Technical Overviews
Channel Measurement Using
Signal Studio Pro for Custom Modulation and PathWave Signal Analysis (89600 VSA)
Introduction of Channel Sounding Measurements
The channel measurement solution consists of two major software components, signal generation with coded channel sounding waveform, and vector signal analysis with channel measurements. Combined with multiple hardware platforms, you can easily decide how you characterize the channel from RF to mmWave frequency bands, what channel bandwidth to use, and how many channels to utilize.
The N7608C Signal Studio Pro for Custom Modulation software generates the channel sounding stimulus signal and download the waveform into M8190A AWG, M8190A AWG + E8267D Vector PSG, M9384B/M9383B VXG and MXG/EXG vector signal generators. The PathWave Vector Signal Analysis (89600 VSA) software shows you spectrum and time traces of the channels under measurement. In addition, the channel impulse response, channel frequency response, and sounding metrics results from VSA software provide more insight on the channel characteristics. You can easily find the key parameters of channel sounding metrics such as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal power, symbol clock error, and RMS delay spread in sounding metrics table.
The technique is based on transmitting a known waveform through the channel and comparing the received signal with the reference signal to calculate channel metrics. This does not rely on external synchronization or clocks so the time scale of the impulse response trace is relative to the largest peak. The image on the next page describes the basic block diagram.
Key Features
Versatile channel sounding setup and operations
System designer can start channel measurements quickly with this solution since the sounding signal can be generated at user-specified symbol rate and length. The symbol rate determines the bandwidth to be sounded, and the length of the coded signal determines the maximum time delay (distance) between the first and last reflections that can be resolved.
For simple setup, you will use the N7608C Signal Studio Pro for Custom Modulation software to generate a specially-coded waveform, by choosing the “Custom IQ” in the left tree-view window, and “Channel Sounding” as Custom IQ Type in the right window. The waveform then is then filtered and downloaded to the arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) or vector signal generator for playback. The generated signal can also be upconverted by external mixer to the desired RF or mmWave frequency and then transmitted through the wireless channel.
The signal can be received by one or more antennas and downconverted to the IF frequency. These signals are digitized by the supported measurement hardware platform (Infiniium Oscilloscope, X-Series Signal Analyzer, etc.). The channel sounding measurement extension of 89600 VSA software computes channel sounding metrics. The full set of PathWave Vector Signal Analysis (89600 VSA) vector measurement displays are also available as needed.
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