Concilium Technologies says that until recently, analog interfaces between RFICs(radio frequency integrated circuits) and BBICs (baseband integrated circuits) were standard.
Now, chip manufacturers are producing chipsets with digital interfaces with physical layer test requirements. These interfaces are the same as those for analog chipsets, but traditional analog test and measurement equipment is not suitable for digital RF design validation.
Comments Andrew Lees, internal sales team leader of Concilium Technologies: "When a customer validates digital RF chipset interfaces, the digital IQ symbols may be interspersed with control data, and the IQ symbols may represent mixed formats such as GSM and W-CDMA."
These factors and the lack of digital RF test equipment have forced some design validation engineers to attempt to implement their own test devices by developing code with complex algorithms for analysis, debug and validation. Obviously, developing software in-house is a time-consuming and costly way to solve the problem, and it obligates the manufacturer to maintain and support the software for its customers.
Agilent Technologies however, has introduced tools that help engineers solve these challenges, says Lees. These tools deliver precise modulation measurements on the digitised signals found in today's DSP-based radio transceivers.
"The new tools will save engineers time by being able to connect to the target system in the same way as in the past, and display the information in a familiar analog format thus helping them troubleshoot the signals quickly with an unmatched depth of understanding," he says.
Validating digital interfaces without simple off-the-shelf test and measurement tools is time-consuming and costly. Standardised test equipment such as Agilent's 16800 Series logic analysers and 89601A vector signal analysis software, combined with tools like the signal extractor, are designed to speed validation and help get products to market faster.
Agilent merged two of its existing products and built a new interface that simplifies validation and addresses the changes in the flow of digital IQ symbols and the mixture of communication formats. Industry requirements for economical bench-top testing and protocol debug also led Agilent to develop a newer, simpler logic analysis platform.
Agilent took extra steps to deliver the same types of RF measurements on digital IQ interfaces regardless of the format used in the data stream. The new B4602A signal extractor tool used with its new 16800 Series logic analysers and 89601A vector signal analysis (VSA) software, shortens time to test, lowers cost, and removes many of the test complexities in the transition from analog to digital, according to the company.
Capturing serial data requires deep memory because of the number of frames typically needed to analyse in a single acquisition. To address this, Agilent designed the 16800 Series with double the memory of other logic analysers in its class. The 16800 Series' extra-wide screen allows one to display up to six different measurement data formats at once without the need for an external monitor or for switching between displays.
The 89601A VSA software and the logic analyser's B4602A signal extractor tool run directly on the logic analyser's Windows XP interface. This provides an economical one-box solution that is easy to use. There are also built-in algorithms for extracting data. All are written in XML so they can be easily modified. The B4602A signal extractor tool provides flexibility in extracting IQ and control data without the need to write extensive software for post-processing.
For more information contact Andrew Lees, Concilium Technologies, +27 (0) 12 678 9200, [email protected]
| Tel: | +27 12 678 9200 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.concilium.co.za |
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