RF Player & Signal Generator
Our software defined RF Signal Generator and Player is a state-of-the-art RF signal source that utilizes our signal generation toolkits and signal libraries to generate and impair common Navigation and Broadcast Radio signals for receiver design validation, testing, production and support. The player supports RF playback of real-world conditions, which are often too complex to simulate and in this way need to be captured with the RF Record field instrument.
For validation of software protocol stacks, demodulator designs and embedded software, RF signal generation provides a predictable and repeatable method to create test signals and scenarios to ensure greater test coverage.
Going beyond simple commercial broadcast transmitters, the signal generator and its toolkits enable the addition and fine adjustment of common impairments to the signal. Programmatically stepping through a sequence of fine adjustments in the levels of power and impairments can quickly characterize the behaviour of the receiver under real world conditions.
When the limits of traditional signal generation have been reached, playback of real-world RF signals without de-modulation or alteration extends testing of RF receivers. Enabling unique, complex field conditions to be accurately played back during the development phase reduces costly trips back in the field to validate each engineering change.
As libraries of RF recordings grow to cover specific end-user reception corner cases, signal playback becomes the tool to improve product quality by increasing test coverage, while accelerating time-to-market by cutting lengthy field trials.
Real-time signal generation is especially valuable for Tests like HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) and Hass (Highly Accelerated Stress Screen) that run over long periods of time. In those cases, storage limitations can prohibit large enough vectors and looping can introduce adverse effects on statistical based Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT).
Offline Signal Generation with Waveform Playback is a cost effective alternative to real-time signal generation because:
Record & Playback libraries are a cost effective substitute for expensive and time consuming field testing because:
For validation of software protocol stacks, demodulator designs and embedded software, RF signal generation provides a predictable and repeatable method to create test signals and scenarios to ensure greater test coverage.
Going beyond simple commercial broadcast transmitters, the signal generator and its toolkits enable the addition and fine adjustment of common impairments to the signal. Programmatically stepping through a sequence of fine adjustments in the levels of power and impairments can quickly characterize the behaviour of the receiver under real world conditions.
When the limits of traditional signal generation have been reached, playback of real-world RF signals without de-modulation or alteration extends testing of RF receivers. Enabling unique, complex field conditions to be accurately played back during the development phase reduces costly trips back in the field to validate each engineering change.
As libraries of RF recordings grow to cover specific end-user reception corner cases, signal playback becomes the tool to improve product quality by increasing test coverage, while accelerating time-to-market by cutting lengthy field trials.
Real-time signal generation is especially valuable for Tests like HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) and Hass (Highly Accelerated Stress Screen) that run over long periods of time. In those cases, storage limitations can prohibit large enough vectors and looping can introduce adverse effects on statistical based Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT).
Offline Signal Generation with Waveform Playback is a cost effective alternative to real-time signal generation because:
- It provides the greatest level of flexibility in the creation of test signals which allows for the generation of particular test waveforms from transport or elementary streams, such as audio. Easily import specific test patterns that stress a device’s internal software, and its management of the stream.
- It enables the addition of predictable, complex, generated RF noise and channel impairments that can be added to playback libraries to create automated, consistent and repeatable tests for future design iterations.
Record & Playback libraries are a cost effective substitute for expensive and time consuming field testing because:
- You can collect waveforms too complex for simulators to generate, reflecting impairments only found in the real world.
- You can build a custom library of test vectors.
Advantages
- Supports all common Navigation as well as Broadcast Radio protocols covering all functions of the receiver with one tool
- Software-defined instrument to adapt to new and ever-changing protocols without additional spending on new instruments
- Playback of real-world signals recorded with this platform to reproduce real world conditions that are too complex to simulate
- Real-time signal generation for long-running lifecycle tests like HALT and HASS
- Synchronize units to support multiple channels
- Easy to use interface to generate signals quickly and intuitively
- Complete API for remotely automating all instrument controls
- Front-access hot-swappable hard disc drives for maximum convenience
Conclusion
The RF Player and Signal Generator is the ideal tool for cost- and time-effective testing of Navigation and Broadcast Radio receivers under real-world conditions. It is able to generate any desired signal or to playback recorded real world signals and to impose impairments to these signals so that RF systems can be tested in a laboratory under real-world conditions and expensive and time-consuming field trips can be spared.