Fundamentals of DC Power Supplies - Measurement and Monitoring

Significant voltage drops can occur on the supply leads from a power supply to a DUT, especially with longer connection leads or in applications with high current consumption, so that the programmed voltage is not attained at the DUT input. Power supplies offering remote sensing, also known as four-wire sensing, are able to compensate for these voltage drops.

To achieve this, the voltage actually present at the DUT is measured using a pair of sense lines in addition to the force lines. The measured value is used to regulate the power supply’s output voltage so that the desired voltage is present at the DUT input. Depending on the model, the Rohde & Schwarz power supplies provide remote sensing for each output channel.

Rohde & Schwarz power supplies come with a range of built-in measurements that can in many applications replace additional instruments such as an external oscilloscope or a multimeter to measure, for example, instantaneous power. This white paper provides insights into power supplies for remote sensing with built-in measurements, digital voltmeter functionality, accuracy and resolution, and logging.

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