Wideband Active Load Pull Measurement Solution
Solution Briefs
The power amplifier (PA) is a critical contributor to the quality of the RF communication chain and plays an important role in determining signal quality and battery life of the communication service. The PA industry confronts emerging and demanding operating conditions during PA design and testing:
- Extremely wide signal bandwidth
- Millimeter wave (mmW) carrier frequency
- Linear output signal
- Good power efficiency
Maintaining linearity is critical for the quality of the RF communication chain since nonlinearity can cause errors in demodulation and spectral regrowth resulting in interference in adjacent bands. PAs with poor efficiency will consume limited battery life quickly.
PA testing can include design verification, ruggedness testing and system performance which require the load conditions to be varied:
- Design verification: gain, output power, error vector magnitude (EVM) and adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) under varying load conditions.
- Ruggedness testing: Apply extreme load conditions to stress the device-under-test (DUT) and exercise various breakdown phenomena.
- System performance: EVM measured for varying system operating conditions such as beam pattern.
Keysight’s Wideband Active Load Pull Solution enables power amplifier distortion measurements under varying load conditions that are controlled across the entire modulation bandwidth, providing powerful insight into device performance and degradation.