U.S. Navy Chooses MOHR TDR for Cable Testing Applications
MOHR Test and Measurement LLC (MOHR), a supplier of precision time-domain reflectometry (TDR) instrumentation, announced it has won a 5-year contract award from the U.S. Navy to supply high-resolution portable TDR cable testers. The contract is worth an estimated USD$5.3 million at commercial pricing.
The Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) selected MOHR's new upgraded CT100 TDR, which features a new high-performance multicore CPU and unique collection of time and frequency domain analysis tools, for its General Purpose Electronic Test Equipment (GPETE) program. The CT100 TDR will be used to support shipboard, submarine, shore, and Marine Corps cable testing applications.
MOHR's CT100 TDR cable testers are commonly used in the defense, aerospace, telecom, electric power, automotive, and other industries for precision testing of twisted pair, coaxial, and multiconductor cables and connectors. The instruments share features with high-end benchtop TDR sampling oscilloscopes including fast rise time step-rise test signal, subpicosecond timebase resolution, and specialized TDR waveform analysis tools that provide substantially better cable fault resolution and sensitivity than competing portable instruments.
A step-rise TDR instrument can measure changes in the characteristic impedance of a cable along its length that may signal the presence of cable manufacturing defect(s), thermal or radiation insulation damage, the presence of water, or other subtle abnormalities, in addition to focal impedance discontinuities indicating the presence of cable faults. Faster TDR rise times indicate higher system bandwidth and result in impedance waveforms with higher spatial resolution, improving the sensitivity and accuracy of cable fault measurements.
"The CT100 has much better spatial resolution and distance-to-fault precision and accuracy than competing handheld TDR and VNA [Vector Network Analyzer] instruments, and in particular is much easier to use and understand than competing handheld VNAs," said Brandt Mohr, chief technologist. "These are key features for our military customers." According to Mohr, the CT100 is the industry's only portable instrument capable of resolving connector-level detail, important for detecting and characterizing cable faults in modern communication systems.
About CT100 Series TDRs and CT Viewer Software
CT100 Series TDRs feature step-rise test signal, 0.003 in. (75 micron) cursor resolution, system rise times as low as 60 ps (20-80%, CT100HF), and horizontal range of up to 44,000 ft. (13.4 km). The instruments weigh approximately 5 lbs. (2.3 kg) and feature bright color screens, USB and 10/100 Ethernet connectivity, and support for USB peripherals including keyboards, flash drives, and barcode readers.
An array of built-in TDR waveform analysis tools allow the operator to measure cable length, local impedance, return loss, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), and cable loss, and detect and localize subtle cable faults, including minor conductor or insulation damage, water ingress, and loosened, corroded, or poor-quality interconnects. User configurations store settings for frequently-used test configurations and the instruments can store thousands of high-resolution TDR waveforms for later analysis or comparison.
CT100 Series TDRs are bundled with CT Viewer, full-featured TDR waveform analysis software designed for Microsoft(R) Windows(R). CT Viewer lets the user analyze and compare stored TDR waveforms, capture real-time video from CT100 Series TDRs at up to 250 ksps, and remotely control CT100 Series TDRs over a LAN/WAN or the Internet.
To learn more about CT100 Series TDRs and CT Viewer, visit http://www.mohrtm.com/ct-100 and http://www.mohrtm.com/ct-viewer, respectively.
About MOHR
MOHR has developed innovative test and measurement instrumentation for more than 31 years. Learn more at http://www.mohrtm.com.
Media Contact:
Brandt C. Mohr, M.D.
+1 (888) 852-0408
info@mohrtm.com
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