Power Measurements of Complex Pulse Trains Webinar
Broadcasted on 5/25/2011
Presented By:
Mazumder Alam
Wireless Telecom Group
Pulsed signals used for radar, remote sensing and tracking, MRI medical imaging, and certain wireless communication applications such as WiMax & LTE have become increasingly complex to measure. A Peak power meter with advanced trigger capabilities is an excellent tool for this purpose. The Boonton 4500B can trigger using a single edge, pos/neg slope, standard hold-off, or a delay by time or event. This webinar describes the basic characteristics of pulse signal and capabilities of complex pulse train measurements by using Boonton 4500B.
Webinar Q&A
Below are questions we recieved during the webinar. If you have any additional questions, email us.
Why Boonton 4500B power meter can capture the details of a pulse signal where as a conventional power meter seems cannot?
Because Boonton 4500B power meter has a greater video bandwidth (65 MHz, sensor dependent), and higher than 70 dB dynamic range with 100 ps time base resolution. Using very high time resolution in combination with wide bandwidth sensors, Boonton 4500B offers a more stable display of the waveform, making signal waveform analysis much more efficient.
What are the recommended fast peak power sensor models to use with Boonton 4500B?
We recommend using the most popular peak sensor model: 57006 because of its wide dynamic ranges (-50 to +20 dBm) and fast rise times (rise time <7 ns).
Where is the application of "trigger holdoff" feature of Boonton 4500B?
Trigger holdoff is an effective way to stabilize the display of complex waveforms and is especially useful in pulse burst applications. The holdoff function allows you to specify a period of time when triggering is inhabited. This time should be slightlyless than the burst cycle time. The 4500b peak power analyzer will "lock-on" to the first edge of the pulse train when this is setup correctly. For example, if the burst cycle time is 100 us then the delay can be set to 75 us. Trigger holdoff can also be used in combination with trigger delay to view time sections of a burst of pulses.
What is the maximum pulse measurement range of Boonton 4500B?
The 4500B provides power-versus-time waveform analysis of repetitive RF signals. Applications include LTE, UMTS, as well as RF amplifier linearity testing, RADAR, Satcom, and avionics. The time base extends to 5 nsec/div and the logarithmic power display shows more than 70 dB dynamic ranges at the same time (depends of sensor).
What kind of measurements can be performed by Boonton 4500B power meter?
4500B has 3 measurement modes - Peak, Average and Statistical power measurement mode. The statistical measurement mode is optional.
What is the remote interface connector available for 4500B?
GPIB interface with SCPI compliant command sets are available for the remote control of 4500B power meter.