Understand RF Instrument Specs

RF DesignLine is running a series of three articles by David Hall and Matt Anderson of National Instruments explaining RF instrument specifications.

• Part 1 covers generic RF instrument specifications, such as: instantaneous bandwidth, frequency range, tuning speed, phase noise, and VSWR.
• Part 2 covers five specifications that are particularly important to RF signal generators: frequency tolerance, output level accuracy, output power range, intermodulation distortion, and modulation bandwidth.
• Part 3 covers specifications that apply to RF analyzers, specifically dynamic range, averaging modes, and displayed average noise floor.