Considerations on measurement

Mr.Song Keping
Engineer of Management of station and network Division State Radio Monitoring Center songkp@srrc.org.cn +8610-68318264 Radio Monitoring and Spectrum Management Training (China,23-31,May,2005)
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Considerations on measurement
Measurement tasks and essential equipment Time, frequency and phase domain FFT analysis Measurement uncertainty

Measurement tasks and essential equipment

Measurement tasks and essential equipment Time, frequency and phase domain FFT analysis Measurement uncertainty

Measurement tasks and essential equipment

Measurement tasks of monitoring station -frequency measurements -field strength and power-flux density measurements -bandwidth measurements -modulation measurements -spectrum occupancy measurements -direction finding

Measurement tasks and essential equipment

Functions of equipment -omnidirectional antennas -directional antennas -receivers -direction finders -frequency measuring equipment -field-strength meters -bandwidth measurement equipment

Measurement tasks and essential equipment

Functions of equipment (2) -channel occupancy measurement equipment -frequency spectrum registration equipment -spectrum analysers -vector signal analysers or modulation analysers -decoders -signal generators -recording equipment

Measurement tasks and essential equipment

Frequency range of equipment - 9 kHz-3 GHz - 9 kHz-30 MHz for HF monitoring stations - 20 MHz-3 GHz for VHF/UHF monitoring stations

Measurement tasks and essential equipment

Further functions of measurement equipment -field strength measurements along a route; -TV video signals measurements -measurement of parameters of digital networks -monitoring of fixed link emissions -measurement of satellite signals

Time, frequency and phase domain

Measurement tasks and essential equipment Time, frequency and phase domain FFT analysis Measurement uncertainty

Time, frequency and phase domain

Analyse of signals in: -Time domain -Frequency domain -Phase domain.

Three ways is interchangeable

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Time, frequency and phase domain

a) Time domain Frequency domain

T0

t
Sinewave signal

f0 =

b)

1 T0

fT f S

fT

fT + fS
sin (x) x
sin n n Tp

c)
Ap

Amplitude-modulated signal Envelope sin (x) =

An f = Ap 2 p Tp

Tp

Some periodic signals in time and frequency domain

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Tp

t
Periodic rectangular pulses
1 Tp

Spec-041

Time, frequency and phase domain

Band-limited random noise

Arbitrary binary sequence

QPSK signal
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Time, frequency and phase domain

Frequency domain suit to observe: -channel occupancy -interference -harmonic products

-spurious emission
-modulation type (sometimes)

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Time, frequency and phase domain

Time domain suit to observe:
-Time-dependence amplitude of signals -Help to set the required measurement time

-Time division parameters of some digital signal

Phase domain suit to observe:

-Digital signal that modulate the phase of carrier

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Time, frequency and phase domain

Constellation diagram -Vector length represents signal amplitude -Angle of vector represents phase -Repetition frequency represents symbol rate

-Analyser should synchronize with the signal

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Time, frequency and phase domain

constellation diagram

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Time, frequency and phase domain

Vector analysers can execute in real time -If modulation mode and encoding scheme are known -Display the binary signal sequence -Display the characters of decoded information

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FFT analysis

Measurement tasks and essential equipment Time, frequency and phase domain FFT analysis Measurement uncertainty

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FFT analysis

Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) -Algorithm for transforming data from the time domain to the frequency domain -Used for implement signal analyser -Executed by microprocessors

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FFT analysis
Factor that complicate the task -Limited computing power of processor -Sample and digitize the input before transform -Not the exact representation because of sample -Block processing property

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FFT analysis
Amplitude
a) Continuous input signal

Time b) Samples of input signal

Sample and digitize the time domain input

Amplitude

c) Samples of the frequency domain (called lines)

Amplitude

Transform to

Time

Frequency
Spec-044

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FFT analysis
Amplitude

Time Time record of N samples FFT

Amplitude

The time record is transformed as a block into a block of frequency lines.

Frequency
Spec-045

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FFT analysis
Procedure of the FFT

-Capturing a band-limited signal (a block)

-A/D convert (sampling) -Sent to DSP and calculate

-Get frequency domain lines (a block)

-Repeat...

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FFT analysis
Characteristic of FFT analysers
-DSP equipment -Real-time processing within a certain bandwidth

-Maximum real-time bandwidth depends on computing power

-Lack of a real variable frequency span

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FFT analysis
FFT analysers with digitally processed filter -Make filter shape and bandwidth easier to control -Possible to reprocess captured signals in option -Suitable for analysing the time dependent signals

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FFT analysis
FFT analysis vs. other techniques
Measuring principle Swept spectrum analysis Advantage Wide frequency range (RF), Wide frequency span High dynamic range (e.g. 100 dB) Disadvantage Delay time for transient signals Lack of phase information of the signal Slow scanning speed for high frequency resolution Narrow frequency span Usually lower dynamic range (e.g. 60 dB) Limited time interval

FFT analysis

Fast amplitude and phase information High recording speed for high frequency resolution Many analysis capabilities (including transient analysis) Benefits of FFT analysis

Vector signal analysis

Limited to one signal on the display Measurement does not go to 0 Hz

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Measurement uncertainty

Measurement tasks and essential equipment Time, frequency and phase domain FFT analysis Measurement uncertainty

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Measurement uncertainty
Take uncertainty into account when measure:
-Frequency -Signal levels

-Bandwidth
Error: -Difference between the measured value and the true value

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Measurement uncertainty
Absolute uncertainty:
-A quantity describes an interval that the true value will falls into it in a given probability -Expressed in the same unit as measured value Relative uncertainty: -Quotient of the absolute uncertainty and the best possible estimate of the true value

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Measurement uncertainty
Influence quantities for frequency measurement -Reference oscillator

-Measurement procedure
-Resolution of reading -Stability of signal to be measured -Measurement time in relation of signal

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Measurement uncertainty
Influence quantities for field strength and power flux-density measurement -Receiver reading -Attenuation of the connection between antenna and receiver -Antenna factor -Receiver sine-wave voltage accuracy -Receiver selectivity relative to occupied bandwidth -Receiver noise floor -Mismatch effects between antenna port and receiver
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Measurement uncertainty
Influence quantities for field strength and power flux-density measurement (2) -Antenna factor frequency interpolation -Antenna factor variation with height above ground and other mutual coupling effects -Antenna directivity -Antenna cross-polarization response -Antenna balance -Shadowing and reflections due to obstacles
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Measurement uncertainty
Influence quantities for occupied bandwidth measurement -Measurement principle (FFT or swept spectrum analysis) -Resolution bandwidth -Non-linearity of amplitude display -Time behaviour of signal -Measurement procedure (e.g. for TDMA signals) -Receiver/analyser reading
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