TSP #201 - Rohde & Schwarz NGU401 500kS/s Source Measure Unit Review, Teardown & Experiments

In this episode Shahriar reviews the latest edition to the R&S SMU family, the NGU401. This instrument offer four-quadrant operation, 60W total output power, 6.5 digit resolution as well as 500kS/s digitizers on both voltage and current readbacks. The instrument also offers a verity of output control and arbitrary waveform generation. This review is organized as follows: 00:00 - Introductions 00:50 - Front & back panels, interfaces, design 02:40 - Detailed teardown & architectural analysis 08:36 - Pooch! 08:45 - USB Power Bank experiment, NGU GUI design, primary capabilities 13:20 - Multi-quadrant operation, sink/source conditions 15:49 - High-speed sampling, auto-ranging and transient detection 18:29 - Deep-sleep battery drain detection of Fluke 233, graphical viewer, fast logging 22:35 - Characterizing a DC/DC converter, transient output current 27:19 - High output capacitance mode, oscillation detection 29:45 - Current/voltage priority modes 30:40 - Fast arbitrary waveform generation, 34:20 - Additional functions, OVP, OCP, OPP, Modulation Input, trigger IOs, slew control, fast transient 36:18 - Concluding remarks ​​​