Multi-Channel Antenna Calibration (Mac) Introduction; Typical System Performance - Keysight Technologies M9703A Startup Manual

Multi-Channel Antenna Calibration (MAC) Introduction

Smart antenna architectures incorporating multiple antenna elements in an array are
used in many applications. Wireless communications standards like 802.11ac, radio
astronomy and array RADARs are all examples of applications where multiple
antennas are employed for various requirements derived from spatial signal
processing. Though the types of processing used and beamforming techniques differ
by application, there is a common test challenge. It is difficult to align the antennas in
an array in phase and amplitude so they can be used together effectively. As the
number of antennas increase in an array, the test time to do the alignment increases
drastically.
This reference solution is built from modular components and is easily scalable to the
number of antennas in the array being tested.Further, it provides parallelism to the
test process to increase test throughput. The reference system described, offers
flexibility to provide good sensitivity in both the wideband and narrowband
measurement scenarios using the same hardware.

Typical System Performance

Feature
Number of Digitizer Channels
Measurement Throughput
Phase Coherence
Non-decimated Bandwidth
Decimated Frequency Span (DDC)
Measurement Frequency Range
Spurious Free Dynamic Range
Effective Number of Bits
Acquisition Memory
Throughput
Keysight Y1299A-003 MAC Reference Solution Startup Guide
Multi-Channel Antenna Calibration (MAC) Introduction
Value
8 to 104 depending on configuration
1M narrowband measurements per second (40 chan-
nels)
<1 degree across all channels
600 MHz
300 MHz and 160/2n MHz (n=0,1,2, ... 18)
DC – 40 GHz depending on down converters used
(extended to 50GHz with additional calibration con-
siderations)
60 dBc (typical) (non-decimated)
80 dBc (typical) (30MHz decimated)
8.8 (typical)
Up to 1 GSa/ch
Use the N5193A when you require fast switchinf and
phase coherency. 100 µs switching speed standard;
optional 1 µs and 250 ns
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