SpeedSweep is touted by Trilithic officials as “A Complete Plant Maintenance” option, and truth to tell it is an impressive offering.

The system for RF Signal Analysis and RF Troubleshooting, as company officials explain, “extends the 860 DSPi's HFC functionality, which gives techs the ability to test forward and reverse RF sweep response.”

In fact, with the SpeedSweep system, the 860 DSP series of analyzers offers plant maintenance technicians what company officials describe as “a complete set of test capabilities,” including digital and analog signal analysis, spectrum analysis (distortion testing), VoIP performance, HSD performance, return path characterization, work force management, and now RF sweep response.

Describing their “Fast Sweeping Technology,” Trilithic officials explain that the forward sweep is transmitted from the model 8300 FST Forward SpeedSweep Transmitter, and the reverse sweep is received by the 8310 RSA (News - Alert) Return SpeedSweep Analyzer, and that the Trilithic SpeedSweep System provides “sweep functionality with a minimal capital investment, putting the sweep troubleshooting and maintenance tool into the hands of more field technicians, and improving their ability to find problems quickly - in many cases before subscribers are affected.”

The system includes the 8300 FST, which generates a sweep stimulus for the downstream measurement, as well as an 860 analyzer with Forward Sweep Option, which receives the forward sweep and with the Return Sweep Receiver Option transmits reverse sweep signals for upstream measurements. The 8310 RSA receives the upstream sweep signal generated by the 860 and relays the measurement results back to the 860.

The 8310 RSA continuously monitors the return path spectrum for sweep signals from 860 units in the field, measures return sweep signals and relays the received level information back to the 860 field analyzer that is generating them.

In late August TMC’s (News - Alert) Susan J. Campbell wrote that Trilithic is a provider in the communication test equipment space, offering products that enable optimal performance across any network.

The company’s VTF series of frequency hopping filters are designed to offer the user the capability of turning over multiple octave ranges while also maintaining extremely tight tolerances on performance. When performance is optimized, the network and supported communications continue as expected.

A number of sites can experience issues when interference is created by an environment that is RF crowded. The VTF series of filters can help to mitigate the issues present, and prevent problems such as ground vehicle mounted and shipboard systems. One of the perks offered by this test equipment is a smaller footprint to allow better performance.