—Tektronix is providing video test and network monitoring to NBC Olympics during the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Tektronix’ WFM5200 and WFM7200 waveform monitors are being used to check signal quality and integrity during on-site camera set-up. The feeds are then being backhauled through several service providers to NBC’s facilities in the U.S. Additional WFM5200s will be used for production, post-production and broadcast operations before the footage airs. At NBC’s cable network operations center (NOC) in the U.S., Tektronix’ Sentry family of video quality monitors will be used to monitor the quality of experience of the satellite uplink feeds.
—Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced a new low-cost network analyzer for research and development and manufacturing of passive RF components.
The E5063A ENA Series network analyzer is designed to test simple components such as handset/BTS antennas, RF cables and filters. Options range from $18,600 to about $35,ooo for the analyzer. Agilent said that if combined with its  U1810B USB RF switch, engineers can build a multiple device-under-test solution for testing four antennas with a single instrument.
Agilent also put out a new webinar this week on LTE-A carrier aggregation (CA) and other Release 12 updates from its 3GPP representative Moray Rumney. Rumney touches on MIMO over-the-air testing, heterogeneous networks and the integration of wireless LAN and cellular — including the possibility of CA between cellular and wireless LANs. Watch the whole video here.
—National Instruments has a licensing agreement with Broadcom that will allow it to provide Broadcom-focused test solutions to ODMs and OEMs which use the company’s chipsets.
In addition, NI posted its annual Automated Test Outlook for 2014 this week. The report focuses on five main trends, including the shrinking talent pool for test engineers; greater feature sets on test equipment; the influence of cloud computing on automated testing; the pressure to produce software-based platforms that maximize longevity and scalability; and responding to the increased number of products with integrated sensors that need to be tested. You can download the report from NI.Â
—Appurify, which focuses on mobile performance optimization, launched its Appurify Mobile Platform (AMP) this week for automated app performance trouble-shooting in the pre-release period. The company noted that there is a direct correlation between app performance and ratings and reviews in app stores, but developers are too reliant on user reviews spotlighting quality issues. The testing of apps across proliferating devices and platforms is an ongoing challenge, the company said, along with the sheer amount of testing time required.
