Non-contact Probing of RF Circuits with the Beehive 100 Series Probes
As RF products become more integrated, testing them becomes for difficult. High levels of integration reduce the number of separate assemblies in an RF system, frequently integrating the entire product into one printed circuit board. Because cables and coaxial connectors have been eliminated, it is no longer possible to simply connect test equipment to a suspect circuit through a coaxial cable.
For example, when it was necessary to test the local oscillator in a microwave transmitter, one could previously connect a spectrum analyzer to the oscillator’s output and measure the signal power and frequency directly. Today, the entire signal chain might be integrated on one printed circuit board, with the only accessible RF interconnect being the connection between the transmitter and the antenna.
For these reasons, various probes and probing techniques have been developed to allow technicians and engineers to measure RF signals on the printed circuit board itself. This article highlights the advantages of using passive non-contact probes for this work.
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