Keysight Agilent N432A LXI Compliant Thermistor Power Meter with High Accuracy and Digital Color LCD

Tested good Keysight Agilent N432A Thermistor Power Meter

The N432A thermistor power meter is an automatic, self-balancing power meter for use with temperature-compensated thermistor mount sensors. The N432A replaces the legacy 432A analog power meter, with enhanced performance and features.

Keysight N432A is the replacement for Keysight's legacy 432A analog thermistor power meter. The single-channel, average RF power meter operates with the Keysight 8478B and 478A thermistor mounts. The N432A-and-thermistor-mount pair is ideal for applications that require high measurement accuracy, particularly in metrology and calibration laboratory environments.

The enhanced thermistor power meter comes with a digital color LCD, and a user-friendly front panel interface. Its built-in calibration factor table provides a more convenient and accurate method of storing calibration factors as compared to the old knob-turning approach of the 432A. The N432A is LXI compliant and programmable via GPIB, USB, and LAN.

• Frequency range: 100 kHz to 18 GHz (sensor dependent)
• Dynamic range: -30 dBm to +10 dBm
• High Accuracy (≤ 0.1% ± 0.5 uW), excellent for 1 mW transfer calibration (with 478A-H75/H76)
• Built-in 6.5 digits ADC eliminates the need for external DMM
• Selectable bridge resistance (100/200/300/400 Ω)
• Remote interface flexibility (GPIB, USB, LXI-C)
• Digital color LCD display

The N432A is a single-channel, average RF power measurement meter that supports thermistor sensors. The N432A has the capability to measure and display average power, RF bridge voltages (VRF0 and VRF1), compensation bridge voltages (VCOMP0 and VCOMP1), V0, and V1. It is also provided with a set of features such as zeroing and a built-in self-test.

Developed using LXI technology, the N432A is an LXI Class-C compliant instrument. The N432A basic configuration consists of two key sections: bridge and meter logic. When a compatible thermistor sensor is connected to the N432A, the RF and compensation bridge circuits are formed in the bridge section.

VRF, which is the voltage at the top of the RF bridge, is responsive to both input RF power and ambient temperature changes. On the other hand, VCOMP, which is the voltage at the top of the compensation bridge, is responsive only to ambient temperature changes. The VRF and VCOMP values are used in calculating the RF power.

In general, the N432A is an easy-to-use instrument, especially with the availability of an integrated Web browser that provides a convenient way to view and modify the instrument network configuration. Besides the LAN interface, the N432A also supports industry standard GPIB and USB interfaces for measurement automation.