VNA Advances Meet Challenges Of Advanced Radar Systems

By Walt Strickler, Anritsu Company

This is the second in a series of guest columns by Walt Strickler of Anritsu Company.

Our first column in this series (Testing Modern Radar System Signals: A Primer) focused on the advances made in radar systems and the traditional measurements made with a vector network analyzer (VNA) to verify their design. In this second installment, the focus will be on improvements made to VNA architectures and their importance in testing today’s more advanced radar systems.

Traditional pulse measurement test systems do not have the accuracy necessary for modern radar designs. More accurate measurements are necessary to analyze the narrower pulse widths and/or examine intra-pulse behavior with finer resolution. Some new VNAs have been developed with advanced architectures to meet the challenges associated with today’s radar systems.