Re-configurable hardware for "synthetic" wideband instruments

Using current commercially-available programmable devices, ranging from ASICs to PCs, it is possible to configure a single set of hardware that can serve as the measurement kernel for software-defined instruments suitable for the creation and/or analysis of modulated signals up to 80 MHz - bandwidth. Furnished with an appropriate software interface, such a device can replace individual instruments in many cases, and in other cases can be used to respond rapidly to changing measurement needs.