RI 7100A ATE System Basic Measurements

S Parameters Intermod Distortion
RF Power 3rd Order Output Intercept
Noise Figure / Noise Power Isolation
Spectral Purity DC Voltage & DC Current
Gain Compression DC to RF Efficiency
Conversion Gain I&Q Amplitude
Phase Group Delay




The RI 7100A Microwave ATE System will perform all of the basic measurements listed above, very quickly. Each of these fundamental measurements and their unique ways of system implemention will be discussed.


Physical vs. Virtual Instruments

Physical Instruments
RF Test Fixture, Device Interface, and DUT
RF Test Head & Programmable DUT Controller
System Receiver
Microwave Sources
Waveform Generator and Oscilloscope

Basic Measurement Functions
I & Q Voltage
RMS Power
DC Voltage & DC Current






Basic Measurements

As you will see many of the measurement instruments/functions listed previously do not physically exist, except in software as virtual instruments which can be easily reconfigured to create new instruments and measurement functions. To perform the complex measurement functions represented by the virtual instruments, the test system very quickly performs many, simple, low level measurements (I & Q voltage, RMS Power and DC current and voltage) and uses the processing speed and power of the system computer to calculate the test results desired (S parameters, RF power, noise figure, harmonics, intermodulation distortion, DC current and voltage, etc.)



Virtual lnstruments

Virtual Instruments
Vector Network Analyzer
RF Power Meter
Noise Figure Meter
Gain Compression Meter
Spectral Analysis Meter
Intermod Distortion and TOI Meters
Bit Error Rate (BER)



Easily Reconfigured to Create New Instruments

Each of these virtual instruments have been created through software manipulations of a basic set of measurements. The process that defines these measurements will be explained for each one individually. Other virtual instruments can be created in the future, it is only limited by your imagination.