Silicon South West Labs

Sponsored by

The large capital outlay and the high cost of test equipment during product development cycles can be prohibitive to early stage start-up businesses.

Silicon South West Labs is targeted at meeting the test requirements and reducing the cost of testing for these companies by offering an affordable, flexible and fully equipped facility located in the University of Bath’s Innovation Centre.

The Silicon South West Labs test facility is designed to be configurable to individual need and customers may define the required test configurations and equipment performance requirements at the point of booking.

Sponsored by

The Laboratory offers both RF and Networks testing. The RF section is aimed at wireless digital and analogue performance test and measurement and the network test, offers an extensive list of equipment for the emulation of both Metal and Optical networks.

RF Test Stations

Currently the laboratory is comprehensively equipped to allow customers to carry out a wide-range of RF performance measurements and can be tailored to offer up to three RF test stations concurrently.

Each of the stations can be configured to the customers’ requirements; typically consist of a mix of high performance Rohde & Schwarz and HP/Agilent, Tektronix and Gigatronics equipment. Example: Signal, Vector and I & Q Generators, Spectrum analysers, Oscilloscopes, Network Analyser – S Parameter measurement and Audio Analysers.

Typical use might be for testing Transmitter, Power Amplifier, Synthesizer or Receiver designs. Typical uses would include; RFID and Near Field (NFC), Bluetooth, GSM, WiFi currently up to 3GHz. WiMax, 3G, LTE and LTE/A may be offered at a later date as the facility grows.

Network Test and Emulation

The SSW test bed is custom designed versatile and configurable test system, providing test and emulation of networks up to 40 Gb data (over 1Gbit ports), supporting both metal and fiber optical. These can be optimised to provide up to 1000 ports, suitable for IS wide area.

The laboratory is equipped with a broad range of equipment, with a typical test station consisting of UNIX/LINUX Servers, Routers and Switches. The test bed can be configured to offer comprehensive testing and development of a range of functions, including; differing service levels, Multiplexing, Virtual Lan, Inter Domain, Protocols and Custom Billing Services etc.

Equipment Includes 8753C, 8642B, 8657A & B’s with options, E4403D, 3325B, 8780A, 8648D,8970B, 5335A,8903B, 1090.3000, 2465B, WAVEPRO950, Infinium 1Gig Scope etc.