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SPECTRUM ANALYSERS SHOW TRANSIENT RF EVENTS

Tektronix has added a facility it calls DPX waveform image processor technology to its mid-range RSA3000B series real-time spectrum analysers, providing a “live RF view” of the spectrum. You might use it, Tek says, in digital RF applications, including RFID, radio communications and spectrum management, and it enables “signal discovery”; DPX processes realtime data and produces a live RF-spectrum display that reveals previously unseen RF signals and signal anomalies. With characteristics such as complex modulation and frequency hopping, digital RF signals have very short-lived features that conventional instruments may not be able to track. With a spectrum-processing rate hundreds of times greater than previously available, the RSA3300B series and the related RSA3408B provide, Tek asserts, 100% probability of intercept for transients as brief as 31 sec on the RSA3408B and 41 sec on the RSA3300B. The units can also trigger on transient signals in both time and frequency domains. The RSA3300B series spans either dc to 3 GHz or dc to 8 GHz, with capture bandwidth of 15 MHz and 70 dB SFDR (spurious-free dynamic range). You can use them for design and debug of 3G mobile systems, near-field systems— such as RFID and Bluetooth—and narrow- to medium-bandwidth communications systems.

The RSA3408B spans dc to 8 GHz with a 36-MHz capture bandwidth and 73 dB SFDR; you might use the higher bandwidth and dynamic range with, Tek suggests, 3G mobile components and system debug, WLAN- and WiMax-system design, demanding spectrum- management applications and general-purpose digital RF debug.

The DPX feature processes over 48,000 spectrum measurements per second to reduce the analysis gaps (measurement dead-time) inherent in swept-spectrum and vector-signal analysers, using dedicated, real-time hardware. In addition to “live RF”, the processor also provides an intensity-graded persistence display that holds anomalies until the eye can see them to show the history of occurrence for dynamic signals and immediate feedback on signal variations over time. Thus, you can see transients and signals that would ordinarily be masked by other signals, or whose existence you could only determine by post-processing of captured waveforms. The analysers also offer a trigger in the frequency domain via their frequency-mask trigger feature—this, Tek says, provides a means of locating interfering and transient signals. A continuous record for frequency and power over time helps with resolution of transient problems.

Prices for the RSA3303B with DPX begin at €27,800; software options cover 3G, WiMAX, WLAN, RFID, signal source and general-purpose modulation, and RF analysis.

Tektronix, www.tektronix.com.