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1. 10 1 2 A Power Cycle Does Not Fix the Problem If a power cycle still does not allow you to connect the device it is possible the device drivers were not successfully installed See the Driver Installation section for information about the BB60 drivers 10 2 The Signal Hound is Not Sweeping Properly If the sweeps shown ate not what you expect there are a number of things you can try 1 In the preset menu Presets D Load Default Settings will return the application to default start up settings This might be useful if you have entered an unknown state 2 Restarting the application is a quick way to reset any unknown settings or state 3 The green Presef button located on the control panel performs a hard reset for the device and the software settings In rare instances communication between the application and device can become corrupted The preset button should be used any time the device enters an undesirable State 10 3 The Device is Not Valid In the event the device ceases to operate or becomes corrupted the application might tell you the device does not appear to be valid Before contacting us attempt to power cycle the device and restart your computer to ensure nothing else is causing this issue If the issue persists please contact us 39 CALIBRATION AND ADJUSTMENT 11 Calibration and Adjustment Contact Signal Hound for more information regarding calibration software and required equipment 40 SPECIFICATIONS
2. native bandwidths used in the BB60A come directly from the windowed FFT results When a signal falls between two bins the energy is split between adjacent bins such that the reported peak amplitude may be lower by as much as 0 8 dB If frequency resolution and processing speed are more important than absolute amplitude use native bandwidths To get an accurate power reading using Marker peak non native bandwidths are recommended They integrate the power across several adjacent bins eliminating scalloping loss 37 UNDERSTANDING THE BB60A HARDWARE The channel power utility which integrates the power across any channel bandwidth you specify also eliminates this scalloping loss 9 5 Dynamic Range The BBOOA has four internal freqency bands With large spans the shape of the noise floor will often show the start and end of these bands Often times the noise floor of these bands do not line up and this is because each band displayed is optimized independently for the best dynamic range The BBOOA software will automatically select internal gain settings for best dynamic range when the input signal is equal to reference level given your selected attenuator setting You may notice as you increase reference level the noise floor suddenly jump up This is from a step in the internal gain setting These gain steps may be 20 dB or more in some cases Because of this increasing or decreasing your attenuator setting
3. 1 IF Filter USB 3 0 To PC y 9kHz 20MHz 8 2 Description The BB60C is a two stage superheterodyne receiver using two independent intermediate frequencies IF selected based on RF input frequency Each IF has a corresponding distributed element notch filter in the RF section to reduce spurious responses from input signals at the IF frequency Each RF band also has a distributed element filter buried in the multilayer PCB laminate engineered to reject that band s image frequencies and reduce LO feed through Wherever possible RF band pass filters were used to reject signals which could result in spurious mixer products such as 2 of the tuned RF frequency or image frequencies To reduce spurious signals from second order intermodulation where filtering was not practical push pull amplifiers were used in both the preamplifier and mixer stages effectively canceling even order mixing products Direct conversion was used below 10 MHz completely avoiding the intermodulation products associated with mixing 35 UNDERSTANDING THE BB60A HARDWARE Gain control is achieved in the BB60C using the front end attenuator and preamplifier The front end was designed to provide good spurious free dynamic range SFDR at any reference level typically better than 50 dB The 14 bit ADC uses built in dithering to further improve the linearity and decrease spurious responses at the IF level Spurs from the ADC are typically 70 dB below the carrie
4. i 0 20 i i i i Center 462 587500 MHz Span 312 500 kHz IF Bandwidth 100 000000 kHz Capture Len 0 209715 s The modulation analysis utility performs a number of basic measurements on an audio signal such as RF Center records the carrier frequency Peak records the minimum and maximum peak of the audio signal recorded in Hz for FM and depth for AM RMS records the root mean square of modulation RMS is displayed as Hz for FM and depth for AM Modulation Rate records the frequency of the AM FM modulation SINAD SIgnal to Noise And Distortion ration records the signal quality defined by the function Psignal Pnoise Pdistortion SINAD Pnoise Pdistortion THD Total Harmonic Distortion records the presence of harmonic distortion in the audio signal as defined by the function 26 TAKING MEASUREMENTS V2 V2 V2 vi or in words the RMS of the first four hamonics to the RMS of the fundamental frequency THD Both SINAD and THD measurements occur for AM or FM depending on which demodulation type is selected for Zero Span A configurable low pass filter is available on the control panel The low pass filter is applied to the audio signal before modulation analysis is performed 5 7 Using the Measuring Receiver Utility The BB60 software provides the functionality of a measuring receiver to make tuned RF level measurements TRFL TRFL measurements are useful for characterizing attenuators sig
5. o In Real Time mode only native bandwidth values are allowed ranging from 2 4 kHz to 631 kHz in powers of two e VBW This controls the Video Bandwidth VBW After the signal has been passed through the RBW filter it is converted to an amplitude This amplitude is then filtered by the Video Bandwidth filter o All RBW choices ate available as Video Bandwidths with the constraint that VBW must be less than or equal to RBW o In Real Time mode VBW is not selectable e Auto RBW Having auto selected will choose reasonable and fast RBWs relative to your span If you will be changing your span drastically it is good to have this selected along with Auto VBW e Auto VBW Having auto VBW selected will force VBW to match RBW at all times This is for convenience and performance reasons 3 2 2 4 Acquisition Controls e Video Units In the system unprocessed amplitude data may be represented as voltage linear power or logarithmic power Select linear power for RMS power measurements Logarithmic power is closest to a traditional spectrum analyzer in log scale e Video Detector Settings As the video data is being processed the minimum maximum and average amplitudes are being stored You have a choice of which is to be displayed e Sweep Time In Zero Span mode sweep time represents the total amount of time displayed in the graticule rounded to the nearest sample In sweep mode Sweep Time is used to modify how long the BB60
6. 12 BB60C Specifications The following preliminary specifications are based on being in the Preset condition using internal timebase video processing set for average and power plus VBW sweep gain and attenuation in the default auto mode Frequency Range 9kHz to 6GHz Streaming Digitized 1 Q 250kHz to 27 MHz of selectable IF bandwidth that is amplitude corrected Resolution Bandwidths RBW 10Hz to 10MHz Internal Timebase Accuracy 1 ppm per year Sweep Speed RBW 210kHz 24GHz sec Amplitude RBW lt 100 kHz Range 10dBm to Displayed Average Noise Level DANL Absolute Accuracy 2 0dB arbitrary amp non native RBW s 2 0dB 2 6dB native RBW s faster DSP RF Input VSWR at tuned frequency lt 3 0 1 lt 10dB attenuation lt 1 5 1 210dB attenuation LO Leakage at RF Input 80dBm Displayed Average Noise Level DANL Input Frequency Range dBm Hz 9kHz to 500kHz 500kHz to 10MHz 10MHz to 6GHz 158 1 1dB GHz Residual Responses Ref Level lt 50dBm OdB Attenuation Input Frequency Range Residual Level 500kHz to 6GHz 106dBm Spurious Mixer Responses 50dBc any ref level from 10dBm to 50dBm in 5dB increments input signal 10dB below ref level and lt 30kHz RBW SSB Phase Noise at 1GHz Center Frequency Offset Frequency dBc Hz 100Hz _ 7 CR ANNE SE 70 76 E Recommended Computer Windows 7 or 8 operating system 8 GB of RAM Intel i7 3 generation lvy Bridge or late
7. 3 222 2 Amplitude Control Ssnan nn nar de ne nt usenet de PUS de RTE NP ES D TR Sn 3 2 2 3 Bandwidth Controls 3 2 2 4 Acquisition Controls 3 2 3 Demod SettingS ee 3 2 3 L Captur Settings ti 3 2 3 2 Trigger Settings ca A A eens 3 2 33 AM FM Modulation AnalysiS ai taa 3 3 SWEEP TOOLBAR sis viies cvesevdeceevevencece AAA AAA AAA AAA AAA ARA ie 3 4 ZERO S PAN TOOLBAR AA aliada A AA A LIE ME A AA ai 3 5 2 Edit Menus A AAA A A AAA AAA E dC AA A AAA c and AA POSES ti A A A a AR IAS A ie ans ae ae RE De A Setting is 3 5 5 Spectrum Analysis 3 5 0 TOC O iiiniccicnricintii 3 5 7 Utilities 3 5 8 ID A A A A ai 3 6 PREFERENCES tt nn EE Rs tt a Gras te tre 3 7 THE STATUS BAR Es Mn A A hrs nt ee BR E ne er ER R cree 3 8 ANNUNCIATOR LIS Tic oo 00 SA AA TT TR AV AS AAA A AAA LAA AAA A A AS TE an 3 9 PLAYBACK TOOLBAR ora A A AAA AAA der subs Such Ai 3101 0 RECORDING TOOLBAR 0 da a ada RE GE tas 4 MODES OF OPERATION csssscccseseeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenen 20 ALSNEPT ANALYSIS nn en Ne A nd de a cutee DU dou den SR Une DO Un En gale ea tr ne 20 42 REAL TIME SPECTRUM ANALYSIS iii a earn 21 4 3 ZERO SPAN ANALYSIS circo a inde rior 21 STAKING MEASUREMENTS 3 323 250i cccc 205 s5ccctte consacesscsectocosstacedsoncstensesdssoccececdessesssceecosesdeosssseneccosestedseeteneesosesdessentecsese
