A Compact Instrument for RF Measurements of Pulsed TWTs

Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, Indiana, USA, 47522 bryan .mitsdarffer@navy.mil
Polyphase Microwave Bloomington, Indiana, USA, 47404

K. Bryan Mitsdarffer

Lowell R. Hoover

hoover@polyphasemicrowave.com
Abstract: The development of a new and compact instrument for the measurement of pulsed high-power amplifiers in-system is reported. The instrument incorporates dual wideband receivers, dual 400 MSamples/S 12-bit digitizers, and a CompactPCI optical bridge. This paper discusses the instrument hardware implementation, integration into a target system, and representative AM/PM noise measurements of a pulsed
TWT

Computer
,

DCR2080

Bridge

cPCI

M Bus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MXI

Optical

Dual 400 MSamples/S 12-bit Digitizers

Keywords: phase noise; AM noise; TWT measurement; HPA; pulse jitter; intrapulse noise; transmitter measurement.
Introduction The full RF characterization of pulsed high-power amplifiers (HPAs) is a critical requirement in the development of modem radar and communication systems. For the system designer it is often desirable to measure HPAs in-system using actual operating waveforms. NSWC Crane has developed the DCR2080 as a onebox solution to the HPA measurement problem. Using previously reported measurement techniques [1], the DCR2080 performs a variety of automated in-system measurements in CW or pulsed mode:
* * * * *

Wideband Receiver 1

Wideband Receiver 2

Offset
LO

Reference

RF Input

RF Inpul

Signal

Waveform
HPA

RF

Figure 1.

DCR2080 Measurement System

The offset local

Insertion Gain/Phase AM-AM and AM-PM Conversion Residual Phase Noise AM Noise RF Jitter and Pulse-to-Pulse Stability

modulator and a PLXO. A tunable synthesizer is not required to phase lock with the HPA's input signal as with pulsed vector network analyzers. Maximum frequency agility is also achieved since phase locking to the input signal is not required. Dual wideband receivers downconvert the Reference and Signal channels to a fixed IF frequency. The IF signals are then lowpass filtered and sampled by dual 400 MSamples/S 12-bit digitizers. A 2-slot 6U CompactPCI chassis contains the dual digitizer dat is an optical oa xenlcmue Di itze card and trnfre MXI bus interface card. Digitized data iS transferred to an external computer g thoganpiclfbr The DCR2080 covers the 2 to 8 GHz RE band and has an IF bandwidth of 30 MHz. The prototype instrument

automatically generated using

oscillator used for downconversion is

a

single-sideband

The HPA's complex response is measured in real-time as it operates in the target system's transmitter. Frequency agility, changing PRFs, and complex digital modulations are all compatible with the DCR2080.

tion instrument installed A simplified block diagram of the instrument installed of in a typical target system is shown in Figure 1. The HPA's input and output RE signals are sampled using directional couplers and routed to the instrument's Reference and Signal input ports.
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5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0
10.0

Z -130

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15

-1600

Time (,uS)

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Figure 2. Demodulated Signal Voltage vs. Time

is constructed in a standard 4U 19" rackmount enclosure.

Offset Frequency(MHz)

Figure 4. TWT AM Noise

-90

Measurement Software
A LabVIEWM program performs the digital signal processing and user interface tasks on an external computer. Time-domain digital data is first digitally filtered and then demodulated to baseband I and Q digital signals. Digital demodulation avoids the errors caused by analog demodulators such as I/Q amplitude imbalance and quadrature phase error. The resulting I and Q waveforms are finally processed and the measurement results displayed. Raw data and measurement plots can be saved to a file for further analysis. A prototype DCR2080 is currently used in an automated test system at NSWC Crane to measure the performance of 10 kW TWTs. The instrument is capable of measuring the TWT's complex 2-port response (insertion gain/phase) and pulsed AM/PM

I -100 m -110, 10 -130m -150

co

-140

-160

3 4 5 6 7 8 Offset Frequency (MHz)

9 10

Figure 5. TWT Residual PM Noise

I and Q waveforms were processed to obtain the TWT's pulsed AM and residual PM noise. Figures 4 and 5 give the measured Intrapulse Noise of the TWT when averaged over 256 consecutive pulses. The TWT's residual phase noise exhibits coherent modulation sidebands at 600 kHz and 1.8 MHz offsets. AM and residual PM Intrapulse Noise can be measured using frequency-agile transmitter waveforms and phase coding of pulses.
Conclusion NSWC Crane has demonstrated a new instrument that greatly simplifies in-system RF measurements of HPAs. The instrument's AM and PM measurement noise floor

Pulsed TWT Measurements

noise simultaneously. Figures 2 and 3 show the demodulated digital I and Q waveforms measured during a 5 [S window on a 7 [[ RF pulse. Figure 2 shows excellent TWT amplitude stability while Figure 3 indicates slight TWT phase-pushing in the first half of the pulse.

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is approximately -140 dBc/Hz at 5 MHz offset from a

References 1. Mitsdarffer, K. B., Hoover, L. R., and Thelen, D., "Improved Technique to Measure Phase and Noise of Pulsed TWTs", Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE International Vacuum Electronics Conf., 180-181,

0.00 -0.01-

-0.03 0.o
5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 Time (gS)

-0.05

9.0

10.0

Figure 3. Demodulated Q Signal Voltage vs. Time

April 2004.