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May 17, 2012

Synthesizers Shave Size And Noise

Frequency synthesizers are the essential signal sources for many high-frequency systems, from communications to test platforms. Synthesizers come in many forms, ranging from tiny system-on-a-chip (SoC) devices to large rack-mount units.1-41 The nu ...

May 17, 2012

New Magnetic Testing Technique Boosts Reliability

With electronic devices being pushed toward ever-higher levels of performance, it’s little wonder that reliability has emerged as a major concern. ...

May 17, 2012

Match Mixers To BTS LTE Receivers

Designing an effective base-transceiver-station (BTS) receiver for Long-Term Evolution (LTE) cellular applications includes meeting half-intermediate-frequency (half-IF) spurious requirements. To do this, it is necessary to understand the relationshi ...

Dec 20, 2010

Rx Modules Transform RF To Digital Signals

Base stations for third-generation (3G) and fourthgeneration (4G) wireless communications systems are being installed almost as fast as they can be designed and produced. To speed and simplify the process, Linear Technology has d ...

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Defense Electronics

Mixing With Mini-Circuits

We at Mini-Circuits appreciate the editorial coverage given to our new MAC series of hermetically sealed mixers in the January issue of Microwaves & RF. Unfortunately, although it has been customary to see the name of the company along with any p ...

Editor's Note

Apologies to all of our friends at Mini-Circuits for the omission of the company name from the front cover, as well as from the first figure of the Cover Feature article. Although the company name was not on the front cover, it did appear within the ...

Solid-State Source Tunes From 2.48 To 2.75 THz

Terahertz communications offers great potential for high-data-rate communications over short distances. But the 2-to-3-THz frequency range has long been considered a “terahertz gap” region: too high for purely electronic devices and too low for photo ...

Two-Port VNA Makes On-Wafer Measurements At 500 GHz

Although automotive radar systems operating at 77 and 79 GHz may seem like the upper limits of microwave engineering technology, a growing number of researchers are looking to tap into terahertz radio technologies. One group, led by scientists f ...


Contributed Technical Expert Series

Techniques for Making Measurements of Noise-Like Signals with a Spectrum Analyzer

By Bob Nelson, Agilent Technologies

Many of today’s communication formats, such as W-CDMA, cdma2000®, and WLAN, produce signals that are noise-like in nature. Accurately measuring these types of signals requires tools and setups that are different than traditionally used for continuous-wave (CW) signals. To get a better understanding of how to deal with noise-like signals, let’s examine the best approach for measuring them, and look at the tools available in modern spectrum analyzers for quickly and accurately making absolute and relative power measurements.

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Optimize Spectrum-Analyzer Settings For TOI Measurements

By Bob Nelson, Agilent Technologies

One of the more common measurements made with an RF/microwave spectrum analyzer is determination of third-order-intercept (TOI) point for a device under test (DUT), which is often an amplifier. TOI point is a parameter used to evaluate the linearity of components that are utilized in applications where nonlinear effects can cause distortion—for example, in digitally modulated signals. This measurement can be challenging, as uncertainties vary significantly based on the spectrum analyzer’s settings...

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