8. If for some reason the drivers did not install correctly you can manually install them in two ways by following the instructions below To manually install the drivers navigate to the application folder where you installed the BB60 software and find the Drivers64bit exe file If you ate on a 32 bit system find the Drivers32bit exe file Right click it and Run as administrator The console text will tell you if the installation was successful PREPARATION If manually running the driver installers did not work make sure the driver files are located in their respective folders and follow the instructions below You may manually install the drivers through the Windows device manager On Windows 7 systems with the device plugged in click the Start Menu and Device and Printers Find the FX3 unknown USB 3 0 device and right click the icon and select Properties From there select the Hardware tab and then Properties Select the Change Settings button Hit the Update Drivers button and then Browse My Computer for drivers From there navigate to the BB60 application folder and select the folder name drivers x64 Hit OK and wait for the drivers to install If for some reason the drivers s did not install properly contact Signal Hound 2 4 Connecting Your Signal Hound With the software and BB60 drivers installed you are ready to connect your device Plug in both the male USB 3 0 and male USB 2 0 connections into your PCs respective USB ports
9. or lower gain TEMP This indicator appears when the device has deviated more than 2 C since its last temperature calibration The software will automatically calibrate if the device is not in real time mode Manually recalibrate the device by pressing the Self Cal IF control panel button LOW V This indicator appears when the device is not receiving enough voltage from the USB 3 0 connection The voltage value appears when this annunciator is present The device requires 4 4V If this annunciator appears it may indicate other problems Contact Signal Hound if you are unable to determine the source of this problem UNCAL This indicator appears whenever any warning indicator is active to notify the user that the device may not be meeting published specifications 3 9 Playback Toolbar The playback toolbar controls the recording and playback of sessions Sessions are a collection of saved sweeps at one device setting See Taking Measurements Saving Sessions inactive MW PHI n 1 Record Begins recording a session 2 Stop Recording Stops recording an active session 18 GETTING STARTED 3 Play Continue Begin playing a saved session or continue a paused session 4 Stop Stop playing the current session 5 Pause Pause the current session 6 Rewind Rewinds then pauses the session 7 Step Back Shows the previous trace in the session and pauses 8 Step Forward Shows the next trac
10. will be reduced Using the arrows you can change the center frequency by step amount Start Stop allows you to change the start and stop frequency of the device Frequencies chosen outside the range of operation 9 kHz 6 4 GHz are clamped Step allows you to change the step size of the up and down artows on center frequency Full Span This will change the start stop center and span frequencies to select the largest span possible Zero Span Enter Zero Span mode using the current center frequency as the starting center frequency for zero span captures 3 2 2 2 Amplitude Controls Ref Level Changing the reference level sets the power level of the top graticule line The units you select here will change which units ate displayed throughout the entire system When automatic gain and attenuation are set default you can expect to make measurements up to the reference level Using the arrows you can change the reference level by the 4B div amount dB div sets the scale for the y axis It may be set to any positive value The chosen value represents the vertical height of one square on the graticule o In linear mode the dB div control is not used and the height of one square on the graticule is 1 10 of the reference level Atten sets the internal electronic attenuator By default the attenuation is set to automatic It is recommended to set the attenuation to automatic so that the device can best optimize fo
11. 5 9890000 GHz Elapsed 235 SweepSize 76659 Status Bar Toolbar C gt mas M PB ll mona B Figure 1 The BB60 Graphical User Interface 3 1 The Graticule The graticule is a grid of squares used as a reference when displaying sweeps and when making measurements The BB60 always displays a 10x10 grid for the graticule Inside and around the graticule is text which can help you make sense of the graticule and the sweeps displaying within 3 2 The Control Panels The control panels are a collection of interface elements for configuring the device and configuring the measurement utilities of the software On first start up a control panel will appear on both sides of the graticule Each control panel can be moved to accommodate a user s preference The panels may be stacked vertically dropped on top of each other tabbed or placed side by side You can accomplish this by dragging the panels via the control panels title bar GETTING STARTED Each control panel contains multiple subsets of related controls Each subset will be described in more depth below Each subset can be collapsed or expanded 3 2 1 Measurements The Measurements control panel allows the user to configure the spectrum related measurements This control panel is visible while the software is in standard swept analysis and real time operating modes 3 2 1 1 Trace Controls The softwate offers six configurable traces All six traces can be customized and controlled throu
12. analysis programs such as Labview Matlab Excel or your own custom program I Q captures are performed in zero span mode using the I Q recording toolbar located below the zero span graticule displays You can configure aspects of the capture such as the save directory the recording length and recording type The I Q capture files will be named as the current date and time This is to prevent any capture from overwriting another Two files are saved for each capture an XML file which describes the capture settings and either a binary or CSV file When saving in binary alternating I Q samples are saved directly as 32 bit values When saving as text a CSV file contains the alternating I Q samples Binaty files are more space efficient require less time to save to a hard drive but text files offer more convenience An I Q capture begins when the record button is pressed on the toolbar The capture follows the current triggering rules Therefore if a video trigger is set up the capture will not occur until a video trigger occurs If the software is currently triggered and not updating when record is pressed the software will arm the trigger once more I Q captures can be as short as 1 millisecond and as long as 1 second Text based recordings at full bandwidths can take many minutes to record 5 4 Capturing Signals of Interest CSV files can be created of traces with the Trace Export button found on the control panel CSV files are useful f
13. and plug the USB 3 0 Micro B male connection into the BB60 device Your PC may take a few seconds recognizing the device and installing any last drivers Wait for this process to complete before launching the BB60 software 2 5 Running the Software for the First Time Once the software and drivers are installed you can launch the software You can do this through the desktop shortcut created or the BBApp exe found in the application folder If the device is connected a progress bar will indicate the device preparing If no device is connected or found the softwate will notify you At this point connect the device and use the File gt Connect Device menu option to open the device 2 6 The BB60 Front and Rear Panels The front panel includes a 5002 SMA RF Input Do not exceed 20 dBm or damage may occur A READY BUSY LED flashes orange each time a command from the computer is processed gt The rear panel has three connectors 1 10 MHz Reference input output Use a clean 10 MHz reference sine wave or square wave with gt 0 dBm level A 13 dBm sine wave input or 3 3V CMOS clock input is recommended 2 A USB 3 0 Micro B female connector Use the Y cable provided to connect the device to your PREPARATION PC 3 A multi purpose BNC connector primarily for trigger input Both BNC connectors are also capable of outputting logic high and low using the API GETTING STARTED 3 Getting Started Learn about the basic func
14. cable a CD ROM and a Signal Hound BBG60 PREPARATION 2 2 Software Installation Run the setup exe file from the included CD and follow on screen instructions You must have administrator privileges to install the software You may be asked to install the Windows Runtime Frameworks as this must be installed for the software to run During installation the BB60 device drivers will also be installed It is recommended to install the application folder in the default location 2 2 1 Software Requirements Supported Operating Systems e Windows 7 64 bit e Windows 8 64 bit Minimum System Requirements e Processor Intel Desktop quad core i Series processors e 8GBRAM 1 GB for the BB6O software e Native USB 3 0 support Recommended System Requirements e Windows 7 64 bit e Processor Intel Desktop quad core i5 17 processors e 8GBRAM 1 GB for the BB60 software e Native USB 3 0 support e OpenGL 3 0 capable graphics processor Certain display features are accelerated with this functionality but it is not required Our software is highly optimized for Intel CPUs We recommend them exclusively 2 3 Driver Installation The drivers shipped for the BB60 are for 32 and 64 bit operating systems and are placed in the application folder during installation The drivers x86 folder is for 32 bit drivers and the drivers x64 folder for the 64 bit drivers The drivers should install automatically during setup
15. one more sweep from the BB60 before becoming pausing Continuous Request the software to continuously retrieve sweeps from the BB60 Preset Restores the software and hardware to its initial power on state by performing a device master reset 14 GETTING STARTED 3 4 Zero Span Toolbar The zero span toolbar is visible when the device is operatoring in zero span mode The toolbar is located below the file menu and contains controls for maniputing the displays and controlling acquisitions e Demod Selection The drop down combo box allows you to select which type of demodulation to perform and display You may perform amplitude frequency or phase demodulation on the IQ captures The top zero span plot will display the modulation and allow the placement of markers and delta markers on the demodulated signal e Marker Off Disables an active marker on the waveform e Marker Delta Toggles the delta marker on the waveform e Single Request the software to perform a capture and pause the display The software will continue to to update until the capture is triggered e Auto Request the software continuously update with the specified trigger e Preset Perform a hardware and software reset 3 5 The Menu 3 5 1 File Menu e Print Print the current graticule view The resulting print will not include the control panel or the menu toolbars e Save as bmp Save the current graticule view as a bitmap image e
