How to adjust the power gain of PXI5610(independent of PXI5421)

[david uang]

Hi all,
 
    I am using PXI5610(upconverter) together with my PCI5640R IF transceiver board to generate RF signal.
    The guide given in the help of PXI RFSG (5671) says that the software configures together PXI5610 and PXI5421 to get a desired RF signal power level. However, I only use PXI5610 in my set up and I need to configure the gain of PXI5610 independently.
    Could anyone please lend me some help on how to configure the gain in Labview? or some hints?

dayu

[Yardov]

Hello Dayu,

There is an example installed with the NI-RFSG driver called "Upconvert Only Mode.vi" that shows what VIs to use when using the 5610 by it's own.
Hope this helps you to be up and running, if not, please explain in detail what parameters you would like to manipulate.

[david uang]

Hi, Gerardo

  Thank you. This is exactly what I was trying to do.
  Is there a similar vi for the PXI 5600? I wrote one myself and it works ok. But a standard one would help.
  Thank you.

Dayu

[Yardov]

Hi Dayu,

There is no standard example for the 5600 side. You can post yours and I can revise it but seems to me that you did it correctly since its working.
Thank you,

[Brian_Esque]

What are the maximum allowable output power settings in this configuration (5640R and 5610?)? The 5670 specs indicate +10, but specify amplitude accuracy as 0.15 dBm per dB above 10 dBM.  I also have been able to drive the output to +27 dBm in a bursted application without errors. The amplitude accuracy is degraded, and I suspect spurious output is quite high. The 5610 specs indicate that it depends on the unit, but what is the hard limit.

What are the output damage levels of the PXI 5610?

Thanks,

BCE

[Yardov]

Hi BCE,
You should consider a power amplifier if you want to work linearly in this region.
If you look at the 5640R specifications you will notice the output power to be -4 dBm (more if you control it on LabVIEW FPGA). Then, if you look at the 5610 specifications, which are actually 567x specifications, you will find that the resolution is 1 dB (sub 1 dB is done in the AWG) and for maximum output power you should look at the 1 dB compression point which is 16 dB (below 2 GHz). You may achieve more but notice you are working on the non linear region and for each extra dB here, your 3rd order harmonics will rise three dB.