test receiver speeds up EMC measurements by the factor of 100; and the R and S FSUP is the first instrument to combine the functionalities of a signal source analyser with those of a spectrum analyser.

'What we do best is to create innovative products that are not yet available but that everyone dreams of', explains Josef Wolf, Director of Subdivision Spectrum and Network analysers.

A recent example is WiMAX: Rohde and Schwarz has been involved in defining this standard right from the start, and also provides a wide range of RF test equipment for development and production applications for the mobile version.

UMTS LTE represents the next step: even while Rohde and Schwarz is supporting the definition of the standard, the company already offers a solution for development and research projects.

'If you want to position yourself in the technology sector on a permanent basis, it is essential to transcend limits', states Josef Wolf.

'This thinking will enable innovations in the future as well'.

The success story began in 1986 with the R and S FSA.

Back then, the newcomer set standards in RF performance and ease of operation as the first spectrum analyser on the market to feature a colour display.

The second generation, the R and S FSE family, enabled for the first time modulation analysis of digitally modulated signals in a high-end spectrum analyser.

The RMS detector redefined power measurement with modulated signals and was integrated into test specifications, eg for measuring adjacent channel power.

The R and S FSIQ was launched in 1998 and soon established itself on the market as a reference in development for 3GPP FDD.

Today, Rohde and Schwarz seamlessly covers the spectrum analysis segment for any requirement and budget in five instrument classes ranging from a 3GHz handheld to a 50GHz desktop unit.

For mobile radio, broadband and close range communications applications or general measurements such as noise figure, phase noise or power, the cross-platform software portfolio provides a customised solution.

Tektronix has announced RSA-IQWIMAX demodulation and analysis software, part of a comprehensive test set to find and solve WiMAX design problems.

Tektronix has announced RSA-IQWIMAX demodulation and analysis software, part of a comprehensive test set to find and solve WiMAX design problems. RSA-IQWIMAX software is a new application specific test tool for characterising and troubleshooting WiMAX device designs using a Tektronix RSA3408A real-time spectrum analyser and is the result of a partnership between Tektronix and LitePoint. With RSA-IQWIMAX and the RSA3408A, engineering teams will be able to more quickly detect, diagnose and resolve design issues improving time to market for WiMAX end-user products, including consumer electronics, computers and handheld devices.

RSA-IQWIMAX provides spectrum and modulation measurements on OFDM and OFDMA signals in accordance with IEEE802.16-2004 (fixed) and IEEE802.16e-2005 (mobile) WiMAX standards.

The RSA3408A captures intermittent or random events that other solutions will miss enabling engineering teams to detect, diagnose and resolve design issues more quickly.

The combination of RSA3408A real-time spectrum analyser with RSA-IQWIMAX software is the world's most powerful WiMAX R and D test solution, enabling engineers to perform needed time-, frequency- and modulation-domain measurements to decompose signals and uncover anomalies, and generate in-depth analysis for troubleshooting WiMAX devices at the design stage.

'With digital RF technology accelerating the move to packet oriented network technologies like WiMAX, packet collisions and spurious signal detection becomes much more complex'.

'In addition, WiMAX services may be sharing spectrum with other services operating asynchronously making interference detection very difficult but critical to proper operation'.

'The RSA3408A with its unique ability to trigger, capture, and analyse transient RF phenomenon is an ideal tool for WiMAX designers', said Rick King, Vice President, Real-Time Spectrum analyser product line, Tektronix.

'The RSA3408A combined with the spectrum and modulation measurement capabilities provided by RSA-IQWIMAX software creates a highly-efficient and effective test set, providing WiMAX research and development engineers the world's fastest time to market for new component and module designs'.

RSA-IQWIMAX analysis software is used on an external PC connected to the RSA3408A by Ethernet or GPIB.

Optionally, an engineer may load captured data and analyse the results offline.

Test results from the RSA3408A and RSA-IQWIMAX software can be tightly integrated with LitePoint's IQmax WiMAX test system to form an integrated end-to end test solution from R and D through manufacturing test.

The single-box IQmax test system can test critical physical layer radio parameters for developers, volume manufacturing test and quality assurance (Q/A) stations at the lowest possible cost.