16. Hz DANL dBm Hz 166 15 1 3 Typical Performance over Temperature 15 1 3 1 Spurious Mixer Responses 9 so hopo iso 2000 2500 30 CAN TTA AAA CO AA AN MOS Ad Ha IN E AAN SN AS Bl MEN BEP ANNI WA l4 ATE Nie EN RIDE TILL Frequency MHz L BIN OEY N OAS US JAN e gt a FAN Harmonic Responses dBc J A A Signal 10 dB below reference level To calculate IP2 at a given frequency subtract this number from signal level e g 30 dBm reference level would be a 40 dBm signal Subtract e g 64dB 2 GHz for an IP2 of 24 dBm 49 APPENDIX 15 1 3 2 Phase Noise Typical Phase Noise Across Temperature at 1 GHz 100 000 70 75 90 e a s Offset Hz 15 1 3 3 Displayed Average Noise Level Change over Temperature Typical DANL change dB See E A y 20 40 A A Temperature deg C 60 20 a 3 o wn N o v 00 c OU Shown for gain 3 attenuator 0 dB For auto gain attenuator settings at cold temperatures a reference level of 55 dBm may be required for maximum sensitivity instead of the usual 50 dBm 15 1 3 4 Residual Signals over Temperature Temperature typically has little effect on residual signal levels 50 APPENDIX 15 2 Typical Performance Characteristics of the BB60A Below are characteristics of the BB60A which have shown to be typical These are not hard s
17. Print Preview Shows you what will be printed using the print menu option e Export Trace CSV Saves the current visible trace as a CSV file e Import gt Path Loss gt Import Path Loss Table This menu option allows you to introduce path loss corrections for the incoming traces See Additional Features Importing Path Loss and Limit Line Tables for more information e Import gt Path Loss gt Clear Path Loss Table Remove any active e Import gt Limit Lines gt Import Limit Line Table Import a set of limit lines which then the incoming trace is tested against Limit lines are two lines across the span which defines an acceptable amplitude region for a trace You can specify a maximum limit or a maximum and minimum set See Additional Features Importing Path Loss and Limit Line Tables for more information e Import gt Limit Lines gt Clear Limit Line Table Remove the active limit line traces e Connect Device If no device is connected this option will attempt to connect to the first BB60 device found e Disconnect Device This option disconnects the currently connected BB60 device This option combined with Connect Device is useful for cycling a devices power or swapping devices without closing the Signal Hound software e Exit Disconnect the device and close the software 15 GETTING STARTED 3 5 2 Edit Menu Title Enable or disable a custom title The title appears above the graticule an
18. SIGNAL HOUND BB60C BB60A User Manual SIGNAL HOUND BB6OC BB60A User Manual Version 2 O 2014 Signal Hound 35707 NE 86 Ave La Center WA Phone 360 263 5006 Fax 360 263 5007 Table of Contents LOVERVIEW Sn ota nent te saccecass sae dine iaacutanetieeauetoseedecesdoxtuesnaeeuensccecaes Tee tetes E e lee 5 UNS ANN 5 2 PREPARATION cases ccsteccentasevasdecvcocasteessscsncbenssstsesecscecnessestsceacecesvessssesncccsaeseetsssncdoosseestescnetoonssssessescasgasesssessvacses 5 Z INITIAL INSPECTION 2 A A A dh A EE E ODIA Ia aaa 2 2 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION 2 2 1 Software Requirements 2 3 DRIVER INSTALLATION NN 2 4 CONNECTING YOUR SIGNAL HOUND 2 5 RUNNING THE SOFTWARE FOR THE FIRST TIME cccccecccececececececeeeceseseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeseseesseeseeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 7 2 6 THE BBGO FRONTAND REAR PANELS vesiiciia A tds aa a tte test s tie ta tas etes died 7 A EE a a E aas raea ESS 9 3 1 THE GRATIGULE O 9 3 2 THE CONTROL PANELS hist nt ta nes ti 9 322 1 Measur mMents ui ne amine rien ed ere idee re ie ten 10 321 Lirace Controls ss indie E E nr ER dr ooh de En t ar inst sen E net letras eS et seine 10 AA NN 10 32 1 3 Offsets 0 OPONEN O O NN 3 2 1 4 Channel Power bs 3251 5 Occupied BandWwidth 35 sn Rent Ur e o eel lO a 11 3 2 2 SWeep Settihng S iii td ARA td date an A A sn amener de de ent dues dolor aie dde coince 3 2 2 1 A d tente sean An O era anne one nine en AN
19. a video trigger external trigger or no trigger Video triggers allow you to begin the sweep only after a signal exceed the amplitude specified in the Video Trigger input This is useful when you need to analyze a periodic transmission If your transmitter has a trigger output you can route this to the BB60 trigger in Select external trigger to cause the zero span sweep to begin after this hardware trigger You can trigger on the rising edge or falling edge of a signal A 3 3V CMOS trigger with a 50 ohm output impedance is ideal but 5V logic with a 50 ohm output impedance is acceptable Higher or lower output impedance may work with a short BNC cable but longer cables may cause issues with reflection If your trigger output is sensitive to loading start zero span mode with external trigger enabled before connecting your trigger to ensure the BB60 trigger port is configured as an input 22 TAKING MEASUREMENTS 5 Taking Measurements This section helps you learn how to measure analyze and record signals using the BBOO utilizing built in features such as markers record playback and channel power 5 1 Measuring Frequency and Amplitude 5 1 1 Using Markers The BBG60 software has several tools for identifying a signal s frequency and amplitude The easiest to use is the marker There are 6 markers available each with its own reference To activate and place a marker you can left click inside the graticule or press the Peak Sear
20. an attached 10MHz reference on the appropriate BNC port o Internal Use the internal 10MHZ clock o External Sin Wave Use an external AC 10MHz reference clock o External CMOS TTL Use an external 10MHz CMOS input clock Spur Reject When spur rejection is on additional signal processing is enabled attempting to remove spurious signals which are the result of mixing products Spur rejection roughly doubles sweep time and is great for cleaning up a steady signal but should not be used for pulsed RF or modulated signals Spur rejection is not available in real time mode 3 5 5 Spectrum Analysis Idle Cause the device to enter an idle mode No trace is displayed in this mode Playback is possible in idle mode Swept Analysis Enter standard swept analysis Real Time Analysis Enter real time mode Zero Span Enter zero span mode 16 GETTING STARTED Time Gate Analysis Enter time gate analysis 3 5 6 Trace Copy Trace Copy the currently displayed trace to one of two available copies Show Trace Toggle the display of the two trace copies Disable Disable the limit lines or path loss tables Persistence Enable Disable Clear the persistence trace Spectrogram Enable Disable spectrogram display Signal Tracking Enable Disable signal tracking 3 5 7 Utilities Audio Player Brings up the dialog box allowing you to use and customize the BB60 for audio playback See Additional Feat
21. and below the desired signal These are typically about 50 dBc but may be higher near gain compression These will generally be rejected by using the software spur reject but there are some exceptions especially even multiples of 10 MHz For spans below 500 kHz and some streaming and zero span modes additional spurs from the fractional N local oscillator may be observed These will usually be below 50 dBc and will generally be rejected by using the software spur reject 9 3 Residual Signals A residual signal appears even when there is no signal input The BB60A has noticeable residual signals at multiples of its 10 MHz timebase These are guaranteed to be below 90 dBm for a reference level of 50 dBm attenuator 0 dB for advanced users 0 dB atten gain of 2 or 3 but will typically be well below this level For higher reference levels or lower gain these may be higher If these residual signals interfere with your signal measurements an external RF amplifier may be needed 9 4 Amplitude Accuracy Some of the filters are temperature sensitive We have included an automatic self calibration when a significant temperature change is observed If this is turned off a temperature change may introduce amplitude ripple in the passband increasing measurement error by a dB or more in some cases Because of this bypassing the automatic self cal is not recommended when amplitude accuracy is important 9 4 1 Scalloping Loss The
22. ation between the two points and flat lines off the sides The format for limit lines is very similar Each line with contain two or three values If you only want a max limit line each line of the CSV will contain two values if you want max and minimum limit lines each line will contain three values The first value will be a frequency in MHz followed by the optional minimum amplitude in dBm and the maximum amplitude in dBm The limit lines are drawn on the graticule and every trace is tested against them Indicator text will appear in the center of the screen denoting whether the trace currently shown passes or fails the limit line test 31 ADDITIONAL FEATURES 6 4 Audio Player Under the Urilities Audio Player menu option you can utilize the BB60 to play broadcast audio When using the BB60 software for audio playback the dialog box below will appear Audio Player o Soa 4 Frequency Configuration 4 Audio Configuration Center Freq 97 1000000 MHz Audio Type FM z Bandwidth 120 0000000 kHz 20Hz Low Pass 8 0000000 kHz A kHz 1 kHz High Pass 20 0000000 Hz 20 Hz Deemphasis 75 000 us OK You can change the center frequency using the arrow keys pressing the fine tune frequency adjustments of through manual entry The initial center frequency is the same center frequency displayed on the graticule when selecting the Audio Player menu option You can also manually change or select various bandwidths and the typ
