New Challenges For Spectrum Analyzers

by Tim Przygoda, Senior RF Engineer, BVS

The basic measurements performed by the spectrum analyzer, component loss or gain, power output, intermodulation, frequency response, phase noise and endless combinations of these have been around as long as the RF engineer. The explosion in use of cellular/wireless phones created new demands on analyzers. Now, in addition to the basic measurements, there was a need for measurements such as spectral regrowth, adjacent and alternate channel power, power amplifier turn on time, and vco switching speed, to name a few. Since time is money, automatically performing these measurements became a very useful feature as well as the ability to perform them outdoors.