RFRF Phase Noise Analyzer Manufacturers | VCO Tester
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This page covers RF Phase Noise Analyzer Manufacturers or Vendors used for VCO testing. The popular manufacturers of VCO testers to check their phase noise include Rohde & Schwarz, Keysight, Microsemi, Holzworth Instrumentation, and Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation.
Introduction
Various RF parameters are used during the testing of transmitter and receiver parts of RF devices and components. Phase noise is a very important parameter. It is measured at the transmitter output of the DUT (Device Under Test), which can be LOs, VCOs, PLLs, etc.
What is VCO?
VCO is the short form of Voltage Controlled Oscillator. It generates an output frequency based on an applied input voltage. There are many applications of VCOs, which include function generators, PLLs, synthesizers, fixed LOs (Local Oscillators), variable LOs, frequency modulators, etc.
The following specifications are considered before selecting a VCO for your design:
- Operating Frequency range
- DC tuning voltage range
- Output power
- Phase Noise
- Vcc/Icc
- Pushing and Pulling
- Tuning speed
- Package type
The figure depicts the position of a VCO in a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) circuit. VCOs are categorized into tuned oscillator and untuned oscillator types.
What is Phase Noise?
Phase noise is used as a purity measurement of VCOs, synthesizers, and crystal oscillators. Phase noise is measured using different techniques by various test equipment. The most common method is using a spectrum analyzer as shown. It is measured at some distance away from the desired carrier frequency, e.g., 10 Hz, 100 Hz, 1 KHz, 10 KHz, etc. It is measured in units of dBc/Hz. It is basically the ratio of signal to noise power in a 1 Hertz bandwidth.
The figure depicts phase noise measurement using a spectrum analyzer. As shown, phase noise is measured using the following simple calculation and power levels measured on the spectrum analyzer.
Where:
- “D” is the difference between the instantaneous power of the desired frequency and the sideband frequency (@1KHz or any other spacing).
- RBW is the Resolution Bandwidth.
The figure depicts a simple test setup of phase noise measurement using an RF spectrum analyzer.
RF Phase Noise Analyzer Manufacturers
The following table lists popular manufacturers of RF Phase Noise Analyzers. This test equipment is very useful to characterize sources such as VCOs, DROs, Synthesizers, and OCXOs. The test and measurement equipment is used for various applications such as satellite and radar in various frequency bands such as C band, Ku band, X band, K band, etc.
| Manufacturers | Description |
|---|---|
| Rohde & Schwarz | Model : R&S ® FSWP Features : Frequency range from 1 MHz to 50 GHz, Higher sensitivity, high measurement speed etc. It houses three ultra-low noise DC sources to supply VCOs and sweep them. Website : rohde-schwarz.com |
| Keysight Technologies | Model : N5511A Phase Noise Test System Features : Measures phase noise with sensitivity down to the thermal phase noise floor (KT) of about -177 dBm/Hz. Covers frequency range from 50 KHz to 3 GHz/26.5 GHz/40 GHz or up to 110 GHz with external mixers Website : keysight.com |
| Microsemi, subsidiary of Microchip Technology Inc. | Model : 53100A Features : Frequency range from 1 to 200 MHz, measures phase noise and AM noise at offsets from 0.001 Hz to 1 MHz and levels below -175 dBc/Hz Website : microsemi.com |
| Holzworth Instrumentation | Models : HA7062C (Frequency range : 10MHz to 6 GHz) , HA7062D (Frequency range : 10 MHz to 26 GHz/ 40 GHz) Website : holzworth.com |
| Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation | Model : Model 7000 Series Frequency range : 1 MHz to 40 GHz , Measurements down to -190 dBc/Hz Website : berkeleynucleonics.com |