23. by 10 dB may allow the software to select a more optimal gain setting significantly improving your dynamic range For large spans crossing multiple bands you may notice a step in the noise floor This is due to different sensitivities and gain settings for each band Changing your reference level or attenuator setting by 10 dB may reduce this step if desired Advanced API users gathering uncorrected data with the BBOOA have an additional tool for optimizing dynamic range as the uncorrected data is referenced to full scale ADC readings In most gain settings the best compromise between dynamic range and spurious is achieved when the signal is reading 10 to 20 dB Full Scale dBFS Simply choose an appropriate gain and fine tune your attenuator setting to optimize for your needs 38 UNDERSTANDING THE BB60C HARDWARE 10 Troubleshooting If you experience a problem with your Signal Hound please try these troubleshooting techniques before contacting us 10 1 Unable to Find or Open the Device Ensure the device is plugged in and the green light is on If it is not unplug then plug in the device Once the green light turns on use the Fz menu to try to connect the device again 10 1 1 The Device Light is Green and Still Won t Connect This is often the case when the device is plugged in when a PC has been turned on We recommend leaving the device unplugged when you turn off your PC If this is the case a power cycle will solve this issue
24. c which recalibrates the measuring receiver for the new center frequency Note For correct operation ensure the frequency entered is close to the output frequency of the UUT After step 4 above verify the RF Power and RF Frequency readouts are correct and ensure the Relative Power readouts are stable and very close to zero You are now ready to begin making stepped output power measurements Perform the following steps for each output power level step 5 Decrease step the output power level of the UUT at most 10 dB 6 Record any relevant readouts 7 If the measuring receiver suggests to recalibrate the device at a new power range do so now Recalibration takes about 3 seconds and is necessary to make continued accurate measurments to lower powet levels 8 Return to step 5 If at any time you want to start the test over you can do so by selecting a new center frequency or selecting the Sync button and starting over at step 1 Be careful of IF overload messages which warn you that your UUT output power is too large for the current power range Avoid this by either decreasing your UUT power or pressing the Sync button to return the measuring receiver utility to the highest power range As you decrease the output power of the UUT the measuring receiver prompts you to enter new power ranges The ranges are finite and a warning will be issued if you have stepped over a range To resolve this increase your UUT output power slowly until y
25. c range and signal characteristics Window Function Passband Flatness RBW Mode Flat Top 0 1 dB Non Native Nutall 0 8 dB Native Note Window flatness characteristics are not included in the absolute accuracy specification 44 WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER 13 4 Spectral Purity Spurious amp Image Rejection 20 dBFS into ADC 0dB attn max gain typical SW Spur Reject 9 kHz to 1 5 GHz 1 5 GHz to 5 0 GHz 5 0 GHz to 6 0 GHz Off 39 dBc 37 dBc 22 dBc On 39 dBc 46 dBc 48 dBc Phase noise at 1 GHz Frequency Offset dBc Hz 100 Hz 70 1 kHz 78 10 kHz 84 100 kHz 96 1 MHz 116 LO Leakage lt 65 dBm out the RF input connector 13 5 Timing External Trigger 50 nS 4 samples GPS Synchronization 1 PPS GPS precision time stamping Accuracy 50 nS 4 samples plus GPS error 13 6 Environmental Operating Temperature 32 F to 122 F 0 C to 50 C without derating specifications Typical internal temperature is 15 C above ambient Internal temperature is not to exceed 70 C while operating Size and Weight 7 63 x 3 19 x 1 19 194mm x 81mm x 30mm Net 0 69 lb 0 31 kg 45 WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER 14 Warranty and Disclaimer Copyright 2013 2014 Signal Hound All rights reserved Reproduction adaptation or translation without prior written permission is prohibited except as allowed under the copyright laws 14 1 Warranty The information contained in this manual i
26. ceseosdeceSbosascdseesds coddessccadcoscocesavesscsaveedecesdeasseteevedsscbicsss cddsveteccdseececsionsd 33 TE L SPECTROGRAM ES Te ne e verde dae el 33 1 DSP RSISTENCE Hs O rates M ner ete O en ere dent ne 33 8 UNDERSTANDING THE BB60C HARDWARE sccsscccsscccssccsscccscccnscccssccescccesccnssccesccoscccescccesccesccossccuscccesccssecesseueceses 35 8 L FRONT END ARCHITEGTURE tano rare ne A tan E A at dr tee ann nee ot a st 35 8 2 DESCRIPTION ss E nn ln sates outed ais 35 9 UNDERSTANDING THE BB60A HARDWARE cssccccsssecccssssccccessecccesseeccessccccessseceesseccceseseccsseeceasesecceseseceescssceeseeseeees 36 9 T FRONT END ARCHITECTURE ce ir lilas oia eos 36 92 PURIOUS SIGNAL SR DR do al 36 E NS A RN 37 9 4 AMPLITUDE ACCURAC id ria 37 9 4 1 Scalloping Loss 9 5 DYNAMIC RAN GE cnica 10 TROUBLESHOOTING LOL UNABLE TO FIND OR OPEN THE DEVICE n ea E A nn E EE ASEENA 39 10 1 1 The Device Light is Green and Still Won t Connect sn 39 10 1 2 A Power Cycle Does Not Fix the Problem 4 nn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnono 39 10 2 THE SIGNAL HOUND IS NOT SWEEPING PROPERLY sssscsccscccssseeccceceecuecssesseccsecuscuseesecesscuecusessecesscuecunessecesseueuanesseeessausgenens 39 10 3 THE DEVICEISINOT VALID E ri 39 11 CALIBRATION AND ADJUSTMENT icicccccsseccccecocccccccscncocecevataccsvcetoccvecctecnecsevecesaccdudesesececesncotesevecelecesecoveresecsecncesebecesosnes 40 12 BBGOG SPECIFICATIONS 5 28 nn n aa ne mass lente en ne een nee oran s
27. ch button on the marker controls to place the marker on the current trace peak and activate it simultaneously Once a marker is active the frequency and amplitude readout of the marker is located in the top right of the graticule The marker s accuracy is dependent on the span and RBW Narrower spans and RBWs have higher marker accuracy The amplitude accuracy is NOT dependent on the vertical dB div since the I Q data is linear in voltage and has much higher resolution than is displayed The marker may be re placed at any time by clicking the graticule or by using the left and right arrows to shift the marker one sample point to the left or right 5 1 2 Using the Delta Marker To measure differences or changes in frequency and or amplitude you can use the Delta markers To use the delta markers you must first create a reference point With a marker active click the Delta control panel button This places a reference location on the graticule Now you can move the marker elsewhere on the graticule and the marker readings will report the difference between the marker and the reference 5 1 3 Measuring Low Level Signals To measure low level signals there are a few tricks to getting accurate readings First set the internal electronic attenuator to 0 dB click the Aven button Then set your reference level to 50 dBm or lower This internally selects the highest sensitivity settings Using an external time base and narrow span 1 KHz or less shoul
28. d give you the best results Video averaging may be required for a stable amplitude reading 5 2 Saving Sessions The playback toolbar allows you to record and replay a continuous session up to the file size set in Preferences Max Save File Size The length in time of the session will be dependent on the average sweep speed of the session and trace length Sessions files are named based on the current time and date This naming scheme ensures no files are overwritten and relieves you of determining file names when you really want to capture a signal immediately Pressing record on the playback tool bar causes the software to immediately begin recording All playback files are saved in your My Documents folder with the bbr file extension When replaying a saved session all functionality of the software remains You can place markers activate min max average traces as well as view the recording using persistence and spectrogram views In 23 TAKING MEASUREMENTS addition the playback toolbar allows you to pause step and rewind your way through a saved session using the slider bar as well as various control buttons Tip The title is also recorded and shown during playback Use a title to describe the session ie y 5 3 1 Q Captures In Zero Span mode a user can save a short duration I Q capture I Q captures can be recorded in binary format or in a text based format such as CSV This is useful for viewing captures in other
29. d is included in the screen captures via printing as well as session recordings Clear Title Remove the current title Colors Load various default graticule and trace color schemes Title Enable or disable a custom title The title appears above the graticule and is included in screen captures via printing as well as session recordings Preferences Opens a configuration dialog allowing the further configuration of the software Hovering the mouse over each option will provide more information See Getting Started Preferences 3 5 3 Presets The presets menu bar provides a way for users to manage the preset functionality for the software Each preset offers the capability to recall a full software configuration This is convienent for recalling specific measurement configurations Presets can be renamed Presets can be recalled with keyboard shortcuts Both spectrum analysis settings and audio player settings are saved and loaded with presets The mode of operation is also saved 3 5 4 Settings Sweep Delay Introduce an artificial sweep delay for standard sweep mode only This will slow your sweeps down by up to 1 second allowing some users an easier time tracking marker values or noisy signals Real Time Update Interval Change how long data is masked together in real time mode before returning a trace Reference Change the source of the BB60s reference oscillator You can choose to use the internal reference or
30. d the resulting power is display at the top of the channel The adjacent channels also show the channel power as well as the difference in power between the center channel and itself In the example below the difference might be used to determine if any power is leaking into an adjacent FM band VBW 77 1 Hz 4 Int Ref Center 101 Span For best results set your video processing to AVERAGE POWER and turn spur reject off A native bandwidth should be selected for the most accurate power measurements The software will set most of this up for you automatically 25 TAKING MEASUREMENTS 5 6 Modulation Analysis The BB60 software is capable of performing analysis on AM and FM modulated audio To perform audio analysis the device must be operating in Zero Span mode and can be enabled on the control panel When enabled the device will be configured properly and a measurement readout will appear in conjunction with the zero span display plots Ref 156 250000 kHz 20 971520 ms per div E AM FM Modulation Analysis RF Center 462 587525 MHz FM RMS 8 438988 kHz AM RMS 0 165 FM Peak 12 025021 kHz AM Peak 0 681 FM Peak 12 027632 kHz AM Peak 0 580 FM Rate 999 998136 Hz AM Rate 5 373584 kHz FM SINAD 49 21 dB FM THD 0 07 0 06M 0 12M Center 462 587500 MHz 65536 pts 006 Div 10 dB FFT Size 4096 pts 020 Mi Ba Sample Rate 0 3125 MS s 20 00 40 00 60 00 80 00 100 00 i
