SANTA CLARA, Calif., and ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 21, 2013 – Agilent Technologies and the University of Michigan have announced Agilent’s support of the university’s solar-car team. Agilent will provide a 200-MHz capacitive touch-screen oscilloscope as well as a handheld oscilloscope and a triple-output power supply to support the team’s solar-car engineering program, from design through competition.
Forty-seven teams from 26 countries will gather in Australia on Oct. 6 for the 2013 World Solar Challenge, the world’s largest competition for solar electric vehicles. The 3000-kilometer race from Darwin to Adelaide requires that each car get 100 percent of its energy from the sun or from the kinetic energy of the vehicle. Additional information is available at www.worldsolarchallenge.org.
University of Michigan solar car photos are available at www.agilent.com/find/solarcar_images.
“The new Agilent oscilloscope is incredibly accurate and reliable, offering a lot more measuring options. The color touch screen makes it very easy to use and differentiate between signals. We’ve already used it to analyze multiple signals from the motor and debug several driver interface boards,” said Sarah Spitzer, electrical engineer and driver on the solar-car team. “The portable oscilloscope will allow for roadside debugging. Additionally, the triple-output power supply allows us to power the testing bus while simultaneously testing other individual projects.”
Agilent InfiniiVision 4000 X-Series oscilloscopes are ideal tools for advanced teaching and instructional laboratories. Agilent’s InfiniiVision MSOX4024A, a 350-MHz oscilloscope with four analog channels and 16 digital channels, will accelerate the design, prototype and testing stages of the program. Students will experience how Agilent’s industry-leading 1-million-waveforms/sec update rate, segmented memory and MegaZoom IV smart memory technology provide faster insight into signal behavior. They will experience the enhanced usability of the industry’s largest capacitive touch display (12.1 inches) and innovative InfiniiScan Zone touch trigger capability. Additionally, these students will be able to take advantage of the unique integration of five instruments in one box: oscilloscope, logic analyzer, serial protocol analyzer, WaveGen 20-MHz dual-channel function/arbitrary waveform generator and three-digit DVM.
Designed with field use in mind, the 200-MHz Agilent U1620A isolated channels handheld oscilloscope will provide the university’s team with dual waveform zoom, a high-resolution VGA TFT LCD display for wide viewing angles, a fully integrated digital multimeter, and data-logging features. The scope’s advanced user interface and capabilities will help the team troubleshoot their car and subsystems effectively and efficiently.
The Agilent U8031A 375W triple-output power supply delivers unparalleled performance, and it will allow the team to view current and voltage at the same time, speeding up the design process.
“Agilent is delighted to support the student solar car team at University of Michigan to help them address the kinds of challenges they will encounter in industry,” said King Parsons, Oscilloscope and Protocol Division Business Development Manager for Agilent’s Electronic Measurement Group.
Agilent oscilloscopes are available in a variety of form factors, from 20 MHz to 90 GHz, offering industry-leading specifications and powerful applications.
For more information, visit www.agilent.com.
