What does a spectrum analyzer measure?

What does a spectrum analyzer measure?

A spectrum / signal analyzer measures the magnitude of an input signal versus frequency within the full frequency range of the instrument. The primary use is to measure the power of the spectrum of known and unknown signals.

What is frequency spectrum in communication?

Spectrum refers to the invisible radio frequencies that wireless signals travel over. The full electromagnetic spectrum ranges from three Hz (extremely low frequency) to 300 EHz (gamma rays). The portion used for wireless communication sits within that space and ranges from about 20 KHz to 300 GHz.

What is an RF power Meter?

An RF power meter is an instrument, which can measure the electrical power mostly in the range of 100 MHz to 40 GHz. This meter consists of an RF power sensor that is connected to it via a cable and can display power reading.

What is the function of FFT analyzer?

The FFT spectrum analyzer samples the input signal, computes the magnitude of its sine and cosine components, and displays the spectrum of these measured frequency components.

How does the VBW filter work in a spectrum analyzer?

The main effect of the VBW filter is to smooth the trace and decrease noise. Strictly speaking, the VBW does not change the measurement results. It will not affect the “frequency selection, peak detection” of the measurement process. The VBW filter is applied after the data has been collected, but before the screen displays the trace.

How is video resolution determined in spectrum analyzer?

Resolution and Video Bandwidth settings on Receivers and Spectrum Analyzers, are specified by various governing regulatory bodies for compliance testing. This is a tutorial and demonstration of the basics of the Resolution BW (RBW) and Video BW (VBW) functions in a Spectrum Analyzer.

What should I look for in a spectrum analyzer?

Select an analyzer that provides an adjustable RBW/VBW (lower is better), lower phase noise than the signal you are testing. Adjusting the RBW can provide lower noise floor and fine frequency resolution, but the sweep time will increase dramatically.

How does bandwidth affect the trace quality of a spectrum analyzer?

Video Bandwidth (VBW) Another factor that affects the displayed trace quality of a spectrum analyzer is the video bandwidth (VBW). Video filtering is a time-domain low-pass filter, mathematically equivalent to the mean or average. The main effect of the VBW filter is to smooth the trace and decrease noise.