Software characterises modulation distortion in active devices

Traditional test setups, especially for 5G power amplifiers and beamformer integrated circuit design, verification and production, are complex and can introduce a wide range of sources for potential errors.

These include mismatch and cable loss, which compromise signal fidelity and reduce the accuracy and repeatability of measurements.

"Engineers need to simplify their test setups to perform accurate, repeatable measurements they can trust," stated Joe Rickert, vice president of high frequency measurement R&D, at Keysight Technologies. "Integrating modulation distortion on the PNA allows engineers to isolate and measure key performance parameters of their design, reduce complexity of test environments and eliminate potential sources of error. This provides them with the confidence that their measurement results are reliable and consistent."

The Modulation Distortion application offers key features to help customers overcome wideband measurement challenges, as well as easily reproduce and speed time of measurements.

These include low residual EVM due to wider system dynamic range (lower noise floor) to fully capture the performance of a device without limitations associated with the test setup and signal fidelity at the device under test (DUT) input achieved by a performance network analyser (PNA) calibration technique.

It also enables easy calibration for "vector corrected" EVM measurements and consistent, repeatable measurement results supported by vector network analyser (VNA) calibration technique