Have anyone used R&S FSEA30 with Labview for Phase Noise Measurement?

[PatrickKan]

Hi,

I just accquired a Rohde & Schwarz FSEA30 spectrum analyser. I wonder if anyone here can share their experience in using Labview 8.21 Professional to perform Phase Noise Measurement. I believe Labview 8.21 is far more flexible and powerful than R&S' discontinued FS-K4 Phase Noise Measurement software, which is still being offered at US$3,000 (refurbished). 

Any links to necessary info and software would be most welcomed.

Thanks

Patrick

Message Edited by PatrickKan on 01-17-2007 03:21 AM

[Ray.R]

Hi Patrick,

I've used LV to carry out Phase Noise measurements on both R&S and Agilent Spectrum Analyzers ( using LV6.0 to LV7.1).  I have used LV8.2 for other purposes..   I tend to prefer R&S over Agilent, especially when programming LV code.  In both cases I've used LV drivers or simply sending instrument commands via GPIB.  The FSEA30 is a very nice SA. 

The advantage of the FS-K4 software is that it does the calculations for you, thus greatly reducing implementation time.  And for a company, it may very well be worth the investment, especially at US$3K. 

Sharing software (vi's in this case) is / will be difficult, since the developped sw is owned by the company for whom it was developped.  For instance, I no longer work for the co where this was done for the R&S.  Recently, I implemented a routine for an Agilent SA.  It had a built-in option to carry out the measurements, so the implementation was merely setting up the SA, go into Phase Noise mode (MOV PH commands, PH_F, PH_MEAS, etc) and that was it.  I seem to recall something similar for the R&S, which was a few years ago..  but I think it also had an option to do the PN measurements..   (I will now have to visit R&S website to refresh my memory).

All & all, using LV8.2 & R&S SA is a perfect combination.  Their LV drivers are quite useful and simple to use.  I like how they are listed on the block diagram of the tree.vi.

RayR

[PatrickKan]

Thanks, Ray.

I downloaded the R&S FSEA30 LV driver and installed into LV 8.21. In fact, the R&S LV driver already provides 2 basic VI's related to phase noise: Get Phase Noise Result and Phase Noise Measurements. I am checking to see what the measurement VI can do and compare to the FS-K4. 

Will keep you posted.

Thanks

Patrick

[Ray.R]

Hi Patrick,

yes, there are 2 noise marker vi's.  Unfortunately, they do not setup the instrument for the measurement, they just take the marker reading.

We're using an FSQ.  I noticed that there are a number of drivers for the Phase Noise measurement (check near the bottom of the leftmost list).  Have a look at how they configure the instrument using them..  Maybe some code can be "borrowed" from this. 

Looking back at when I implemented the PN measurements (and there were quite a few of them), the time that it took to do it from scratch would have cost more than buying the software.  😉

If you are working as a consultant / contractor and the purchasing decision is out of your hand, then you can enjoy implementing your own solution...  with the benefit of the extra $$.. 🙂

RayR

[PatrickKan]

Roy, you are spot on. The purchase decision is not in my hand. I am only given the R&S hardware and Labview 8.21 and am expected to duplicate the FS-K4 functions via LV.

[PatrickKan]

Hi Roy,

What is your favourite application to browse and migrate codes between drivers? I wonder if there are any 3rd party applications can make this process relatively painless. I found the R&S FSU driver has a lot of PN measurement stuffs.

Patrick

[Ray.R]

Hi Patrick,

I've done it the old fashion way.... by hand.  When doing this I typically have the Instrument Programmer's guide next to me and I look at the commands or look at how to create a similar command.

Even with developping your own code, it may not have all the bells & whistles that the one from R&S provides.  It is a good deal for $3K

RayR

[PatrickKan]

Hi Roy,

I think you are right. I spent a few hours on this last night. Looks like FS-K4 is a good buy. I will see if any dealer will sell me a copy for less than $3,000.

Patrick

[napview]

I used the R&S PN interface with the noise source but did not know that it costed that much! Anyway it is very useful for device evaluation but a pain to get it automated with LV (never attempted to try that anyway). But LV can do the same thing with some PN calculation thru the GPIB commands, not everything like the PN interface but all needed was the PN values. Sorry to having led you to nowhere but if you know how to convert readings from the SA to PN then everything thereafter is straightforward.

[PatrickKan]

Do you know any good sources selling refurbished FS-K4 software (now discontinued)? I hope I can get it for less than $1.5K so it won't make a dent into our budget. Having both LV and FS-K4 in house, then I can seriously comparing the codes and write a comprehensive VI for FSEA30 for measuring PN and jitters.