31. dwells on each patch of spectrum The actual sweep time may be significantly different from the time requested depending on RBW VBW and span settings as well as hardware limitations 3 2 3 Demod Settings The Demod Settings control panels allows configuration of zero span captures 3 2 3 1 Capture Settings e Input Power Expected input power of the signal Input power controls the reference level and the gain and attenuation It is suggested to keep gain and attenuation set to Auto so the software can best choose them based on Input Power e Center Specifies the tuned center frequency of the capture or in another way the OHz frequency of the IQ data capture e Gain Controls the internal device amplification It is recommended to keep this value set to Auto e Atten Controls the internal device attenuation It is recommended to keep this value set to Auto 13 GETTING STARTED Decimation Controls the overall decimation of the IQ data capture For example a decimation of 2 results in an IQ sample rate of 20MS s A decimation of 64 results in an IQ sample rate of 625 kS s IF BW Intermediate Frqeuency Bandwidth Controls the bandwidth of the passband filter applied to the IQ data stream The bandwidth cannot exceed the nyquist frequency of the IQ data stream and can be set down to 100kHz Auto IFBW When set to Auto the IF Bandwidth passes the entire bandwidhth of the IQ data capture Swp Time Swe
32. e for an attenuator probe or preamplifier 3 2 1 4 Channel Power Width Specify the width in Hz of the channels to measure Spacing Specify the center to center spacing for each channel Enabled When enabled channel power and adjacent channel power measurements will become active on the screen The adjacent and main channels are only displayed when the width and spacing specifies a channel within the current span See Taking Measurements Measuring Channel Power for mote information 3 2 1 5 Occupied Bandwidth Enabled When enabled occupied bandwidth measurements will become active on the screen Power Percent power allows the percentage of the integrated power of the occupied bandwidth measurement to be adjusted 3 2 2 Sweep Settings The Sweep Settings control panel controls the sweep acquisition parameters for the device in standard swept analysis and real time modes 3 2 2 1 Frequency Controls Span controls the frequency difference between the start and stop frequencies centered on the center frequency reduced span will be chosen if the new span causes the start or 11 GETTING STARTED stop frequencies to fall outside the range of operation Using the arrows you can change the span using a 1 2 5 10 sequence Center allows you to change the center frequency of the sweep If a change in center frequency causes the start or stop frequencies to fall outside the range of operation the span
33. e in the session and pauses 19 MODES OF OPERATION 3 10 1 Q Recording Toolbar In Zero Span mode the I Q recording toolbar is located below the graticule displays The toolbar contains a number of controls for configuring and capturing I Q waveforms See Taking Measurements 1 0 Recording for more information Record Directory Browse C Users AJ Documents SignalHound Record Length ms 1 000 Save as Binary X Record e Record Directory Specify the storage directory for all saved I Q captures The default location is the current users Documents folder e Record Length Specify the duration of the recording Recording lengths can be specified between 1 millisecond and 1 second e Save As Specify the file format as either binary or text based e Record Perform one capture 4 Modes of Operation The BB6O is a hybrid superheterodyne FFT spectrum analyzer The BB60 is a combination of swept tuned and FFT based analyzers The BB60 uses an oscillator and band pass filters to down convert a portion of the input spectrum into an intermediate frequency IF The intermediate frequency is then sent from the device to the host PC where it undergoes FFT spectrum analysis transforming the input IF into a frequency spectrum The resulting IF contains 20MHz of usable bandwidth for the BB60A and 27MHz of usable bandwidth for the BB60C The BB6O is also a real time spectrum analyzer This means the device is capable of continuously s
34. e of demodulation you wish to perform You may also specify audio low pass and audio high pass filter cutoff frequencies All audio related variables other than center frequency are saved with presets TRY THIS Utilize sweep mode to find a signal of interest and start the Audio Player to immediately begin listening at that frequency 5 OSHS 32 DISPLAY MODES 7 Display Modes The BB60 provides you with many ways to view the spectrum Each type of display is useful for different purposes Below is an introduction to some of the views 7 1 Spectrogram The BBOO offers two visual representations of a spectrogram the traditional spectral waterfall and a three dimensional representation where amplitude is represented by color and height Our spectrogram displays show spectral history of up to 128 sweeps Below is an image of the spectral waterfall displaying an FM station broadcasting with HD radio The width of the view is representative of the selected span The colors along a horizontal line represent the amplitude of that given sweep More recent sweeps appear at the front bottom of the display Low amplitudes are represented by blue and as amplitude increases the color moves through the color spectrum from blue to green to red Figure 2 FM Station with HD Radio side bands 7 2 Persistence The BB60 persistence display is helpful for viewing spectral density over time Instead of showing a single trace persistence us
35. e to mure IP2 dBm ee xX E a L lt 4 lt TEE ara m Brae Frequency MHz WANT UN Ni ayy WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER 13 BB60A Specifications 13 1 Frequency Range 9 kHz to 6 0 GHz Streaming IF or 1 Q data 20 MHz real time analysis BW Resolution Bandwidths RBW 10 Hz to 10 MHz Internal Timebase Accuracy 1ppm per year 13 2 Sweep Rate Sweep Speed RBW gt 9 86 kHz Spur Reject off gt 24 GHz sec Spur Reject on gt 12 GHz sec Note Non native bandwidths or lower VBWs will result in slower sweep speeds Sweep speed does not count sweep setup time typically lt 20 ms 13 3 Amplitude RBW lt 100kHz IF auto cal on Range 10 dBm to Displayed Average Noise Level DANL Absolute Accuracy 2 0 dB Displayed Average Noise Level dBm Hz reference level 60 dBm atten 0 dB 9 kHz to 100 kHz 123 100 kHz to 200 kHz 132 200 kHz to 300 kHz 142 300 kHz to 6 GHz 152 Residual Responses includes 10 MHz timebase multiples lt 50 dBm Ref Level O dB Atten 90 dBm LO Leakage lt 65 dBm Please note native bandwidths have additional scalloping loss of up to 0 8 dB Use non native 1 3 10 bandwidths or the channel power tool for critical amplitude measurements Device must be plugged in for at least 5 minutes to guarantee amplitude accuracy The window choices allow the user to optimize as needed for best amplitude accuracy dynami
36. ep Time Controls the length of the zero span data capture The length is relative to the sample rate selected by decimation Sweep times are clamped when the resulting capture contains less than 20 samples and and at the upper end when the resulting capture contains more than 32768 samples 3 2 3 2 Trigger Settings Trigger Type Select a trigger type for the data capture When a trigger type is selected the captures are synchronized by the presence of a trigger Trigger Edge Select whether to trigger on a rising or falling edge Applies to both external and video triggers Video Trigger Select the amplitude for the video trigger to trigger on This value is ignored if video triggering is not selected 3 2 3 3 AM FM Modulation Analysis Enabled Enables the modulation analysis display Low Pass Set the audio filter bandwidth See Taking Measurements Modulation Analysis for more information 3 3 Sweep Toolbar The sweep toolbar is visible when the device is operating in the normal sweep mode and real time mode The toolbar is located above the graticule and contains controls for displaying and controlling traces Spectrogram Enables the display of two and three dimensional spectrogram displays See Display Modes Spectrogram Persistence Enables the persistence display See Display Modes Persistence Persistence Clear Clear the contents of the persistence display Single Request the software perform
37. es the last n traces to create an image where color is representative of how often a signal appears The software uses the color spectrum to represent density over time If a signal rarely occurs in a location a light blue is used to color the trace If a signal continues to appear in the same location the color will change from blue to green to red Red is an indication of a signal persisting in one location for a good deal of time 33 DISPLAY MODES Div 10 dB 10 00 RefLevel 10 dBm RBW 9 86 kHz VBW 9 86 kHz Playback 30 00 50 00 Amp dBm 70 00 90 00 110 00 Start 2 4600000 GHz Step 10 0000000 MHz Atten 10 dB Int Ref 19 02 2033 11 26 20 088 Center 24700000 GHz Stop 24800000 GHz Span 20 0000000 MHz Sweep 32 ms 1024 points Figure 3 Persistence showing the signal from a poorly shielded commercial microwave oven in Real Time mode 34 UNDERSTANDING THE BB60A HARDWARE 8 Understanding the BB60C Hardware 8 1 Front End Architecture Signal Hound BB60C Architecture High IP Preamps 3 8 GHz HPF RF Input 9kHz 20MHz 10MHz 6GHz Distributed Element Filters 1 26GHz Notch 1 9 3 2GHz BPF 10MHz 6GHz 3 2 4 4GHz BPF 2 42GHz Notch 4 4 6 1GH2 BPF 2 IF Filter 140MHz SAW 140MHz SAW 1 26GHz SAW 1 26GHz SAW 2 Converter 2 42GHz SAW G Ru 2 42GHz SAW Ru
