Evaluation Engineering - 11

is measured is via the VNA impedance
measurement."

VNA options
Vendors offer a variety of options for their
VNA products. For example, "Anritsu offers the ability to upgrade lower frequency 2-port VectorStar VNAs to higher frequencies, up to 220 GHz, as well as up to
4-port configurations without extensive
modification to the existing 2-port systems," said Reyes. "That is one customer
benefit of the modular approach Anritsu
has taken with its mmWave and 4-port
systems."
"One problem customers run into when
testing high-performance 5G components is that the residual error vector
magnitude (EVM) of their test setup
is close to the EVM of the component
under test," said Campbell at Keysight.
"Therefore, it is hard to differentiate the
component's EVM from the test setup's
EVM. Our new modulation distortion application for the PNA-X provides space to
clearly see the device's performance with
the lowest residual EVM in the industry.
The PNA-X's exceptional error correction
helps remove noise and uncertainty from
EVM, adjacent channel power (ACP),
noise power ratio (NPR), and band power
measurements."
According to Pieciak at Rohde &
Schwarz, the R&S ZNA offers a multichannel architecture of eight coherent
receivers in the 4-port model, all accessible from the front panel of the instrument, and two internal LOs. "With
the vector-corrected mixer option and
coherent sources, phase measurements
on frequency-converting devices can be
performed with ease, without the need for
reconverting or reference mixers," he said.
"Corresponding group-delay measurements can also be made with ease, utilizing a 2-tone measurement technique
that can be used on frequency-translation
devices with or without the embedded
LO access."
Copper Mountain Technologies
VNAs come with time-domain
analysis and gating as
standard features
in the software, according to Pemmaiah.

The software can be used in demo mode
and downloaded for free from the website. "Having time-domain and gating
included has led to additional measurement capabilities using just a VNA,"
he said. "Frequency offset and vectormixer-measurement capabilities are
another standard feature in the VNA
software and is an important feature for
5G development."
Pe m m a i a h a dde d , " T he ne w
Epsilometer solution offers dielectric
material measurements for specimens
with thickness 0.3 to 3 mm. This solution utilizes an advanced computational
electromagnetic modeling to compute the
dielectric permittivity with our R60 1-port
VNA. This makes the overall solution very
cost effective compared to the existing solution available in the market. The 4-port
VNAs also come with balanced measurement capability, which is very useful for
signal-integrity measurements."
"Pico has been busy supplementing the PicoVNA product line with a
low-cost network metrology training
kit aimed at trainers, universities, and
training centers," said Ashcroft. "Paired
with only a VNA, the PCB-based kit
facilitates calibration and measurement of both passive and active devices,
lines, and lumped-element networks."
Training supports the use of, display of,
and embedding and de-embedding of
S-parameters; reference plane shift; timedomain reflectometry; and nonlinear effects such as P1dB and PM due to AM
compressions. "Additionally, the Network
Metrology Training Kits are supplied with
their full AWR Microwave Office design
project file," he said. "This allows students and trainers to leverage the 'AWR
Connected' partnership discussed above.
They are able to open the design project,
simulate and perhaps modify each element, and then compare with real-world
measurements that they can make with
the kit. Full engagement with an entire
microwave design cycle right there in the
classroom!"
According to Chonko, the SIGLENT
SVA1X Series offers several options that
can quickly provide clear answers to
tricky troubleshooting issues. "For broadcast and interference monitoring, the

Advanced Measurement toolkit includes
an onscreen waterfall plot as well as ACP,
OBW, and a number of other common
measurement types," he said. "Engineers
working on wireless data transfer may be
interested in viewing transmission performance. Here, demodulation analysis is
available for common analog and digital
modulation schemes including I/Q demodulation up to 256 QAM."
In addition, Chonko said, "For technicians performing antenna tower work
finding breaks and impedance differences
throughout cable runs and adapter troubleshooting, the distance-to-fault (DTF)
option is available. There is also an EMI
option that provides instrument settings
specifically designed to help shed light
on electromagnetic compatibility and
interference issues."
Sandler cited Picotest's NISM. "This is a
critically important technology for today's
power-supply designers," he said. "There
are many situations where a Bode plot
cannot be made or is not accurate. For
many switchers, POLs, linear regulators,
references, and op-amps, output impedance is the way to accurately test stability.
This software accessory converts output
impedance to stability/phase margin.
It is available for or included with several VNAs including Keysight's E5061B/
E5071C, Rohde & Schwarz's ZNL/ZNLE,
and OMICRON Lab Bode 100. Several
other analyzers from Anritsu and Copper
Mountain are in the process of incorporating it with the free Picotest NISM API
toolkit. Picotest also offers many accessories for power-integrity measurements
and even specialized coaxial cables, specifically designed for the 2-port shunt
through impedance measurement."

Ease of use
Vector network analyzers are typically
considered difficult to use by novices,
yet experts might be reluctant to see
any changes in operation. Vendors offer
several strategies to cope.
"Anritsu offers a choice of menu-guided
setup or advanced controls," said Reyes.
"For example, our Mixer Setup menu helps
users configure the system for mixer measurements. If more advanced control is
needed, the VectorStar Multiple Source
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