Column Control DTX

Spectrum and Signal Analysis Pulsed RF

Application Notes

The basic pulse spectrum

The spectrum analyzer was originally designed to look at the output of radar transmitters. A pulse radar signal is a train of RF pulses with a constant repetition rate, constant pulse width and shape, and constant amplitude. By looking at the characteristic spectra, all-important properties of the pulsed signal such as pulse width, occupied bandwidth, duty cycle, and peak and average power, can be measured easily and with high accuracy. Perhaps an even more important application of the spectrum analyzer is the detection of transmitter misfiring and frequency pulling effects. This application note is intended as an aid for the operation of spectrum and signal analyzers and the interpretation of their displayed pulse spectra.

The formation of a square wave from a fundamental sine wave and its odd harmonics is a good way to start an explanation of the spectral display for nonsinusoidal waveforms. You will recall perhaps at one time plotting a sine wave and its odd harmonics on a sheet of graph paper, then adding up all the instantaneous values. If there were enough harmonics plotted at their correct amplitudes and phases, the resultant waveform began to approach a square wave. The fundamental frequency determined the square wave rate, and the amplitudes of the harmonics varied inversely to their number

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Column Control DTX