38. gh the control panel When the software first launches only trace one is visible with a type of Char gt Write Trace Select a trace The trace controls will populate with the new selected trace All future actions will affect this trace Type The type control determines the behavior of the trace over a series of acquisitions o Off Hides the current trace o Clear amp Write Continuously displays successive sweeps updating the trace fully for each sweep o Max Hold For each sweep collected only the maximum trace points are retained and displayed o Min Hold For each sweep collected only the minimum trace points are retained and displayed o Average Averages successive sweeps Color Change the color of the selected trace The trace colors selected are saved when the software is closed and restored the next time the software is launched Update If update is not checked the selected trace remains visible but no longer updates itself for each device sweep Clear Reset the contents of the selected trace Export Save the contents of the selected trace to a CSV file A file name must be chosen before the file is saved The CSV file stores Frequency Min Amplitude Max Amplitude triplets Frequency is in MHz Min Max are in dBm mV depending on whether logarithmic or linear units are selected 3 2 1 2 Marker Controls The software allows for six configurable markers All six markers are configurable through t
39. he control panel Marker Select a marker All marker actions taken will affect the current selected marker Place On Select which trace the selected marker will be placed on If the trace selected here is not active when a marker is placed the next active trace will be used Update When Update is ON the markers amplitude updates each sweep When OFF the markers amplitude does not update unless moved Active Active determines whether the selected marker is visible This is the main control for disabling a marker 10 GETTING STARTED Peak Search This will place the selected marker on the highest amplitude signal on the trace specified by Place On If the selected trace is Off then the first enabled trace is used Delta places a reference marker where the marker currently resides Once placed you can make measurements relative to the position of the reference point To Center Freq changes the center frequency to the frequency location of the selected marker To Ref Level changes the reference level to the amplitude of the active marker Peak Left If the selected marker is active move the marker to the next peak on the left Peak Right If the selected marker is active move the marker to the next peak on the right For peak left right peaks are defined by a group of frequency bins 1 standard deviation above the mean 3 2 1 3 Offsets Ref Offset Adjust the displayed amplitude to compensat
40. ile Max Save File Size Control the maximum size of a sweep recording The software will stop recording when the max file size has been reached 17 GETTING STARTED 3 7 The Status Bar The status bar runs across the bottom of the BB60 application When the mouse enters the graticule the status bar displays the frequency time value for the x axis and the amplitude frequency value for the y axis The status bar readings should not be used for precise measurements but is great for quick estimations The status bar also displays information about the current device connected if there is one You can see the type of device temperature of the device power supplied to the device the device serial number and firmwate version 3 8 Annunciator List On the upper left hand corner of the graticule you will find a list of annunciators Annunciators are provided as warnings and indicators providing useful information to the operator Below is a list of all annunciators and their meanings Temperature The device temperature is always displayed in C This is the device s internal temperature IF Overload This indicator appears when hard compression is present on the displayed sweep This annunciator will appear in the top center of the graticule and will trigger the UNCAL indicator This occurs when the input RF signal reaches the maximum possible digital level To fix this you can increase the reference level increase attenuation
41. last capture or viewing the data During this time it is possible to miss an event The picture below shows a missed event in green Amplitude Idle Spectrum Capture Blind Time Missed Spectrum amp Missed Event Green Spectrum Capture Time In this image we see an event missed due to the blind time between spectrum sampling With Real Time spectrum analysis we can prevent this and capture ALL possible events The BB 60 is capable of streaming the full IF bandwidth with no time gaps If we limit our spans to the maximum instantaneous bandwidth we can now process every spectrum sample for our resulting trace The BB60 performs overlapping FFTs at an overlapping rate of 75 covering each point of data with 4 FFTs We take the resulting FFTs and min max them into a final returned trace The number of FFT results merged depends on Real Time Accumulation and the RBW 4 3 Zero Span Analysis Zero span analysis allows you to view and analyzer complex signals in the time domain The BB60 application can demodulate AM FM and PM modulation schemes and display the results through multiple plots You can enter zero span mode by using the Analysis Mode drop down file menu or by 21 MODES OF OPERATION pressing the zero span button on the Sweep Settings control panel The first time you enter zero span mode the application will appear as below Zero Span Ft Est Preset Seinge Asatais tose Unser He Touber D larves m
42. nal generators of any device on which you want to measure the accuracy of incremental steps in the output power TREL measurements are capable of making more accurate power level readings and carrier frequency readings than in standard swept analysis mode and is capable of measuring power to much lower levels than in swept mode The measuring receiver utility can be accessed through File Menu gt Utility gt Measuring Utility Enabling the utility will bring up the dialog box shown below Measuring Receiver RL Synchronous Level Detector Center Freq 50 000000 MHz Amplitude Range NM High Power Range _ Mid Power Range _ Low Power Range RF Frequency 50 000003 MHz RF Power 10 211 dBm Relative Power 9 992 dB Average Relative Power 9 987 dB Sync Done 27 TAKING MEASUREMENTS 5 7 1 Measurement Procedure This section outlines the procedure for making TRFL measurements with the measuring receiver utility 1 With the BB60A C device connected to the PC and application software running select Measuring Reciever from the Utilities file menu 2 The measuring receiver will open and perform a 3 second calibration Wait for this calibration to finish and connect your unit under test UUT 3 Prepare your UUT by selecting the maximum output power and center frequency of the device Ensure the UUT output is a CW signal 4 Prepare the BB60 software by entering the center frequency of the UUT and pressing Syn
43. oe tano ose 2 Ref 0 000 dBm Triggered 0 100000 ms per de Zero Span gt 20 00 4 J E x j Gan da e Gun Demod d sen jte Aton Wavetorm 40 00 0 00 0 00 100 00 Center 1 000000 GHz 625 pts Spectrum oo Div 10 dB FFT Size 512 pts 0581 Mo Sample Rate 0 825 MS s Low Pens Plot Zero Span Control Panel 012 20 00 40 00 WA Waveform Plot 0 00 tue Niel aad y qe A ATA 1 TA 0 12 100 00 i j 0 015 Center 1 000000 GHz Span 625 000 kHz IF Bandwidth 500 000900 kHz Capture Len 0 001000 s 20 001 Playback ToolBar C Recoanvedor D esse Curas Dome crac Record Lanchims 1000 Smem Bray Record The application window will be split into multiple viewports and contain a control panel for controlling zero span sweeps Zero span mode offers three viewports 1 Demodulation Waveform Plot Shows the results of performing AM FM PM demodulation The waveform is plotted as Amplitude Frequency Phase over time depending on the modulation type selected 2 Spectrum Plot Shows the frequency spectrum of the zero span capture The plot shows the amplitude over frequency of the waveform signal 3 1 Q Waveform Plot Plots the individual I and Q channels as amplitude over time The control panel contains inputs for controlling the capture settings of the device as well as specifying trigger conditions for the zero span sweeps You can specify
44. olution of the image is the exact resolution of your graticule when you choose to save To obtain the highest resolution image maximize the software and slide the control panels out of the way The active color scheme is used in the resulting image 6 3 Importing Path Loss and Limit Line Tables Using the File gt Import menu options you can import path loss and limit line tables from simple csv files CSV stands for Comma Separated Value The format for a typical file might look like this 23 56 32 123 45 512 Two or mote values separated by a comma each line ending with a catriage return These files can be created with a simple text editor or spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel For path loss tables we use a CSV file with two values per line The first value on each line is a frequency value in MHz and the second value is a dBm offset The frequency values must be in increasing order The path loss corrections are linearly interpolated between these data points and are flat entering and leaving the span with the amplitude of the flat corrections being the first and last data point respectively Here is an example of a path loss CSV file built in a spreadsheet program 732 0 738 2 And here is the resulting path loss corrections applied to incoming traces for a 10MHZ span centered at 735 MHz 30 ADDITIONAL FEATURES Amplitude dBm 730 732 734 736 738 740 Frequency MHz We can see the linear interpol
45. or a particular purpose 14 4 Exclusive Remedies The remedies provided herein are the Buyer s sole and exclusive remedies Test Equipment Plus shall not be liable for any direct indirect special incidental or consequential damages whether based on contract tort or any other legal theory 14 5 Certification Signal Hound certifies that at the time of shipment this product conformed to 46 WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER its published specifications 14 6 Credit Notice Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries Intel and Core are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Intel Corp in the USA and or other countries 47 APPENDIX 15 Appendix 15 1 Typical Performance Characteristics of the BB60C Below ate characteristics of the BB60C which have shown to be typical These are not hard specifications but show the typical performance in a few aspects not covered in our official specs The official BB60C device specifications can be found in this document under the section titled BB60C Specifications 15 1 1 Typical Amplitude Accuracy Typical Amplitude Error 720 points per R L RL 10 MRL 5 ARL O X RL 10 7000 RL 20 Amplitude Error dB e RL 30 RL 40 RL 50 Frequency MHz 48 APPENDIX 15 1 2 Typical Displayed Average Noise Level Typical DANL dBm Hz 8 lt DANL dBm
