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Featured Articles

Apr 12, 2012

Transceiver Chips Corral MM Waves

Data and bandwidth are two areas where wireless communications customers have seemingly insatiable needs. ...

Apr 12, 2012

An End To Smartphone Sneaking?

For all of their myriad benefits, smartphones have proven to be a security nightmare in the wrong settings—chief among them, college classrooms (think test-taking), courtrooms, corporate boardrooms, and government secure facilities. ...

Apr 12, 2012

Optimizing PLL Performance Levels

Frequency synthesizers based on phase-locked loops (PLLs) are widely used in radio communications systems. Such signal sources are known for their high frequency resolution and fast switching speed, while maintaining good frequency accuracy over time ...

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

More Mixer Noise

When you publish in one of the industry’s premiere magazines, you open yourself up to criticism such as what was presented in your “Feedback” column (March 2012). ...

Correction

Owing to editorial error, the article “UWB Lowpass Filter Features Wide Stopband” by Milad Mirzaee (March 2012) did not include the graphic for Fig. 2(c). ...

Tracking Oscillator Trends

While oscillator technology makes gains from year to year, the progress is often deliberate—and typically, motivated by the needs of different markets. ...

Processor Boasts 3 Billion Transistors on 9 Copper Layers

Integration means many things to many people. ...


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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