At the EuMW 2014, Mesuro with support from National Instruments is demonstrating a load pull set up that uses a traditional passive tuner for fundamental tuning and adds the RAPID PXI digital tuner to provide a high speed harmonic tuning capability. The demonstration and launch of this expanded capability is designed to provide additional test data for device characterization customers, whilst improving test time and maximising utilization of existing capital equipment.
The solution uses an ultra low loss diplexer to add the 2nd Harmonic signal to be presented to the device under test, maximising the gamma available at the fundamental frequency provided by the passive tuner. The demonstration shows how a simple external up/down conversion process can be employed with the RAPID concept, allowing for measurements to be performed at higher frequencies than that offered directly through the PXI hardware. This architecture offers huge potential benefits to existing device characterization test customers. The high speed nature of the PXI platform is demonstrated further with 100 second harmonic load points being measured for a single fundamental load in <5 seconds, >20 measurements per second. With this joint demonstration National Instruments continues to support the load pull / nonlinear community and the RF marketplace.
