Correlation of device-under-test orientations and radio frequency measurements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10725080-B2
Application number	US-201816141733-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2018
Priority date	Sep 25, 2018
Publication date	Jul 28, 2020
Grant date	Jul 28, 2020

Abstract

Antenna characterization systems and methods are described for hardware-timed testing of integrated circuits (IC) with integrated antennas configured for over-the-air transmission and/or reception. An IC to be tested (e.g., the device under test (DUT)) may be mounted to an adjustable positioner in an anechoic chamber. Radio frequency (RF) characteristics (e.g., including transmission characteristics, reception characteristics, and/or beamforming characteristics) of the IC may be tested over-the-air using an array of antennas or probes within the anechoic chamber while continually transitioning the adjustable positioner through a plurality of orientations. Counters and reference trigger intelligence may be employed to correlate measurement results with orientations of the DUT.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system for correlating radio frequency (RF) measurements of a device-under-test (DUT) with orientations of the DUT, the system comprising:
a computer coupled to a non-transitory memory medium; and
a RF measurement system coupled to the computer,
wherein the computer is configured to transmit a sequence of acquisition triggers to the RF measurement system,
wherein, in response to receiving a first acquisition trigger of the sequence of acquisition triggers when the RF measurement system is not currently acquiring an RF measurement, the RF measurement system is configured to transmit a reference trigger to the computer, initiate the RF measurement of the DUT, and transmit a first result of the RF measurement to the computer,
wherein, in response to receiving a second acquisition trigger of the sequence of acquisition triggers when the RF measurement system is currently acquiring the RF measurement, the RF measurement system is configured to not transmit the reference trigger to the computer and not initiate the RF measurement of the DUT,
wherein the computer is further configured to:
receive the reference trigger and the first result from the RF measurement system; and
generate antenna characterization information of the DUT based on a correlation of the first result with a determined orientation of the DUT, wherein the orientation of the DUT is determined based at least in part on a value of one or more counters stored on the computer at the time when the reference trigger is received from the RF measurement system.

2. The system of claim 1 ,
wherein the one or more counters comprise a first counter corresponding to a first axis of rotation of the DUT and a second counter corresponding to a second axis of rotation of the DUT, and
wherein a value of the first counter at the time when the reference trigger is received is used to determine an angle of orientation of the DUT about the first axis and a value of the second counter at the time when the reference trigger is received is used to determine an angle of orientation of the DUT about the second axis.

3. The system of claim 2 ,
wherein the value of the first counter is modified in response to the DUT rotating about the first axis,
wherein the value of the second counter is modified in response to the DUT rotating about the second axis,
wherein the computer is further configured to:
count a number of times either of the first and second counters are modified; and
transmit an acquisition trigger of the sequence of acquisition triggers to the RF measurement system ever N th time either of the first and second counters are modified, wherein N is a positive integer.

4. The system of claim 1 ,
wherein the values of the one or more counters are modified in response to signals received from an adjustable positioner that orients the DUT, wherein the signals corresponding to each of the one or more counters are received on one or more channels.

5. The system of claim 4 ,
wherein the one or more channels comprise a first channel and a second channel of a quadrature encoder scheme,
wherein said modifying the values of the one or more counters comprises incrementing or decrementing the values of the one or more counters, and
wherein a relative phase between respective signals of the first channel and the second channel determines whether the counter apparatus increments or decrements the values of the one or more counters.

6. The system of claim 4 ,
wherein said modifying the values of the one or more counters comprises incrementing or decrementing the values of the one or more counters,
wherein the computer comprises an edge detector configured to detect the front edge in time of an incremented value of the one or more counters and the back edge in time of a decremented value of the one or more counters, and
wherein said transmitting by the computer of each acquisition trigger in the sequence of acquisition triggers to the RF measurement system is performed in response to the edge detector detecting the front edge of the incremented value of the one or more counters or the back edge of the decremented value of the one or more counters.

7. The ACS of claim 1 ,
wherein said acquiring a plurality of measurements of the DUT comprises measuring directional transmission properties of one or more antennas of the DUT at different orientations of the DUT.

8. The ACS of claim 1 ,
wherein said acquiring a plurality of measurements of the DUT comprises transmitting RF signals to the DUT within the chamber, and measuring directional reception properties of the RF signals by the DUT at different orientations of the DUT.

9. The ACS of claim 1 ,
wherein the antenna characterization information is usable to design antenna characteristics of the DUT.

10. A method for correlating radio frequency (RF) measurements of a device-under-test (DUT) with orientations of the DUT, the method comprising:
by a computer:
transmitting a sequence of acquisition triggers to an RF measurement system;

by the RF measurement system:
in response to receiving a first acquisition trigger of the sequence of acquisition triggers when the RF measurement system is not currently acquiring an RF measurement:
transmitting a reference trigger to the computer;
initiating the RF measurement of the DUT; and
transmitting a first result of the RF measurement to the computer;

in response to receiving a second acquisition trigger of the sequence of acquisition triggers when the RF measurement system is currently acquiring the RF measurement:
refrain from transmitting the reference trigger to the computer; and
refrain from initiating the RF measurement of the DUT; and

by the computer:
receiving the reference trigger and the first result from the RF measurement system; and
generating antenna characterization information of the DUT based on a correlation of the first result with a determined orientation of the DUT, wherein the orientation of the DUT is determined based at least in part on a value of one or more counters stored on the computer at the time when the reference trigger is received from the RF measurement system.

11. The method of claim 10 ,
wherein the one or more counters comprise a first counter corresponding to a first axis of rotation of the DUT and a second counter corresponding to a second axis of rotation of the DUT, and
wherein the method further comprises:
by the computer:
using a value of the first counter at the time when the reference trigger is received to determine an angle of orientation of the DUT about the first axis; and
using a value of the second counter at the time when the reference trigger is received to determine an angle of orientation of the DUT about the second axis.

12. The method of claim 11 ,
wherein the value of the first counter is modified in response to the DUT rotating about the first axis,
wherein the value of the second counter is modified in response to the DUT rotating about the second axis,
wherein the method further comprises:
by the computer:
counting a number of times either of the first and second counters are modified; and
transmitting an acquisition trigger of the sequence of acquisition triggers to the RF measurement system ever N th time either of the first and second counters are modified, wherein N is a positive integer.

13. The method of claim 10 , the method further comprising:
by the computer:
modifying the values of the one or more counters in response to signals received from an adjustable positioner that orients the DUT, wherein the signals corresponding to each of the one or more counters are received on

Assignees

• Nat Instruments Corp

Inventors

• Orozco Valdes Gerardo
• Deckert Thomas
• Lange Johannes D H
• White Christopher N
• Grosz Karl F

Classifications

• H04B17/29

  Performance testing · CPC title

• H04W52/42

  in systems with time, space, frequency or polarisation diversity · CPC title

• G01R29/0871 Primary

  Complete apparatus or systems; circuits, e.g. receivers or amplifiers (G01R29/0878, G01R29/0892 take precedence; dosimeters, warning devices G01R29/0857) · CPC title

• G01R29/0864

  characterised by constructional or functional features · CPC title

• H04B17/3912

  Simulation models, e.g. distribution of spectral power density or received signal strength indicator [RSSI] for a given geographic region · CPC title