Why speed matters
The measurement speed of your spectrum analyzer can significantly affect the time it takes you to complete a project. Consider the following examples:
- A manufacturing test engineer wants to optimize for speed to achieve the highest throughput on the assembly line. He has made all measurements, but waits for the results to move through the GPIB to the computer.
- A field technician needs to travel to a service location to make some measurements and adjustments, archive the results, and travel to the next job site. But the technician must wait 30 minutes to 2 hours for the spectrum analyzer to warm up to make calibrated measurements.
- R&D finally receives the new project prototypes back from Manufacturing. Tests reveal a problem with low-level harmonic and nonharmonic spurious signals. To find and examine these low-level spurs, a spectrum analyzer sweep time of 100 seconds or longer is needed, due to the narrow resolution bandwidth (RBW) filters required to drive the noise floor down.