Pendulum was originally created in the 1960s as the Philips time and frequency competence center. After 30 years of existence within Philips, it was spun off from 1998 but continued to sell Philips-branded instruments for another two years before starting to sell instruments under its own brand name.
A Russian subsidiary was established in 2004, and in 2005, XL Microwave (an Oakland, CA-based manufacturer of microwave frequency counters and similar equipment) was acquired and transformed into the US branch Pendulum Instruments, Inc.
In 2008, Pendulum became part of the Orolia Group, and in 2009 its operations were combined with another Orolia company, Spectracom[1] to form one global time & frequency systems & services organization operating under the Spectracom umbrella.[2] Pendulum Instruments continues to be a leading brand of test & measurement instruments and are also sold under the Fluke brand name in most parts of the world, and total sales in the specific field are second only to Agilent Technologies.
A clock is an instrument used to measure, keep, and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units: the day, the lunar month, and the year. Devices operating on several physical processes have been used over the millennia.
A crystal oscillator is an electronic oscillator circuit that uses the mechanical resonance of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal with a precise frequency. This frequency is often used to keep track of time, as in quartz wristwatches, to provide a stable clock signal for digital integrated circuits, and to stabilize frequencies for radio transmitters and receivers. The most common type of piezoelectric resonator used is the quartz crystal, so oscillator circuits incorporating them became known as crystal oscillators, but other piezoelectric materials including polycrystalline ceramics are used in similar circuits.
A rubidium standard or rubidium atomic clock is a frequency standard in which a specified hyperfine transition of electrons in rubidium-87 atoms is used to control the output frequency. It is the most inexpensive, compact, and widely produced atomic clock, used to control the frequency of television stations, cell phone base stations, in test equipment, and global navigation satellite systems like GPS. Commercial rubidium clocks are less accurate than caesium atomic clocks, which serve as primary frequency standards, so the rubidium clock is a secondary frequency standard.
The APC-7 connector is a precision coaxial connector used on laboratory microwave test equipment for frequencies up to 18 GHz. APC-7 connectors are advantageous because they have a low-reflection coefficient, make repeatable coaxial connections, and are genderless. The connectors are expensive, so they are seldom used outside the laboratory where their cost can be justified by their accuracy and convenience. Due to their high cost, their 18 GHz frequency limitation, and new laboratory practices, the connectors are now uncommon. Modern low frequency microwave equipment often uses the less expensive 3.5 mm (26.5 GHz) connector. Higher frequency equipment must use higher performance connectors such as the 2.92 mm (40 GHz), 2.4 mm (50 GHz), 1.85 mm (67 GHz), or 1.0 mm (110 GHz) connectors.
A microwave radiometer (MWR) is a radiometer that measures energy emitted at millimetre-to-centimetre wavelengths known as microwaves. Microwave radiometers are very sensitive receivers designed to measure thermal electromagnetic radiation emitted by atmospheric gases. They are usually equipped with multiple receiving channels in order to derive the characteristic emission spectrum of the atmosphere or extraterrestrial objects. Microwave radiometers are utilized in a variety of environmental and engineering applications, including weather forecasting, climate monitoring, radio astronomy and radio propagation studies.
Konica Minolta, Inc. is a Japanese multinational technology company headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, with offices in 49 countries worldwide. The company manufactures business and industrial imaging products, including copiers, laser printers, multi-functional peripherals (MFPs) and digital print systems for the production printing market. Konica Minolta's Managed Print Service (MPS) is called Optimised Print Services. The company also makes optical devices, including lenses and LCD film; medical and graphic imaging products, such as X-ray image processing systems, colour proofing systems, and X-ray film; photometers, 3-D digitizers, and other sensing products; and textile printers. It once had camera and photo operations inherited from Konica and Minolta but they were sold in 2006 to Sony, with Sony's Alpha series being the successor SLR division brand.
A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator can be either electromagnetic or mechanical. Resonators are used to either generate waves of specific frequencies or to select specific frequencies from a signal. Musical instruments use acoustic resonators that produce sound waves of specific tones. Another example is quartz crystals used in electronic devices such as radio transmitters and quartz watches to produce oscillations of very precise frequency.
