Evaluation Engineering - 9

the past few years, due to the increased
demand for RF testing in IoT research and
development."
Chonko added, "On the high end, 5G
is driving technology advancement and
capabilities to higher frequencies than
ever before, with systems over 100 GHz
commonly available."
Sandler at Picotest said more manufacturers are addressing power-integrity
applications, with most manufacturers
now supporting the 2-port shunt-through
impedance measurement and offering
Picotest's NISM noninvasive stability
software.

Challenges from IoT to 5G
VNA users face new challenges as they
confront 5G and the IoT. "5G and IoT bring
new frequencies to customers who haven't
worked in the millimeter-wave frequency
range before," said Campbell at Keysight.
"At higher frequencies you have smaller
margins for error, and you need to pay
careful attention to your hardware setup-a small cable shift after calibration
can cause large phase errors, for example."
He said that in addition to providing test
equipment for 5G and IoT, "We help our
customers enhance their expertise in new
test challenges by sharing our experience
through webinars, papers, and presentations. Using new measurement methods
along with VNA correction techniques applied to EVM measurements offers more

repeatably and accurate measurements."
"Technology advancements in areas
such as beamforming, utilized by 5G
architecture, are necessitating system
and component performance validation
at many operational states, each of which
require accurate characterization," said
Pieciak at Rohde & Schwarz. "This higher
port count, with associated calibration,
raises the likelihood of measurement errors, so all advances focused on providing a single-point connection to a device
under test, preceded by guided calibration
steps, would greatly increase measurement accuracy and heighten overall test
confidence."
When asked what challenges his
customers are facing, Reyes at Anritsu
said they want to conduct accurate,
cost-efficient on-wafer measurements
via multiple measurement capability per probe-station setup. "The key for
improved probe-station efficiency and
productivity to achieve this goal is to
have broad frequency coverage using
small compact modules," he said. "The
VectorStar ME7838G system provides
the widest broadband frequency coverage with the smallest, lightest mmWave
modules, for excellent measurement capabilities and easy installation on smaller
probe stations."
"With new technologies, frequencies of operation climb to the mmWave
regions to accommodate wider data
bandwidths," said Pemmaiah at Copper
Mountain Technologies. "At these
higher frequencies, cost of owning test equipment such as a VNA
becomes generally very expensive
because of the wideband architecture. To overcome this challenge,
Copper Mountain Technologies
offers an economical approach to
use a low-frequency (9-GHz) base

Anritsu VectorStar
ME7838G broadband
VNA.

VNA with frequency-extender modules
like the FET1854 (18 to 54 GHz), FEV-15
(50 to 75 GHz), FEV-12 (60 to 90 GHz),
and FEV-10 (75 to 110 GHz), which operate only in the mmWave band region."
This approach offers two advantages.
"First, the cost will be a fraction of the
cost of a wide-band VNA which might
cover the entire range," he said. "Second,
the frequency extender 'head' can be
placed physically close to the DUT. This
minimizes signal loss and improves the
dynamic range of the measurement."
When asked about trends, Ashcroft at
Pico Technology said, "I want to focus
here upon IoT and materials-measurement proliferation, because both of these
introduce microwave design and the need
to use a VNA to, for instance, digital engineers, small companies, and scientists
that have never used these technologies
before. It is these demands that have
driven Pico's simplified GUI design, with
which, we are proud to say, first-time users are typically able to perform a calibration, check their calibration against the
optional PicoVNA verification standard,
and perform accurate measurements
right from opening the box."
He also cited a partnership between
Pico and the computer-aided-design
company NI/AWR. "The PicoVNA now
has an 'AWR Connected' wizard that
can control and import measurement
data from the VNA right into the AWR
Design Environment," he said, adding
that AWR's Microwave Office or VSS
(Visual System Simulator) can either use
the measurements within a simulation
or for direct comparison of simulation
with the real-world. "Students and newbie microwave engineers alike can enter
and quickly transition between all of the
'Design-Simulate-Implement-ValidateIterate' phases of the development cycle,"
he added.
"The biggest challenges are the lack of
experience and knowledge," said Chonko
at SIGLENT. As with most engineering
disciplines, RF design has its own language and common rules that differ
from analog and digital design, presenting challenges to traditional analog and
digital companies that now want to integrate RF so that they can capture pieces
JANUARY 2020 EVALUATIONENGINEERING.COM

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Evaluation Engineering

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