Rf Testing; Tx Parameter Testing Basics - Texas Instruments CC2530 ZigBee Development Kit User Manual

6

RF Testing

NB! When running RF performance tests, it is recommended to disable all other peripherals on the
SmartRF05EB in order to avoid unwanted noise on the on-board voltage. In particular, make sure the
RS232 level converter/line driver is disabled.
RF testing can be performed by using SmartRF Studio together with the Development Kit. The basic
set-up is described in section 5.4. As described in that chapter, SmartRF Studio can be used to set up
basic tests and tune RF registers accordingly.
Since the CC2530 evaluation board is equipped with an SMA connector, both radiated (via antenna)
and conducted (via cable) tests can be performed, and it is easy to hook the EM up to RF
measurement equipment. The RF equipment may be connected in two different ways.

To measure radiated performance, connect an appropriate antenna to the spectrum analyzer
or power meter and an antenna on the EM board.

To measure conducted performance, connect a 50 Ohm coaxial cable directly from the EM to
the RF equipment.
By using good-quality RF cabling, the loss in the cabling should be negligible. However make sure that
the spectrum analyzer is calibrated. If possible, check it against a calibrated instrument such as an RF
signal generator. Uncalibrated spectrum analyzers can display errors of several dBs.
6.1

TX Parameter Testing Basics

To investigate the TX performance of the CC2530, you can either use a Spectrum Analyzer or an RF
Power Meter. Use the "Simple TX" test mode in SmartRF Studio to set up the device to transmit a
signal at the desired frequency. Both a modulated or unmodulated carrier signal can be generated.
Use the RF Power Meter to observe the output power or the spectrum analyzer to observe the
spectrum and to measure the error vector magnitude (EVM).
Figure 5 - RF Test Set-Up with a Spectrum analyzer
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