National Instruments has doubled its PXI RF switch offering for 50 and 75 ohm RF applications with the release of 11 new RF switches. The new modules include 4x1, terminated 4x1, dual 4x1 and 8x1 multiplexers as well as quad (4) SPDT and dual-terminated SPDT general-purpose configurations. With these new products, engineers have more choices to optimize their RF switch networks around price performance and improved signal integrity.

All 11 modules offer extremely low insertion loss (less than 2.1 dB at specified bandwidth) and voltage-standing wave ratio (less than 1.75 at bandwidth) to minimize power loss, voltage attenuation and signal reflections. Alternative PXI RF switches available on the market have up to 3 dB of insertion loss and voltage-standing wave ratio greater than 1.8 at their bandwidth frequencies. The new modules also offer relay count tracking, a feature available only on National Instruments PXI modules. With this feature, engineers can keep track of relay closures on board the hardware to estimate the lifetime of individual relays on the module and avoid unexpected system downtime.