Using Tektronix' RSA-IQWIMAX and the LitePoint IQmax WiMAX test system, R and D and production teams can share common test algorithms and data formats, reducing production ramp-up time in manufacturing.

'Through our work with Tektronix, we are extending our successful value chain approach for complete test solutions further into R and D', said Dr Benny Madsen, CEO of LitePoint.

'WiMAX design, test, manufacturing, and QA professionals who are concerned with lowering test costs, faster test times, higher yields, better product quality, and faster time to market will find benefits from the LitePoint and Tektronix collaboration'.

'The combination of Tektronix' RSA-IQWIMAX and RSA3408A real-time spectrum analysers with the LitePoint IQmax WiMAX test system provides companies with the world's most powerful end-to-end WiMAX test solution'.

The Tektronix RSA3408A plus RSA-IQWIMAX and the LitePoint IQmax WiMAX test system address physical layer test needs from R and D through manufacturing test.

This complements the recent announcement from Tektronix for the K1297-G35 WiMAX solution, the telecommunications industry's first protocol monitoring platform for functional testing of WiMAX products that are based on the IEEE802.16e-2005 standard.

The K1297-G35 WiMAX solution for Mobile WiMAX equipment helps to bring WiMAX out of the labs and into live networks.

The complete offering spans R and D through to deployment.

The new RSA-IQWIMAX demodulation and analysis software is available now for GBP 5580 (Eur 8260) MSRP.

RSA-IQWIMAX software, the RSA3408A real-time spectrum analyser, and the K1297-G35 are available from Tektronix.

The R6240A is a four-quadrant power source (+/-15V with +/-1(4)A), which is a cost-efficient solution for component and module tests.

Manufacturers of integrated circuits are faced with the challenge of packing more and more functionality into ever smaller components. This applies to microcontrollers, ASICs, RFIDs, and other SoC structures. For development purposes, it is essential that even the smallest currents are reproducible, and can be exactly generated and measured.

Available now from Rohde and Schwarz, the R6240A is a four-quadrant power source (+/-15V with +/-1(4)A), which is a cost-efficient solution for component and module tests.

The instrument features setting resolutions of up to 100uV/100nA and measurement resolutions up to 10uV/10nA.

To perform measurements on particularly sensitive components without cooling, the R6240A offers pulse and pulse sweep functions.

In the pulse mode, which minimises the heating of the DUTs, users can implement minimum pulsewidths of 500us with a resolution of 1us.

It is also possible to carry out tests stress-free on modules that have built-in backup batteries: various suspend voltages can be programmed to prevent backup batteries from being discharged.

Together with the integrated 5000-point trace and result memory as well as its extensive trigger capabilities, the R6240A provides a wide range of functions that allow high-speed testing of sophisticated electronics.

The Tektronix DPO4000 digital phosphor oscilloscope has won the Elektra Product.

The Tektronix DPO4000 digital phosphor oscilloscope has won the Elektra Product of the Year Award for 2006. Now in their fourth year, the Elektra European electronics industry Awards recognise excellence, innovation and achievements in the electronics industry. An independent panel of industry experts, including representatives from companies, trade bodies and academia as well as editors from Electronics Weekly, look for evidence of setting challenging objectives, outstanding achievements and innovation and achievement.

The 15 award categories are designed to promote best practice in key areas, including customer care, sales growth, innovation and employee motivation.

'The DPO4000 digital phosphor oscilloscope was the clear winner in the 'Product of the Year' category'.

'It stood out from the rest of the shortlist for the way it addresses a specific engineering need - the pressing debug needs of embedded systems design engineers', said Richard Wilson, Editor, Electronics Weekly.

'The design was clearly a result of well targeted research which led to the product itself offering a number of unique selling points and setting a new standard for the test and measurement industry'.

'Customers have told us how much the DPO4000 is helping them to reduce the time and effort involved in finding and solving design problems', said Bob Bluhm, Vice President and General Manager, Value Scope Product Line, Tektronix.

'We're honoured to receive industry recognition in the form of the prestigious Elektra Product of the Year Award'.

'With many industry firsts, the DPO4000 is a truly leadership product that sets new standards for productivity, performance, value and ease of use'.