Averna highlights PIM system at IMS 2016
San Francisco, CA. Averna at IMS 2016 highlighted a new passive intermodulation test system, which, said Charles D. Jobbers, regional engineering manager, enables high-dynamic-range PIM measurements by harnessing lightning-fast PXIe instrument speeds coupled with digital predistortion power-amplifier linearization.
The system exhibits better than 180 dBc of dynamic range* when measured with two 43-dBm/tone signals.
The system is built on National Instruments PXIe hardware enabling more than 100 measurements per second. It incorporates a single GaN power amplifier along with an RF signal generator. The reconfigurable architecture allows users to provide their own duplexer.
The PIM system—which can measure distance to PIM and PIM vs. time and can make swept PIM measurements)—targets production test of radio base station filters, cables, couplers, terminations, and antennas. When not measuring PIM, the system can be reconfigured via front-panel jumpers to serve as a standalone vector signal generator and analyzer.
*Update 7/13: The original post misstated the dynamic range. We apologize for the error.