Contents
How is RF signal measured?
DC and low-frequency measurements can be calculated by the formula: P=U2/R. Depending in the match between RF or MW source impedance and load impedance, parts of the signal energy is reflected. A waveguide setup makes it very difficult to measure voltage.
How is RF receiver sensitivity measured?
Analog receiver sensitivity is measured by monitoring the SINAD level as the RF signal power is lowered. The RF input power resulting in 12 dB SINAD is typically considered the specified sensitivity of the receiver. For a digital receiver, the key performance measure is BER (Bit Error Rate).
What are the performance measure of a digital receiver?
The receiver performance is characterized by measuring the BER as a function of the average optical power received. The average optical power corresponding to a BER of 10-9 is a measure of receiver sensitivity.
What are the parameters of a receiver?
The degree of amplification of a radio receiver is measured by a parameter called its sensitivity, which is the minimum signal strength of a station at the antenna, measured in microvolts, necessary to receive the signal clearly, with a certain signal-to-noise ratio.
How to test and measure a RF transmitter?
It covers RF transmitter and RF receiver measurements. This tutorial will help RF engineers in how to test and measure various RF specifications of RF power amplifier, RF LNA and RF transceiver using RF test and measurement equipments such as spectrum analyzer, signal generator, sweep oscillator, power meter etc.
How to calculate the sensitivity of a RF receiver?
➨Measure the BER in the VSA or use BER setup for the same if feature is not available in VSA. ➨Reduce the power level in the signal generator or increase the attenuation level in variable RF attenuator as shown and go down till the sensitivity level has been reached (say -120 dBm) .
What should be the BER of a RF test?
Following equipments or tools are used for the measurement: -120dBm at BER of 10 -6. This is usually specified for example in VSAT RF Transceiver or other RF devices. ➨Do the test setup as shown in the figure. ➨Set the desired signal frequency and power in the signal generator.
How to set up offset for RF power measurement?
Chose the desired measurement unit If measuring through couplers/ attenuators etc. set-up the offset for direct reading of the source power value, instead of measured power value RF power measurement •Some comments: •The reading is noisier at the bottom of the dynamic range