Keysight N8487A – Thermocouple Power Sensor (50 MHz to 50 GHz)

The 8480 Series power sensor is well recognized as an industry standard for power measurements. It has been available to the industry for over 30 years and is widely used in design, manufacturing, or metrology applications for continuous wave (CW) or complex modulated signals.

Keysight is introducing the N8480 Series power sensors, a new thermocouple power sensors as a replacement for the 8480 Series power sensors (excluding the D-model sensors). It is enhanced with a few key features such as built-in EEPROM, extended dynamic range, wider frequency range, and – most important – better accuracy and repeatability.

The N8480 Series power sensor incorporates the latest sensing technology, with value-added features such as the built-in EEPROM circuit, wider dynamic range, and better linearity and accuracy.

Similar to the E-Series power sensors, the N8480 Series power sensors are designed with a built-in EEPROM to store the sensor characteristics such as model number, serial number, linearity, temperature compensation, calibration factors, and so forth. This feature ensures that this correction data will be loaded into the power meter when the sensor is moved from one power meter to another power meter. Therefore, it provides ease of use and convenience to you.

• Wider dynamic range: -35 dBm to +44 dBm (5 dB improvement from legacy 8480 Series)
• -5 dBm to +20 dBm (N8481/82/85/87A/86AQ/86AR/88A)
• 15 dBm to +35 dBm (N8481/82H)
• 5 dBm to +44 dBm (N8481/82B)
• Wider frequency coverage: 100 kHz to 67 GHz (sensor dependent)
• Excellent power linearity of less than 1%
• EEPROM feature to store cal factors
• Compatible with EPM, EPM-P, and P-Series power meters (only applicable when used with compatible firmware)

The N848x-CFT behaves as the legacy 8480 Series sensors. You are required to enter the cal factor data manually for a particular frequency prior to make a measurement or enter the sensor cal factor table manually and select the frequency of a signal to be measured.

• Dynamic Range: -30 dBm to +44 dBm (same as legacy 8480 Series)
• -30 dBm to +20 dBm (N8481/82/85/87A/86AQ/86AR-CFT)
• -10 dBm to +35 dBm (N8481/82H-CFT)
• 0 dBm to +44 dBm (N8481/82B-CFT)
• Backward compatible with 8480 Series SCPI codes
• EEPROM feature is disabled to maintain backward compatibility with 8480
• Excellent power linearity of less than 1%
• Compatible with EPM, EPM-P, and P-Series power meters and E7495A/B base station test set

The N8480 Series power sensors operate with the Keysight EPM, EPM-P, and P-Series power meters and also the Base Station Test Set.

* Keysight Base Station Test Set (E7495A/B) supports 848x and N848x-CFT option power sensor