Agilent Technologies announced a USB-powered, single-pole double-throw coaxial switch, operating from DC to 18 GHz. The U1810B coaxial microwave switch supports the standard plug-and-play functionality of USB devices, eliminating the need for additional power adapters or drivers, and simplifying setup. A button on the switch allows toggling the signal path between two output ports without using the software interface.

 

The new USB microwave switch is guaranteed for 5-million-cycles (though 10 million cycles is expected to be typical), and has a guaranteed insertion loss of no more than 0.03 dB. The front panel of the switch provides an alternative software control interface and it can be controlled using various software platforms such as C, LabVIEW or VEE, making it well suited for system design and manufacturing test engineers in communications and component test.