RF Signal
Transient RF Signal Analysis
RF signals have become ubiquitous in the modern world. To enable all the devices and systems that rely on RF technology to work in harmony today's RF signals have become very transient in nature. The need to resist interference, avoid detection and improve capacity has led to sophisticated combinations of transient techniques like burst or pulsed transmissions, frequency hopping and complex modulation being commonly used.
Working with transient RF signals can create many problems for engineers. How stable is the signal? How well does my device operate in an environment with a lot of RF interference? Does my device interfere with other systems? How does the RF signal change over time? These questions along with many others cannot easily be answered with traditional swept spectrum analyzers and vector signal analyzers, but they must be answered before the project can be finished.
Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers (RTSA) can provide the answers by triggering on changes in the frequency domains, seamlessly capturing signals into memory, and analyzing them in the frequency, time, and modulation domains. Below you can find out more about how RTSAs works and how they enable engineers to solve transient RF problems by quickly characterizing and troubleshooting transient RF signals.
Recommended
RF Signal Analysis Products
Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers
Additional Resources
- Pulsed Signal Analysis
- Real-Time Spectrum Analysis Technology
- Modulation Analysis
- RFID
- UMTS/W-CDMA Design
- CDMA/CDMA2000 Design
Application Information
Troubleshooting and Characterizing Wide Band RF Systems Using a Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer
Transient RF Signal Analysis in R&D Environments
The quantity and complexity of RF devices have grown exponentially in recent years, and the rate of technological innovation in RF is still accelerating.
Modulation Analysis for Transient RF Signals
This technical brief examines several measurement challenges involved with modulation analysis for RF communications signals and the comprehensive set of tools that the Tektronix RTSA provides to address these problems. This includes a discussion of the unique triggering, capture, and analysis capabilities of the RTSA and a survey of examples drawn from a variety of common industry problems.
Signal Monitoring, Surveillance and Real-Time Spectrum Analysis
RF signal monitoring and surveillance applications have special equipment requirements that often go well beyond the typical radio receiver or spectrum analyzer. The Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA) has many superior capabilities for signal monitoring and surveillance. In this application note, we review the basic challenges of intercepting and analyzing signals. Starting with overt compliance monitoring and advancing to the intercept of low probability of detection covert signals, RTSA technology for triggering, capturing and analyzing SIGnal INTelligence (SIGINT) is explained.
Quickly Identify Intermittent and Interfering Signals with Real-Time Spectrum Analysis
This tech brief will explain how the use of a Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA) can reliably detect and characterize transient RF signals, while also greatly reducing the time taken to identify the source of the problem.
Characterizing Phase Locked Loops Using Tektronix Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers
This application note presents an overview of Phase Locked Loop operation including both linear and non-linear effects.
Capturing and Measuring Microphonics and Phase-Hits with the RTSA
In this application note, we begin with a brief overview of the RTSA's extraordinary capabilities and an introduction to the microphonic and phase-hit problems in communications systems.
Advantages of Real-time Spectrum Analyzers in High Energy Physics Applications
In this application note, the causes of beam instability and "blow up" - sudden total or partial loss of beam current - will be reviewed. We'll discuss the advantages of using Real-time Spectrum Analysis to analyze and solve beam loss and instability problems versus the use of Swept Spectrum Analysis (SSA).
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