46. or performing further signal analysis or plotting outside the Signal Hound application When exporting a trace into a CSV file the currently shown trace is exported Because of this it may be difficult to obtain a CSV file of a signal of interest For example an intermittent signal which appears sporadically may be difficult to capture or some modes such as Real Time signal analysis are prohibited from saving CSV files One way to export a desired signal is to record the spectrum using the playback toolbar If you are able to capture your signal in a playback session you can playback the session pause on your trace of choice and export the trace 24 TAKING MEASUREMENTS Min and Max hold traces are another way to capture intermittent hard to view signals Min and max hold keep track of the minimum and maximum values over a period of time storing them in a separate viewable trace 5 5 Measuring Channel Power The Control Panel allows you to control the channel power utility Channel width is width in Hz of the band whose power you wish to measure Channel spacing refers to the center to center frequency difference between the center channel and adjacent channels Between channels there is typically but not always a small guard band whose power is ignored For example the image below shows a channel bandwidth of 180 kHz and spacing of 200 kHz The image shows the FM station 101 1 in the center channel Each channel will be integrated an
47. ou can enter the next lower power range 5 8 Tips for Better Measurements The BB60A and BBOOC have internal gain and attenuation settings that are automatically adjusted for your selected reference level While the software allows the user to manually control these settings the 28 TAKING MEASUREMENTS default value should be used for nearly all measurements Manual control may place the compression point below the reference level add spurious or residual signals or raise your noise floor There are times when a user wishes to increase the attenuator by 5 or 10 dB to improve linearity This can be important for reducing the amplitude of intermodulation products Rather than changing your attenuator setting simply change your reference level For the BB60C a 5 dB reference level increase for a reference level of 50 to 20 dBm and 15 to 5 dBm will generally result in a 5 dB improvement in IP2 and IP3 For the BB60A a 10 dB change in reference level will improve linearity typically by 10 dB This is easier and more predictable than manually controlling the attenuator For best sensitivity lowest noise floor set your reference level at or just above the maximum input amplitude To improve linearity and reduce intermodulation products set your reference level 10 or 20 dB above your signal level For narrow band and CW signals the noise floor comes down approximately 3 dB for each decrease in RBW When measuring low level CW signal
48. pecifications but show the typical performance in a few aspects not covered in our official specs The official BBOOA device specifications can be found in this document under the section titled BB60A Specifications Third Order Intercept IP3 Conditions RF attenuator set to O dB single production unit tested RF Frequency Third Order Intercept dBm Gain 1 Gain 2 Gain 3 1 GHz 2 7 13 8 14 4 2 5 GHz 5 6 20 0 23 8 4 GHz 16 3 12 5 12 5 DANL Displayed Average Noise Level Displayed Average Noise Level dBm Hz excluding clock mult RF Frequency Gain 1 Gain 2 Gain 3 1 GHz 132 158 164 2 5 GHz 146 163 164 4 GHz 130 157 162 RF Frequency GHz 1dB compression ADC clipping dBm Gain 1 Gain 2 Gain 3 1 GHz 7 p1dB 24 p1dB 34 clip 2 5 GHz 4 both 31 both 49 clip 4 GHz 3 p1dB 22 p1dB 32 clip 51
49. r From the ADC digitized IF data is handed off to an FPGA where it is packetized The Cypress FX3 peripheral controller streams the packetized data over a USB 3 0 link to the PC where 80 million 14 bit ADC samples per second are processed into a spectrum sweep or I Q data stream 9 Understanding the BB60A Hardware 9 1 Front End Architecture Apu The AC coupled RE input is first attenuated It then passes through pen eve RF Band 1 3 VGA i ed DS a band select filter to reject the f d wi image and out of band responses Gr es aT AS after which it is amplified or 0 31 dB AY gt attenuated before mixing a gain isis mindy gt F setting of 1 or less attenuates the RF At the mixer a local oscillator is injected high side to produce the intermediate frequency IF This IF is either 2 35 GHz or 1 27 GHz depending on band The IF de passes through a SAW filter with approx 60 MHz of bandwidth and is then amplified or attenuated a gain of 0 attenuates the IF The SAW filters were selected to have good rejection 280 MHz from center intermediate Frequency BPF 2 45 GHz ADC Gain ee 7 FPGA To PC USB 3 0 BPF 127 Inside the IF to bits subassembly the IF is mixed to 140 MHz the image 280 MHz away having been filtered out in the previous step filtered to a 20 MHz bandwidth then digitized at 80 MSPS Additional gain may be applied in the IF to bits s
50. r dynamic range and compression when making measurements Gain Gain is used to control the input RF level With this control you can have the gain determined automatically or choose 4 levels of gain Higher gains increase RF levels When gain is set to automatic a best gain is chosen based on reference level Manual gain settings may cause the signal to clip well below the reference level and should be used by experienced BB60 users only 3 2 2 3 Bandwidth Controls Native RBW When Native RBW is enabled the device uses the Nutall window function When disable a custom flat top window function is used The custom flat top window allows all possible RBW values to be set while Nazive RBWs only allow a certain subset of RBWs The flat top window will increase absolute amplitude accuracy RBW This controls the resolution bandwidth RBW For each span a range of RBWs may be used The RBW controls the FFT size and signal processing similar to selecting the IF bandpass filters on an analog spectrum analyzer The selectable bandwidths displayed change whether you want native or non native bandwidths o Native resolution bandwidths are available from below 1 Hz to 10 1 MHz in powers of two Use the arrow buttons to move through the selectable RBWs 12 GETTING STARTED o Non Native resolution bandwidths are available from 10 Hz to 10 MHz in a 1 3 10 sequence e g 1 kHz 3 kHz 10 kHz 30 kHz 100 kHz when using the arrow keys
51. r with a quad core processor one USB 3 0 port and one adjacent USB 2 0 or USB 3 0 port Note RF recording using streaming l Q bandwidths gt 8 MHz requires the computer s mass storage drive to have at least 250MB sec of sustained write speed such as an SSD RAID 0 or RAID 5 41 SPECIFICATIONS Synchronization lt 20 MHz IBW 1 PPS GPS input port enables 50ns time stamping Operating Temperature 32 F to 149 0 C to 65 C Standard 40 F to 149 F 40 C to 65 C for Option 1 Weight Net 1 10 lbs 0 50 kg Size 8 63 x 3 19 x 1 19 219mm x 81mm x 30mm Power one USB 3 0 port and one adjacent USB 2 0 or USB 3 0 port Control and Communication USB 3 0 serial bus DANL Residual Responses Spurious Mixer Responses and Phase Noise specifications apply only at 20 C to 25 C Typical variations over the analyzer s operating temperature from the specifications at 20 C to 25 C are published in Appendix Typical Performance Characteristics of the BB60C 42 SPECIFICATIONS 12 1 Typical BB60C Intermodulation Performance Two tone IP2 and IP3 plotted IP2 shown is high side two tone IP2 IP3 shown is the average between high side and low side two tone IP3 Equal amplitude tones at fl and f2 spaced 4 MHz Single typical device plotted gain and attenuator auto Note P2 and IP3 may vary significantly from device to device IP3 dBm Typical Two Tone IP3 vs Frequency at Specified Reference Level Nh
52. re siennes 50 15 1 3 4 Residual Signals over Temperature ooooconoccnocnnocncoonnconnnonnncnnnonnnnnnno 15 2 TYPICAL PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BB60A OVERVIEW 1 Overview This document outlines the operation and functionality of the BB60C and BBOOA Signal Hound spectrum analyzers This document will guide you through the setup and operation of the software You can use this document to learn what types of measurements the BB60 is capable of how to perform these measurements with the software and configure the software 1 1 What s New Version 2 0 0 With the release of the BB60C we have fully updated our Signal Hound BB60 software and API Both the API and software interface will now work with both the BB60A and BB60C 2 Preparation The BB6O is a real time high speed spectrum analyzer communicating with your PC over a USB 3 0 Super Speed link It has 20 MHz of real time bandwidth tunes from 9 kHz to 6 GHz collects 80 million samples per second and streams data to your computer at 140 MB sec By adding a high speed hard BB60C 9 kHz to 6 GHz Real Time Spectrum Analyzer RF Recorder Signal Howine Signaltiound com anna a no Ste a drive to your PC or laptop 250 MB s sustained write speed the BB60A doubles as an RF recorder streaming all 80 million samples per second to disk 2 1 Initial Inspection Check your package for shipping damage before opening Your box should contain a USB 3 0 Y
53. s narrower RBWs are recommended For maximum sensitivity a reference level of 50 dBm or lower is recommended This will set your attenuator to a minimum and set the internal gain to a maximum When your detector is set to average this is the equivalent to setting the minimum VBW for your current setup This will have the lowest peak to peak noise floor but will also average intermittent signals Set your VBW to auto and your detector to MIN MAX or MAX to measure pulsed or intermittent signals For making average power measurements make sure your detector is set to average and power If the signal is modulated either set your RBW wider than your modulation or center the signal and use the channel power utility 6 Additional Features The BB60 software has a number of useful utilities They are described here 6 1 Printing Using the File gt Print menu you can print exactly what is shown on the graticule Be careful if the software is still updating traces you may not print the trace you wanted Use the print preview option to see exactly what you will be printing Tip The active color scheme is used for printing as well Under the View Colors menu we provide a simple printer friendly color scheme to help you save ink PS s 29 ADDITIONAL FEATURES 6 2 Saving Images Using the File Save to Image menu option you can save the current graticule view as a PNG image The resulting res
