GSM data acquisition using NI USB 6221

[tyr0ne]

Happy New Year Matthew

Hope you are keeping well. Now I have hit a brick wall with regards to attaching my antenna to the PXIe backpane's BNC connection. Here are some screenshots to that effect. My question is; would there be any reason the antenna isnt being detected by NiDAQ? Does the PXI detect it as a physical medium or do I have to create a VI for it?

Looking forward to hearing from you

Thanks

-tyrus

[mudson]

Hello Tyrus,

Unless your antenna is equipped to provide TEDS data, it will not show up in MAX with the 2096.  Generally, we only see TEDS enabled transducers and strain gauges - it simplifies with calibration and scaling of the signals they provide.  
That kind of information is not usually required of antennas, so I do not believe there are any that come TEDS-equipped.

Though it will introduce some additional noise into your signal, you will be best served using a BNC->SMA adapter to connect your antenna to the 5663E.

Best regards.

[tyr0ne]

Hi Mathew,

My antenna is a complete GSM antenna with a direct SMA connector,but i cant see it in MAX.Is there a way i can fix this or do i have to get an antenna with BNC ->SMA conversion?

Thanks,

tyrus

[tyr0ne]

Hi mathew,

Let me reframe my question this way,since my antenna may not be equiped to transmit TEDS and visible in MAX,how can i be sure that its been seen by machine?or in my code am i supposed to call the downconverter or the antenna as my resource name for RF?

Thanks.

[coreyc · Accepted solution]

Hello Tyrus,

The hardware doesn't care whether it is pumping signal over a cable or across an antenna. Your code should reference a port on the device and operate the same way regardless of whether it is cabled or antenna'd. 

Corey C.

Applications Engineer

National Instruments 

[tyr0ne]

Thanks corey for your answer,but you have lost me.I want to acquire signals through the antenna and this antenna is not visible in MAX.give me an example of such a port that i should reference to acquire such in Labwindows.

Thanks.

[Dennis_Knutson]

You've been told that the idea of seeing the antenna in MAX is just silly. You should probably seek the help of an experienced rf engineer and really study the vna manual. The vna is what you want to analyze your rf signal with isn't it? Explore the connections of that.

In the future, you should post to the rf board as your questions have nothing at all to do with real-time.

[tyr0ne]

dennis you should look for elsewhere to be rude.infact my question is legit as i wants to know how i should call my RF IN port or calibrate as a channel?

[Dennis_Knutson]

Your question is not at all appropriate for the real-time board. I don't understand why you would think so. You seem to be very confused on several points. In your first post, you say you are using LabVIEW and then you say you are using LabWindows. You keep asking about detecting the antenna. You keep asking other questions when you have marked the thread as solved. You don't appear to understand what the vna for or how to perform s measurement with it. I am not being rude - just pointing out how confusing your responses are.

[mudson]

Hello tyr0ne,

Dennis is right, this thread should have been moved over to this one.  I was negligent in failing to address that early-on in our discussion.  I apologize for that.

So long as the drivers for your 5663E were installed after the development environment (LabWindows or LabVIEW), a bevy of shipping examples should have installed alongside the drivers.  

LabWindows/CVI:

In the splash screen for LabWindows/CVI, if you click on "Find Examples", the Example Finder will be launched.

In the Example Finder, navigate:
Hardware Input and Output » Modular Instruments » NI-RFSA » Getting Started » GettingStartedSpectrum.prj

Go ahead and make a debug build of the example.  In the top left corner of the built program is a field for Resource Name, the device name goes here.  If you are unsure what alias will direct to your device, open up Measurement & Automation Explorer, and locate the entry for your 5663E in the Devices & Interfaces tree.

LabVIEW:

In the splash screen for LabVIEW, if you click on Help»Find Examples, the Example Finder will be launched.

In the Example Finder, navigate:
Hardware Input and Output » Modular Instruments » NI-RFSA » Getting Started » RFSA Getting Started Spectrum.vi

At the top left corner of the VI's front panel is a field for Resource Name, the device name goes here.  If you are unsure what alias will direct to your device, open up measurement & Automation Explorer and locate the entry for your 5663E in the Devices & Interfaces tree.

Best regards.