Measurement device, method of operating the measurement device and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11953543-B2
Application number	US-202217858153-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2022
Priority date	Jul 6, 2022
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

A measurement device and method for testing a device under test (DUT). The device includes an input terminal for receiving a RF signal from the DUT; at least one analog-to-digital (A/D) converter configured to generate a digital data including a plurality of sampled signals from the received RF signal; at least one filter configured to filter the digital data generated by the at least one A/D converter based on an intermediate-frequency bandwidth (IFBW) set in the at least one filter; a detector configured to analyse the filtered digital data based on a pre-set number of samples from the filtered digital data; and a controller configured to calculate a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) value of the analysed filtered digital data, and to adjust at least one of the IFBW of the at least one filter and the number of samples of the detector based on the calculated SNR value.

First claim

What we claim is:

1. A measurement device for testing a device under test (DUT), the measurement device comprising:
an input terminal for receiving a RF signal from the DUT;
at least one analog-to-digital (A/D) converter configured to generate a digital data signal including a plurality of samples of the received RF signal;
at least one filter configured to filter the digital data signal generated by the at least one A/D converter based on an intermediate-frequency bandwidth (IFBW) set in the at least one filter;
a detector configured to analyse the filtered digital data signal based on a pre-set number of samples from the filtered digital data signal; and
a controller configured to calculate a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) value of the analysed filtered digital data signal, and further configured to adjust at least one of:
a) the IFBW of the at least one filter and
b) the number of samples of the detector based on the calculated SNR value,
wherein the controller is configured to control at least one of the IFBW and the number of samples in accordance with the calculated SNR such to meet a predetermined measurement criterion.

2. The measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined measurement criterion is defined by one of:
a predetermined SNR value,
a plurality of specific SNR values and
a predetermined SNR range.

3. The measurement device of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to:
reduce the IFBW; and/or
increase the number of samples,

in case the calculated SNR value is below the predetermined SNR range or below the predetermined SNR value.

4. The measurement device of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to:
increase the IFBW; and/or
decrease the number of samples,

in case the calculated SNR value is above the predetermined SNR range or above the predetermined SNR value.

5. The measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to adjust the IFBW to be reduced when the calculated SNR value does not meet the predetermined measurement criterion.

6. The measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to adjust the number of samples to be increased when the calculated SNR value does not meet the predetermined measurement criterion.

7. The measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control at least one of the IFBW and the number of samples in accordance with the calculated SNR such to adjust a measurement speed.

8. The measurement device of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface configured to display the calculated SNR value.

9. The measurement device of claim 8 , wherein the user interface is configured to display the calculated SNR value together with the result of the analysis.

10. The measurement device of claim 8 , wherein the user interface is configured to receive a user-specific measurement criterion.

11. The measurement device of claim 10 , wherein the user interface is configured to receive a user request to maintain the SNR value that meets the measurement criterion to be constant.

12. The measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the filter is configured to sweep at least one of a plurality of frequency steps, and the controller is configured to calculate the SNR value for each of the plurality of frequency steps.

13. The measurement device of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of frequency steps is spaced apart from each other, and wherein the controller is configured to adjust each spacing between adjacent frequency steps.

14. The measurement device of claim 13 , wherein the spacing between adjacent frequency steps is set via a user interface.

15. The measurement device of claim 1 , further comprising an analog mixer arranged between the input terminal and the at least one A/D converter wherein a local oscillator signal is fed to the analog mixer.

16. The measurement device of claim 15 , wherein the controller is configured to subsequently change or adjust the frequency of the local oscillator signal during a sweep in the form of a frequency sweep.

17. The measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to change or adjust at least one of the IFBW and the number of samples repeatedly until either the calculated SNR meets a measurement criterion or a predefined timer is expired.

18. The measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the detector includes at least one of:
a root mean square (RMS) detector and
an average detector,

wherein the controller is configured to calculate the SNR based on the result provided by the RMS detector and the average detector, respectively.

19. The measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the measurement criterion is determined based on at least one of:
a signal level of the RF signal and
a rotary angle of an antenna of the measurement device.

20. The measurement device of claim 1 , further comprising a signal generator and an output terminal wherein the signal generator is configured to generate an excitation signal which is provided via the output terminal to a DUT.

21. The measurement device of claim 1 , wherein the measurement device comprises at least one of:
a vector network analyzer (VNA),
a spectrum analyzer,
a signal analyzer,
a communication analyzer.

22. A method for operating a measurement device for testing a device under test (DUT), the method comprising:
receiving, by an input terminal, a RF signal from the DUT;
generating, by at least one analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, a digital data signal including a plurality of samples of the received RF signal;
filtering, by at least one filter, the digital data signal generated by the at least one A/D converter based on an intermediate-frequency bandwidth (IFBW) set in the at least one filter;
analysing, by a detector, the filtered digital data signal based on a pre-set number of samples from the filtered digital data signal;
calculating, by a controller, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) value of the analysed filtered digital data signal; and
adjusting, by the controller, at least one of:
a) the IFBW of the at least one filter and
b) the number of samples of the detector based on the calculated SNR value,
wherein the controller is configured to control at least one of the IFBW and the number of samples in accordance with the calculated SNR such to meet a predetermined measurement criterion.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, storing instructions executable by a computer processor, causing the computer processor to execute a method of operating a measurement device for testing device under test, the instructions comprising:
receiving, by an input terminal, a RF signal from the DUT;
generating, by at least one analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, a digital data including a plurality of samples of the received RF signal;
filtering, by at least one filter, the digital data signal generated by the at least one A/D converter based on an intermediate-frequency bandwidth (IFBW) set in the at least one filter;
analysing, by a detector, the filtered digital data signal based on a pre-set number of samples from the filtered digital data signal;
calculating, by a controller, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) value of the analysed filtered digital data signal; and
adjusting, by the controller, at least one of:
a) the IFBW of the at least one filter and
b) the number of samples of the detector based on the calculated SNR value,
wherein the controller is conf

Assignees

• Rohde & Schwarz

Inventors

• Celik Mert
• Tankielun Adam

Classifications

• G01R31/2822 Primary

  of microwave or radiofrequency circuits (of attenuation, gain, e.g. using network analyzers G01R27/28) · CPC title