Rigol DG5102

[RayJones]

Just thought I'd give a thumbs up for this brand new product from Rigol.

The DG5102 is a dual channel waveform generator. 100MHz output, 1GSa/s.

My use was to create a doppler tone for testing a weather radar's doppler signal processing.
I need 1 channel to simulate the transmitter's burst, triggered from the signal processor.
The second to simulate a varying receive frequency about the nominal IF of the receiver.

The Rigol does it with ease. I can create a burst signal on channel 1, and use frequency sweep on channel 2.
The frequency sweep can be specified as the centre frequency and span - perfect for my needs.
Even better if you set the output impedance to 50ohm, you can set level in dBm (which was not possible with my old test system).

That however is a pretty simple usage.
We had the unit demonstrated a few months ago by a rep from Rigol themselves whilst the unit was still in the development stage (SW version of my unit is 00.01.01  ) and he demo'd capturing a waveform from a DSO, storing it in the DG5102 and replaying it adnauseum. I believe you can even sequence the replay via an external trigger - perfect for radar testing.

It isn't cheap @ ~$4000 AUD, but since it is not a personal purchase that is not so much of a concern.

The best part for myself is I can finally dump the pair of sig gens cross coupled with the 10MHz references and assorted other "bits" I had been using and replace them with a unit that is a fraction of the size of either unit, that could quite well be easily rack mounted if need be.

The only disappointment so far is the web based control of the functions is not working, but given a SW version of 00.01.01 I'm certain there is scope for improvement on that front 

http://www.rigol.com/templates/T_Product_en/index.aspx?nodeid=1095

[NiHaoMike]

I wonder if it could be upgraded just like the oscilloscopes...

[RayJones]

LOL, you reckon we could cobble the 350MHz model out by a serial # change?

I must admit it was a bit of a challenge to not ask the Rigol man about his thoughts on the 1052E hack 

I must say though that the Rigol CRO he brought along with the DG5102 was VERY NICE.
Made the 1052E really look like it's price tag!
Sorry, can't remember what model CRO it was.

[alm]

Thanks for sharing your impressions! Did you guys look at any competing models and chose the Rigol, or was this the only option for that price? My current impression of Rigol is that they make decent stuff for when you're on a budget, but that the big brand names are definitely superior if price is not important. But I'd love to see them compete with the likes of Agilent and Tek in higher-end markets.

[RayJones]

Pretty much being damn good value for the money, and the specs weren't too shabby anyway.

The spurious responses were very good, The Rigol man actually had one of their Spectrum Analysers too to demonstrate that on - nice and compact and NOT WEIGHTY. But from memory the price tag was weighty for that unit!

They are certainly keen to acquire a good reputation, and value for money is a good way to make inroads into the main players domain.
They are not scared to lock horns with Agilent/Tek and that is certainly their intent.

[slburris]

Now if they could only get the price of this unit down to $500 :-)

I don't suppose there's any chance of getting photos of the insides?

Scott

[Bored@Work]

Wow, you are the first one I hear who had a meaningful interaction with a Rigol technician. Until now I thought they were mystical creatures. Before you buy, you could try to fire off some requests to the Rigol *cough* support *cough* to check if they continue to talk to you.

And I would recommend you wait until the web issue is really fixed in case you need the web interface. I.e. you have the software in your hands, as opposite to promises. Rigol has demonstrated in the past that they have no qualms stopping to do updates when they lose interest in a product. That can even happen shortly after product introduction.

[RayJones]

The Rigol tech man was being escorted about by Emona reps. One from Melbourne, the other from Sydney.
For sure being Chinese the man was a bit difficult to understand at times, but his skills were undoubtable.

We have already bought and own two units.
We were in desperate need of a pulse generator, all our prior units had exploded in one form or another.
I was in desperate need for a better integrated doppler tone generation test setup, and even better something with 10/100 baseT.

It has already performed these functions admirably.

If I was into QAM etc I'm sure I would be even more impressed.

Not prepared to pull a $4000 unit apart just yet. "If it ain't broke don't fix it"

[saturation]

How did your company manage to blow up so many devices? 

The Rigol tech man was being escorted about by Emona reps. One from Melbourne, the other from Sydney.
For sure being Chinese the man was a bit difficult to understand at times, but his skills were undoubtable.

We have already bought and own two units.
We were in desperate need of a pulse generator, all our prior units had exploded in one form or another.
I was in desperate need for a better integrated doppler tone generation test setup, and even better something with 10/100 baseT.

It has already performed these functions admirably.

If I was into QAM etc I'm sure I would be even more impressed.

Not prepared to pull a $4000 unit apart just yet. "If it ain't broke don't fix it"

[RayJones]

The units had either expired of old age or internal failure.

One literally produced a decent cloud of magic smoke but it was so old it wasn't worth fixing.
The others well it's a good excuse for better equipment. 

We actually had a real old HP bench PSU the other day that released smoke in such a manner that even switching it off failed to stop the smoke delivery.
This unit judging by appearances was around when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Pulling it apart later revealed an extreme case of ugliness, the neutral was being switched, not the active.
The reason for this? - The American insistence of using black for active and white for neutral.

[saturation]

I see, they had lived long and useful lives, it reads.  How long did they last before biting the dust, 10, 15, 20 years of daily use?

As for the HP, there is a thriving collectors market in old HP gear, working or not ...

The units had either expired of old age or internal failure.

One literally produced a decent cloud of magic smoke but it was so old it wasn't worth fixing.
The others well it's a good excuse for better equipment. 

We actually had a real old HP bench PSU the other day that released smoke in such a manner that even switching it off failed to stop the smoke delivery.
This unit judging by appearances was around when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Pulling it apart later revealed an extreme case of ugliness, the neutral was being switched, not the active.
The reason for this? - The American insistence of using black for active and white for neutral.

[RayJones]

Interesting CRO but how was that on topic?

The only signal I see it can generate is the probe CAL output, hardly a Waveform Generator!

[Mechatrommer]

check this out

you should test with some real life circuit, or even at the edge of the DSO BW limit.