RoadTest: Keysight 33622A Waveform Generator
Author: nermash
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Independent Products
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: null
What were the biggest problems encountered?: Annoying whine of SMPS when in standby...
Detailed Review:
First of all, I would like to thank Agilent and Element14 for providing me with the opportunity to roadtest their top of the line 120 MHz arbitrary generator 33622A.
In my review I will try to cover some aspects and detail of operation that have caught my attention and which IMHO distinguish this unit from others.
Package contents, initial overview
After the almost inevitable delay in custom clearance that lasted some 8 or 9 days, I finally got my review unit.
Straight out of the box, and yes it has that intoxicating smell of new equipment and immediately you can simply feel that this is high end, laboratory grade, quality piece of equipment.
Inside the box you get pretty much standard Agilent issue: the generator itself, Certificate of calibration issued January 2014, manuals, driver, libraries on DVDs, power and USB cable.
I feel that Agilent could have included some other accessories, maybe couple of adapters and jumper cables, especially considering the price point of this unit. Full blown copy of Agilent Waveform Builder Pro software would be very nice, and it is now available free on special offer from Agilent, albeit only for some countries. I think that this machine deserves to have full copy included in the kit from the start.
On the back of the unit you have standard 10 MHz reference input and output (in case you want to sync it to the higher grade frequency standard or other equipment in your lab), Kensington lock, external modulation input and external trigger/gate/FSK/burst input. Connectivity wise there are LAN and USB ports, and there is also a place for an optional GPIB connector.
The ugly
Not huge issue, but for this price I really would not like to see ugly red smudge on the front bumper straight from the box. Not a big deal though, it is only cosmetic issue, just a mention...
The bad
As other roadtester have mentioned before, this unit has almost unbearable high pitch whine coming from the power supply when plugged in power but not powered on (it has a soft start feature). It is really really annoying, so much so that I prefer to remove the IEC plug from the back as soon as I finish working with the unit. Even when powered down and with power cable removed the whine continues for good 10 seconds or more, increasing in pitch and volume until the capacitors discharge. I must admit that I expected Agilent to do better.
The good
Well, apart from the ugly and the bad point, I am failing to find any further flaws. Build quality is excellent, as you would expect from Agilent, unit is compact and does not require much space, 4,3“ 480x272 LCD is crisp, bright, it has excellent viewing angles, UI is smooth and polished.
Boot time is 33 seconds (both with factory shipped 1.06 and later upgraded 1.08 firmware revision), not great but not bad either. Fan starts out at max on boot, but it soon quiets down until internal temperature rises.
Even without consulting the manual (which real engineers don't need anyway 
) you are up and running in few minutes, providing you have some knowledge about function and arbitrary waveform generators. Of course, sooner or later you will have to look at the manual since hidden complexity of this machine is simply amazing.
Here are some quick specs:
Waveform | Maximum Frequency |
Sine | 60 MHz up to 10 Vpp |
Square/Pulse | 50 MHz up to 10 Vpp |
Noise | 60 MHz up to 10 Vpp |
Ramp/Triangle | 800 kHz |
PRBS | 100 Mbps up to 10 Vpp |
Arbitrary | 1 GSa/s, 14 bits |
Add to that jitter spec of <1 ps RMS, 4 MSa of memory for arbitrary waveforms (max of 64 MSa), 0,03% THD and 2,9 ns of pulse rise/fall time. These kind of specs are not that common and they clearly show advantages of Agilent's Trueform technology.
I have tried to find some details about Trueform, but details are not available. Agilent claims it is the merge of the best of PPC and DDS worlds, and the only bit of info I came across is that it is using „exclusive virtual variable clock with advanced filtering techniques that track the sample rate of the waveform“. My guess is that they are employing some sort of high end DSP filtering...
More to follow...
Update 27.5.2014
After I had some time to put this unit through its paces, I am starting to publish blog posts that are part of this Roadtest requirements. While other esteemed reviewers have already went to all the great features of the 33622A generator, my plan is to show some more practical examples, measurements and test setups in my review. So, please read also the other 3 reviews if you would like to have a broad picture of what this machine is capable of.
Blog post #1: Trueform and some guick checks...
Blog post #2: Baseband IQ signals with Agilent 33622A
Blog post #3: Complex RF digital modulation with 33622A
Blog post #4: Noise experiment with 33622A