54. s anne en ao tele es dense Dante ele iaaa dEn 41 12 1 TYPICAL BB60C INTERMODULATION PERFORMANCE sssceccccceesssescecececeenssescecececeeusneececeseceeusneececesecsensneeceeeseauensneeceeeseauanenens 43 13 BBGOA SPECIFICATIONS siorse eiciia E TEREE RE EE RA 44 TSE REQUENCY PP NI 44 13 2 SWEEP RATE net eme de a E dure 44 13 3 AMPLITUDE RBW lt 100KHZ IF AUTO CAL ON ccccccccsesccceessceecesssececsseeceesaeeecessececsssseceesaeeecesssececssseeceesseeecsesseceeseseeeees 44 13 4 SPECTRAL PURITY 13S TIMING tt 13 6 ENVIRONMENTAL 14 WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER cscsseccesscccccscocnsessscectececuess deccesscceuscveetescectocavecstesetecodenssedesecesegnsusevecsousesaguesdscoestesestesee 46 ARRAN TV a a ao oan Ge da En E Meek e gre e etc ea uns O e Ogre 46 TA 2 WARRANTY SERVICES E EE E EE E EE cence ia A 46 14 3 LIMITATION OF WARRANTY Os 46 14 4 EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES 46 LAS CERTIFICATION 2203 ane rare TN A A ee Le NN desde R Rd ne PA AG Or E 46 14 6 CREDIT NOTICE ee Fees ei A ne een TN ee 47 TS APPENDIX Sr NN 48 15 1 TYPICAL PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BB60C oes 15 1 1 Typical Amplitude ACCUFACY rss reste nent ne AA de E da a T f es ed ds dente 15 1 2 Typical Displayed Average Noise Level inner 15 1 3 Typical Performance over Temperature inner 15 1 3 1 Spurious Mixer R Sponses tin Re eli ie ia 15 1 3 2 Phase Noise 2 5 finie E nn rte A eee 15 1 3 3 Displayed Average Noise Level Change over Temperatu
55. s subject to change without notice Test Equipment Plus makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material including but not limited to the implied warranties or merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose Signal Hound shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing performance or use of this material This Signal Hound product has a warranty against defects in material and workmanship for a period of two years from date of shipment During the warranty period Signal Hound will at its option either repair or replace products that prove to be defective 14 2 Warranty Service For warranty service or repair this product must be returned to Signal Hound The Buyer shall pay shipping charges to Signal Hound and Signal Hound shall pay UPS Ground or equivalent shipping charges to return the product to the Buyer However the Buyer shall pay all shipping charges duties and taxes to and from Signal Hound for products returned from another country 14 3 Limitation of Warranty The foregoing warranty shall not apply to defects resulting from improper use by the Buyer Buyer supplied software or interfacing unauthorized modification or misuse operation outside of the environmental specifications for the product No other warranty is expressed or implied Signal Hound specifically disclaims the implied warranties or merchantability and fitness f
56. sssvess 23 5 1 MEASURING FREQUENCY AND AMPLITUDE ssssesececececcesesesccceceaesusesceceeeaeeueececeeeceaauseseececessaueasseecesecsaueuseseseeeesaaeneeceseseaqags 23 5 1 1 USING MO rss A A etaient a a tite 23 5 D2 USING the DENG MOK OD sien dents ie estic iaa canada daa vse etienne dde re dan eds sed dede ca beaten diseases 23 5 1 3 Measuring Low Level Signal Snine siiani e inner 23 5 2 SAVING SESSIONS 23 5 3 1 Q CAPTURES esse 24 5 4 CAPTURING SIGNALS OF INTEREST 24 5 5 ESA NN 25 5 6 MODULATION ANALYSIS 2e re E A A Shed eds ester Adi bis 26 5 7 USING THE MEASURING RECEIVER UTILITY ccccccessesesaecececesssseeesecececseeeeeseeececsesseaeseeececeeseeaeseeeesceeseauseeeeeseeesesasaeseeseeeseaaaaeees 27 2 7 1 Measurement Proc dures A dade lobes said dede TR sd d s eds 28 5 8 TIPS FOR BETTERI MEASUREMENTS et en le sets A nn ee it 28 6 ADDITIONAL FEATURES 22552 c6c5 0scccnsscssceicesconadveviscedcosdnseddeesorcieoudosssdeocecedveedetesirecocedvoedsseducecoteivavioceddcesndedeessonctuendveticers 29 OT PRINTING Ren e A DT en TR Red de en SEA ETS hens RMS ER L ETS Ed de en nr de EST evestdeddndes 29 6 2 SAVING IMAGES rare ri cn mr N O dns te teste ete r een ta ten seen erica are ete 30 6 3 IMPORTING PATH LOSS AND LIMIT LINE TABLES ccccccccccccccccecececececeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeseesesseseeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeseeeeeeeeeeses 30 6 4 AUDIO PLAYER 7 DISPLAY MODES fossesavcbsssscccassvececbiseesacesieoss
57. tions and features of your Signal Hound Spectrum Analyzer Launching the BB60 software brings up the Graphical User Interface GUI This section describes the GUI in detail and how you can use the GUI to control the BB6O Below is an image of the software on startup You are launched directly into full span To learn more about the operation of the BB60 and the shape of the noise floor see the section Understanding the BB60 Hardware particularly the sub section Dynamic Range ap a 5 aN boo i E gt File Em Presets Semngs Analysis Mode Utiles Help Menu Bar Hoces and markers Specrogam OF C Persistence Gear Single Trig Continuous MIC iL Ref 30 000 dBm RBW 300 0000000 kHz 1 VBW 300 0000000 kHz Fer Trae one Div 10 0 Atten Auto Sweep Toolbar Span j Tree Clear amp Vete aix color MM o o Update a 60000600 Ger To Front Clase Step 20 0000000 the Export Ciex At Full Span Zero Span makers 00 4 cine Maree one Ret a y 22000 den Place On Trace One Ow eee 10000 e Update a Ca pu o Gain Active B sen A o ARAN Peak Search Delta Tooner Re 7000 panee Peaken Peak Rint nae RE o REW a 300 0000000 kHz 2 Offsets vow a y 4 Chace Power 4 masten man 20 0000000 MHz Vi eo Units Power Sprong 20 0000000 Mb Detector Average Enatied o f Sup Time 1000 ms gt l Control ee Panel C Graticule 130 Start 11 0000000 MHz Center 3 0055000 GHz Stop 6 0000000 GHz Playback Span
58. treaming the IF frequency with no time gaps Having no time gaps is critical for measurements and tests requiring high probability of intercept POI See the section below Real Time Spectrum Analysis for a more in depth discussion of the BB60 capabilities The BB60 offers multiple modes of operation Most of these are exposed in the software and others can be exposed through our C based API We will only cover those in our software here 4 1 Swept Analysis This mode of operation is the mode which is commonly associated with spectrum analyzers Through the software you will configure the device and request the device perform a single sweep across your desired span Since the BB60 has an instantaneous bandwidth of 20MHz spans larger than 20MHz are the result of acquiring multiple 20MHz patches and concatenating the results of the FFT processing on each of these IFs The processing performed on each 20MHz patch is determined by the settines provided Each time a trace is returned the device waits until the next trace request For you the software user you can choose to continuously retrieve traces or manually request them one at a time with the Single and Continuous buttons found on the Sweep Toolbar 20 MODES OF OPERATION 4 2 Real Time Spectrum Analysis One of the issues with the standard sweep mode is the blind time between each trace Blind time refers to the time between spectrum sampling During this time we are processing the
59. ubassembly when gain is set to 3 9 2 Spurious Signals A spurious signal appears as a function of an input signal These include signals from intermodulation image responses local oscillator spurs and ADC aliasing Spurious signals from intermodulation can be controlled by limiting the amount of power into a mixer or amplifier Decreasing the power by 10 dB will often reduce intermodulation products by 20 or 30 dB 36 UNDERSTANDING THE BB60A HARDWARE One source of image related spurious signals comes from the image from the first mixer These are usually far from the signal of interest and very low in amplitude especially below 2 GHz but may be something like 40 dBc in small areas of the upper bands These spurs will be rejected using the software spur reject Another source of spurs occurs when LO1 exceeds 4 4 GHz The LO is doubled in this case introducing spurs from the LO subharmonic This is especially noticeable when you are sweeping across 5 7 GHz as a signal injected at 4 GHz will create a false spur which may be something like 28 dBc from the actual signal These spurs will be rejected using the software spur reject Other spurs may occur 280 MHz below the actual signal from the IF filter rejection These are usually quite low Finally some spurs are introduced during the final mixing and digitizing Anything not rejected by the final 140 MHz may be aliased into the data specifically signals 30 50 MHz above
60. ures Audio Player for more information Measuring Receiever Enables the measuring receiever utility See Taking Measurements Using the Measuring Receiver Utility for more information 3 5 8 Help About Display the software and API version 3 6 Preferences The preferences menu can be found under Edit Menu Preferences The preferences menu contains a collection of settings to further configure the BB60 software Trace Width Determines to overall width of the trace being drawn on the graticule Graticule Width Determines the width of the lines that make up the graticule Graticule Dotted Set whether the non border graticule lines are dotted or solid Colors Control the colors of various software features Sweep Delay Set a delay which occurs after each device sweep This delay can be used to artificially slow down the rate of sweeps which can reduce overall processor usage and increase the length of time a recording covets Real Time Accumulation Determines how often a sweep is returned from the device operating in Real Time mode A lower value increases overall resolution of events in Real Time mode but increases processing significantly Not all PCs will be capable of handling the lowest setting Recommended values range from 16 32ms To learn more about Real Time mode see Modes of Operation Real Time Spectral Analysis Playback Sweep Delay Set how fast the sweeps are played back from a recorded sweep f

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