Spectral Stitching Gooses Radar Component Test to Instantaneous Bandwidth of 7.2 GHz

Sept. 25, 2025

NI/Emerson’s Vector Signal Transceiver forms the foundation of a functional and parametric test setup for a range of RF radar system components.

David Maliniak

Related To:

Microwaves & RF

The engineers and architects who design and assemble radar systems know well the challenges of both functional and parametric test for the components that make up those systems. Both the operating environments and functional requirements for radar platforms are quickly evolving. Sensor fusion, the emergence of hypersonic weapons, multistatic sensors, and cognitive radar are among the trends that are pushing the complexity envelope for these systems.

With an eye toward keeping up with the complexity demands, National Instruments (now part of Emerson) recently demonstrated a test setup (built on NI’s PXI platform) that enables a full suite of parametric characterizations and tests for RF radar-system components. This includes elements such as digital transmit/receive modules, beamformer cores, or RF front ends.

At the center of the demonstration is NI’s PXIe-5842 vector signal transceiver (VST), which combines a vector signal generator and vector signal analyzer into a single four-slot PXIe instrument. The demo combined two of these units, each able to range to 26.5 GHz with up to 4 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth (IB). Using spectral stitching, the two VSTs deliver IB of 7.2 GHz.

Also part of the demo are two external up/down converters, comprising radial heads from Virginia Diodes. They upconvert a 155-GHz signal that’s transmitted over the air to another VDI radial head, which downconverts the received signal.

All of the above is intended to showcase NI’s spectral-stitching reference architecture based on the two PXIe-5842 VSTs. To demonstrate the power of their 7.2-GHz IB, the pair is handling a very wideband 5G NR signal comprising nine component carriers, each with 800 MHz of bandwidth.

Once the data is acquired by the spectrum analyzer, one may perform measurement analysis. In the accompanying video, look for the constellation diagram as well as the error-vector magnitude results for each of the nine component carriers in the signal.

About the Author

David Maliniak | Executive Editor, Microwaves & RF

I am Executive Editor of Microwaves & RF, an all-digital publication that broadly covers all aspects of wireless communications. More particularly, we're keeping a close eye on technologies in the consumer-oriented 5G, 6G, IoT, M2M, and V2X markets, in which much of the wireless market's growth will occur in this decade and beyond. I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, developers, and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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About me:

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy, leaving to rejoin the EOEM B2B publishing world in January 2020. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.