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PALO ALTO, Calif., June 29, 2005/Satnews Daily/
— Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) has been awarded a $1.4 million
contract by the U.S. Air Force to provide Agilent N1906A-E05
transmission line and antenna cable test sets (TACTS) for characterizing
B-2A aircraft RF communications cabling and antennas.
Agilent said it has passed the critical design
review with the Air Force for these test sets, demonstrating that
compared with equipment currently in use the TACTS system substantially
reduces test time.
According to Agilent, the TACTS system was selected by the Air Force for
its best-in-class performance, ease of use and smaller form factor,
measures amplitude and phase characteristics of cables in aircraft
communications and radar. The system will enable the Air Force to reduce
test time by a factor of five and reduce uncertainty by a factor of 10,
allowing faster, more reliable measurements. The speed and accuracy
facilitate basic go/no-go status checking and enable performance
tracking over time.
”There are hundreds of cables on the B-2A, and being able to test the
critical ones quickly is essential to aircraft mission success," said
Wes Wietelman, B-2A avionics program manager for the Air Force. "Agilent's
TACTS system does that, while also increasing our productivity.”
The system is comprised of Agilent's commercially available N5230A PNA-L
Series microwave network analyzer, ECal electronic calibration module
internally mounted in the remote measurement unit (RMU), an RF interface
and controller, and system software. The system replaces four large
transit equipment cases with a single unit, simplifying cable
characterization whether or not direct access is readily available to
all the cable segments that run through numerous bulkhead connectors of
an aircraft.
Whether used on or off the aircraft, the system enables aircraft
maintainers to benchmark test data, providing a means for assessing
cable integrity over the aircraft's lifetime, typically 30 years.
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