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Teradyne (News - Alert) announced the release of its new, fifth-generation RF product, the UltraWave 12GHz wireless test instrument.

 

Teradyne UltraWave provides wireless customers with 12 GHz source and measurement performance and also greater parallel test efficiency, thereby lowering test costs.

 

Teradyne is a supplier of automatic test equipment (ATE) used to test complex electronics in a variety of industries including automotive, computing, telecommunications, and aerospace/defense.

 

Teradyne claims that UltraWave is the first fully integrated ATE instrument with characterization and high-volume production tests used in wireless device applications. It is capable of covering the entire spectrum of connectivity and cellular technologies.

 

Broadcom (News - Alert), a manufacturer of RF and microwave semiconductors, is reportedly the first customer to choose this wireless test solution. The company selected Teradyne’s solution to test system-on-a-chip (SOC) devices from Bluetooth to wireless LAN to cellular devices. 

 

“Multiple RF and microwave radios are a standard part of Broadcom's integrated designs. Bluetooth, WLAN, cable and satellite tuners, and cellular radios have become ubiquitous Broadcom IP blocks requiring a new level of ATE integration,” said Kris Hublitz, senior director of test engineering at Broadcom, in a statement.

 

“The UltraWave RF test instrument fits our needs perfectly,” Hublitz added. “Its wide-ranging capabilities and high port count of generic microwave IOs combined with our standard UltraFLEX configuration is an excellent combination of engineering productivity, performance, multi-site parallelism, and cost of test for Broadcom. We are excited to use the UltraFLEX with UltraWave as a standard Broadcom test platform moving forward.”

 

Teradyne UltraWave test solution has wide range of test and measurement capability which can cover most complex microwave test requirements for RFIC and RF SOC devices including wireless LAN, Bluetooth, 3G cellular, MIMO, WiMAX (News - Alert), set-top-boxes and new emerging standards like 4G cellular and ultra wideband.

 

Teradyne UltraWave test solution can meet almost all demands the consumer wireless device test requires.

 

“The feedback we have received from our RF customers is that they highly value the technology advancements we’ve made in wireless test with the UltraWave instrument. UltraWave builds on four generations of Teradyne’s leading microwave test solutions, and leapfrogs competitors in performance, cost of test and time to market,” said Rod Stewart, general manager of Teradyne’s SOC business group, in a statement.

 

Stewart added: “The combination of our experienced worldwide RF applications team and the new UltraWave instrument will provide our customers a tremendous advantage as they drive for profitable growth in the wireless market.”

 

“Two trends are framing the explosive wireless market,” said Kyle Klatka, product manager for Teradyne’s Wireless Business Unit, in a statement. “First; rapidly increasing demand for world phones and handsets that support many wireless interfaces is multiplying the number of RF ports on a single chip. Second, manufacturers are combining multiple core functions into a single chip and creating more highly integrated devices to save space and drive down price. UltraWave can handle both trends, as manufacturers look to handle not only new wireless protocols, but also to quickly achieve multi-site test to lower their cost of test.”