Understanding and Testing Multi-Channel RF Systems with Signal Generators Part 1

Most wireless systems, whether in commercial applications, or aerospace and defense, employ multi-antenna techniques. These techniques include antenna diversity, MIMO (multi-input, multi-output) spatial multiplexing, beamforming, or phased-array radar. Engineers use multi-antenna techniques to achieve diversity, multiplexing, or antenna gains. Wireless systems can increase a receiver’s data throughput and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) through these gains.However, as the number of antennas grows, test complexity also increases.

As a result, it is necessary to generate multiple RF channels for receiver testing and to analyze multiple RF channels for transmitter testing. Generating and analyzing multiple synchronized RF signals are potentially challenging. This whitepaper discusses test signal requirements for the evaluation of multi-channel RF systems and how to configure instruments for these test requirements.