Antenna Systems & Technology - Fall 2013 - (Page 23)

TEST & MEASUREMENT NEW PRODUCTS & SERVICES Test Base Station Antenna on Your Lab Bench Due to the time and cost constraints of conducting far-field measurements of base station antennas many mobile service providers cannot afford to measure the antennas as much as they would like. Directly testing far-field in an anechoic chamber is not appropriate because of the large distances required for the far-field to establish. Outdoor test sites can be difficult to find and their use is constrained by weather. Specific chambers for testing large antennas using specialized techniques are required. In addition, many base station antennas have mechanical adjustments which alter the pattern of the array creating a need for measurement with multiple setups. EMSCAN’s RFX2 is a desktop scanner that characterizes antennas without the need for a chamber. RFX2 provides far-field patterns, bisections, EIRP and TRP in less than two seconds. Novel near-field results, including amplitude, polarity and phase give insights into the root causes of antenna performance challenges and help troubleshoot far-field radiation patterns. RFX2 can also integrate with a network analyzer to measure gain, efficiency and S11 of an antenna, and with a base station emulator to test cell phones. Users can execute real-time analysis of their embedded antenna designs and test multiple design iterations, on the lab bench, in seconds at each stage of the design process. RFX2 also gives wireless engineers the freedom to do rapid prototyping and explore new designs, materials and forms. Wireless engineers and designers can test multiple design variations and optimize complex embedded antenna designs at their desktop in seconds without wasting time waiting in congested anechoic chamber lines. Signal Analyzers Offer Improved Phase-Noise Performance, Sweep Speed Agilent Technologies, Inc. has announced greater core performance in two of its X-Series signal analyzers, the midrange MXA and general-purpose EXA. The respective improvements in phase noise allow engineers to more precisely characterize the frequency stability of oscillators and synthesizers. The faster sweep speeds of these analyzers accelerate searches for spurious signals in the testing of transmitters, active antenna arrays and power amplifiers. Phase-noise performance is a key factor in obtaining low and accurate error vector magnitude values for communication systems and devices. In the MXA, phase noise has been improved by 10 dB or more for close-in and pedestal offset frequencies, providing an advantage of 7 dB over the closest comparable competitor. EXA phase-noise performance is up to 5 dB better across wide offset frequencies. In manufacturing test, spur searches in wide spans at narrow resolution bandwidths have been slow and are often the cause of bottlenecks. The new “fast sweep” capability of these analyzers is up to five times faster than that of competitive models, depending on resolution bandwidth. Faster sweeps improve measurement throughput and make it easier to check the spurious-free dynamic range of devices under test. “The MXA enhancements are an important complement to our recently introduced options for 160-MHz analysis bandwidth and real-time spectrum analysis,” said Jim Curran, marketing manager of Agilent’s Microwave Communications Division. “Together, these capabilities can help our customers ensure that their devices will transmit accurately and deliver excellent quality of service.” For test & measurement, visit www.antennasonline.com/main/category/markets/test-measurement www.AntennasOnline.com Fall 2013 Antenna Systems & Technology 23 http://www.antennasonline.com/main/category/markets/test-measurement http://www.AntennasOnline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Antenna Systems & Technology - Fall 2013

Editor’s Choice
Exponential M2M Market Growth Calls for Innovative RF and Antenna Solutions
Managing Distributed Antenna Systems Effectively and Efficiently
Millimeter Wave Antenna Radome Systems for Satellite on the Move Applications
Antennas
Components/Subsystems
Software/System Design
Test & Measurement
Antenna Systems 2013: Conference Preview
Marketplace
Industry News
Addressing Customer Requirements in Public Safety Antennas

Antenna Systems & Technology - Fall 2013