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Power Calibration with Copper Mountain Technologies VNAs - Quick Start Guide

September 1, 2020

Quick Start Guide

Performing amplifier, mixer, or other sensitive DUT measurements accurately and correctly depends on proper setup and appropriate calibration. Power calibration using power sensors at the DUT calibration plane ensures precise results.

Copper Mountain Technologies VNAs support the following external power sensors:

Selecting Appropriate Power Sensor

To select the power meter: System > Misc Setup > Power Meter

NI USB-568x requires Com port setting. R&S NRVS power meter requires GPIB address settings. These settings are configured after choosing the power meter.

 

Checking Power Sensor Connection

To check the power meter connection: System > Misc Setup > Check Connection

 

Power Calibration

After connecting the sensor to one of the ports:  Calibration > Power Calibration > Select Port

To zero power meter: Calibration > Power Calibration > Power Sensor Zero Correction

Power meter sensor can be connected to the port, as during zero setting the output signal of the port is turned off.

To execute power calibration: Calibration > Power Calibration > Take Cal Sweep

After the power calibration is complete, power correction automatically turns on.

To enable/disable power correction: Calibration > Power Calibration > Correction

 

Loss Compensation Table

The loss compensation function allows the user to apply compensation for unwanted losses produced between the power meter and the calibrated port in the process of power calibration. To have the losses compensated the Loss Compensation function needs to be enabled and table would have to be filled out. Linear interpolation will be applied to the losses in the intermediary frequency points. The loss compensation table is defined for each port individually.

Calibration > Power Calibration > Loss Compen – ON 

To enable the loss compensation function: Calibration > Power Calibration > Loss Compen > Compensation

To add a new row to the loss compensation table: Calibration > Power Calibration > Loss Compen > Add

To delete highlighted row: Calibration > Power Calibration > Loss Compen > Delete

To clear the table: Calibration > Power Calibration > Loss Compen > Clear Loss Table

To save the table into a *.lct file: Calibration > Power Calibration > Loss Compen > Export Loss Table

To open the table from a *.lct file from the hard: Calibration > Power Calibration > Loss Compen > Import Loss Table