Marconi Instruments Inc. intends to offer products specifically for the U.S. market this year, beginning with a new a multisource signal generator that offers multiple radio frequency outputs in a single unit.
The company calls the Model 2026 “a world first” because the unit combines up to three independent RF sources in one instrument, with separate or combined outputs.
It is designed for multisource applications, including analog and digital systems and subsystems, and includes two- and three-tone testing of amplifiers, two-tone intermodulation testing of receivers and receiver selectivity testing.
Each signal source covers a range from 10 kilohertz to 2.4 gigahertz and can be controlled independently. The 2026 fits in a 19-inch wide 4U high rack, and comes with two or three sources.
The company said two other products are scheduled to be launched in the spring. A system that tests Interim Standard 136 and IS-54 Time Division Multiple Access technology and the Model 2967 that tests four technologies: 1900 MHz Global System for Mobile communications, 1800 MHz Digital Cellular Systems, 800 MHz analog and 800 MHz GSM standards.
The company has just moved its New Jersey offices to Fort Worth, Texas, where it leases space in the Alliance Airport area. Labor costs are lower in Texas, and the building is a replica of the facility in Allendale, said company executives.
Right now the office handles sales and distribution, along with maintenance and repair, but Marconi has an option for additional space there.
“We want a manufacturing capability in the United States and have also talked about expanding the service operation,” said James Koehn, president of Marconi Instruments Inc.
Marconi Instruments is owned by General Electronic Co. of England, which reports annual sales of $16 billion. Combined revenues of GEC’s eight U.S. subsidiaries, including AB Dick, are $2.5 billion.
Marconi Instruments Ltd. of Stevenage, England, manufactures analog and digital RF signal sources to 5.4 GHz, including microwave and cellular test sets, counter and power meters, power sensors, reflection analyzers, millimetric reflectometers, digital transmission and communication analyzers, spectrum analyzers and avionics test sets.
Marconi Instruments of Texas is Marconi’s U.S. distributor. The company claims to have a large installed base of radio test sets in the United States. In addition, MII is the exclusive distributor in the United States and Mexico for Kikusui Electronics Corp. of Japan, handling products such as AC/DC power sources, programmable electronic loads, safety testers, HIPOT testers, battery testers and analog and digital oscilloscopes.
MII also distributes power analyzers made by Zimmer Electronic Systems GmbH of Germany.
Last summer, MII was awarded a multimillion dollar contract by the U.S. Navy and the Federal Aviation Administration for the Model 2947 Communications Service Monitor to test mobile radios, cellular phones, pagers and other RF equipment.