A frequency counter is an electronic instrument, or component of one, that is used for measuring frequency. Frequency counters usually measure the number of cycles of oscillation, or pulses per second in a periodic electronic signal. Such an instrument is sometimes referred to as a cymometer, particularly one of Chinese manufacture.
In physics, complex harmonic motion is a complicated realm based on the simple harmonic motion. The word "complex" refers to different situations. Unlike simple harmonic motion, which is regardless of air resistance, friction, etc., complex harmonic motion often has additional forces to dissipate the initial energy and lessen the speed and amplitude of an oscillation until the energy of the system is totally drained and the system comes to rest at its equilibrium point.
Stanford Research Systems is a maker of general test and measurement instruments. The company was founded in 1980, is privately held, and is not affiliated with Stanford University.
Marconi Instruments Limited (MI) was a British company, one of the Marconi group of companies, formerly part of GEC. Originally formed in 1936, there was a buyout of Marconi-Ekco Instruments to form the company Marconi Instruments in 1941.
A crystal oven is a temperature-controlled chamber used to maintain the quartz crystal in electronic crystal oscillators at a constant temperature, in order to prevent changes in the frequency due to variations in ambient temperature. An oscillator of this type is known as an oven-controlled crystal oscillator This type of oscillator achieves the highest frequency stability possible with a crystal. They are typically used to control the frequency of radio transmitters, cellular base stations, military communications equipment, and for precision frequency measurement.
Videocon Industries Limited is a large diversified Indian company headquartered in Mumbai. The group has 17 manufacturing sites in India and plants in Mainland China, Poland, Italy and Mexico. It is the third largest picture tube manufacturer in the world. The group is a US$5.5 billion global conglomerate. Videocon has various brands under its portfolio.
A network analyzer is an instrument that measures the network parameters of electrical networks. Today, network analyzers commonly measure s–parameters because reflection and transmission of electrical networks are easy to measure at high frequencies, but there are other network parameter sets such as y-parameters, z-parameters, and h-parameters. Network analyzers are often used to characterize two-port networks such as amplifiers and filters, but they can be used on networks with an arbitrary number of ports.
Acoustic Research was a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company that manufactured high-end audio equipment. The brand is now owned by VOXX. Acoustic Research was well known for the AR-3 series of speaker systems, which used the 12-inch (305 mm) acoustic suspension woofer of the AR-1 with newly designed dome mid-range speaker and high-frequency drivers, which were the first of their kind. AR's line of acoustic suspension speakers was extraordinary for its time, as they were the first loudspeakers with flat response, extended bass, wide dispersion, small size, and reasonable cost.
Boonty is a global supplier of digital distribution services for online and PC gaming whose technology platform and brand names were acquired by digital commerce provider Nexway in January 2009.
An atomic clock is a clock device that uses a hyperfine transition frequency in the microwave, or electron transition frequency in the optical or ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum of atoms as a frequency standard for its timekeeping element. Atomic clocks are the most accurate time and frequency standards known, and are used as primary standards for international time distribution services, to control the wave frequency of television broadcasts, and in global navigation satellite systems such as GPS.
Spectracom is a global manufacturer of precision time and frequency instruments and network-centric equipment used in a wide range of industries.
A measuring instrument is a device for measuring a physical quantity. In the physical sciences, quality assurance, and engineering, measurement is the activity of obtaining and comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events. Established standard objects and events are used as units, and the process of measurement gives a number relating the item under study and the referenced unit of measurement. Measuring instruments, and formal test methods which define the instrument's use, are the means by which these relations of numbers are obtained. All measuring instruments are subject to varying degrees of instrument error and measurement uncertainty. These instruments may range from simple objects such as rulers and stopwatches to electron microscopes and particle accelerators. Virtual instrumentation is widely used in the development of modern measuring instruments.
Keithley Instruments is a measurement and instrument company headquartered in Solon, Ohio, that develops, manufactures, markets, and sells data acquisition products, as well as complete systems for high-volume production and assembly testing.
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