Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/8540-rohde-schwarz-awarded-contract-for-800-signal-generators-by-navicp

Rohde & Schwarz Awarded Contract for 800 Signal Generators by NAVICP

September 25, 2009

Rohde & Schwarz America announced that it has received a contract from the US Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP) in Mechanicsburg, VA, for the purchase of 800 R&S SMB100N analog signal generators over a five-year period. The instruments will replace existing instruments throughout the Navy, and will also be available for purchase by other government agencies as well as defense contractors through NAVICP along with various options if desired.

The R&S SMB100N is based on the company’s commercially-available R&S SMB100A signal generator family, which includes models with measurement ranges from 9 kHz to 6 GHz. In addition to its many standard features, high RF output, and excellent overall performance, the R&S SMB100N is especially appealing for aerospace and defense applications because of its unique modular architecture. This allows the owner to replace any of the signal generator’s four modules without sending the instrument to a service center. After manually running an internal self-test routine, the user is notified by the R&S SMB100N which modules passed or failed. In case, a module needs service, a new factory-calibrated module from inventory can quickly be installed and the instrument returned to service. In addition, the signal generator has a 3-year calibration interval, which is a year longer than typical.

The latest award is the fourth such contract Rohde & Schwarz has in place with NAVICP. The previous three procurements are for Rohde & Schwarz spectrum analyzers, including the R&S FSP38 and R&S FSL3 benchtop/portable instruments and the R&S FSH6N handheld spectrum analyzer. In addition, Rohde & Schwarz was awarded a contract by the US Army Aviation & Missile Command in 2008 to supply 4,000 R&S SMB100M analog signal generators as well as service and support over a seven-year period. The award was part of the Army’s Test Equipment Modernization (TEMOD) program, which will replace obsolete general-purpose test equipment with state-of-the-art instruments.