Anritsu Drives Innovation with Expanded Waveguide Mixer Series Product Line

Driving next level of innovation, Anritsu Corporation has unveiled its new High Performance Waveguide Mixer MA2806A (50 to 75 GHz) to expand millimeter-wave measurement solutions supported by the company’s Signal Analyzer MS2830A.

Connecting the new MA2806A to Anritsu’s Signal Analyzer MS2830A supports spectrum measurements in the 50-GHz to 75-GHz band (V-band) currently used by various millimeter-wave sensors, WiGig Gigabit Wireless LAN(802.11ad), and broadcast video camera streaming equipment, but expected to see future increasing demand.

The MA2806A is targeted at development and manufacturing of devices and antennas for these types of equipment.

Adoption of the millimeter-wave band is increasing the need for new instruments supporting accurate and high-sensitivity measurements of wider-band signals. By supporting spectrum measurements of wideband modulation signals in the millimeter-wave band with easy-to-use and wide-dynamic range systems, Anritsu expects to play a key role in development of technologies using the millimeter-wave band.

Supporting Millimeter Wave

Because the millimeter-wave band can use wider bandwidths, not only is it being used for HD video streaming at sports events and in broadcast studios as well as for WLAN applications using WiGig (802.11ad), it is also seeing increasing use for human detection and automotive sensing applications.

Evaluation of the spectrum of millimeter-wave band ultra-wideband signals used by WiGig (802.11ad) requires solutions to measure the characteristics of the transmission easily and accurately. Conventional harmonic mixers used for this task suffer from large conversion loss as well as image responses where a non-existent ghost signal is displayed.

Anritsu developed the High Performance Waveguide Mixer MA2806A to solve these problems. It supports accurate and high-sensitivity measurements of wireless communications infrastructure and equipment using wideband millimeter-wave signals.

The Signal Analyzer MS2830A is a test platform for developing and manufacturing of various wireless communications equipment and electronic devices. The product line has five models with different upper frequency limits (MS2830A-040: 3.6 GHz; MS2830A-041: 6 GHz; MS2830A-043: 13.5 GHz; MS2830A-044: 26.5 GHz; and MS2830A-045: 43 GHz).

The newly released MA2806A can be connected to either the MS2830A-044 or -045 models to support high-sensitivity, etc., spectrum mask measurements of V-band (50 GHz to 75 GHz) wideband wireless communications systems and equipment.

Key Features

■ Excellent P1dB and Minimum Sensitivity Performance
When used in combination with the MS2830A-044/045, the MA2806A has a P1dB*2 performance of better than 0 dB as well as a minimum sensitivity performance of150 dBm/Hz (meas)* along with the world’s best-of-class wide dynamic range. As a result, it can measure extremely weak signals not found by conventional measurement systems for design and inspection of millimeter-wave wireless equipment at even higher levels.

■ No Image Response
Combining the MA2806A with the MS2830A designed for a high IF of 1.875 GHz supports spectrum mask measurements of 1-GHz bandwidth signals without image response effects. Additionally, measurements can be expanded up to the 7.5-GHz bandwidth by using the newly developed PS function (patent pending).

■ Simple Measurement System
Conventionally, a down-converter is used when high-sensitivity measurement is required in the millimeter-wave band. However, this requires provision of separate mixers, spectrum analyzers, expensive microwave signal generators, multipliers and other equipment, each of which must be connected and controlled correctly. These legacy methods require the user to have high-level technical skills, hindering use by novice and unskilled operators. In contrast, a millimeter-wave spectrum measurement system is easily configured using just the MA2806A and MS2830A for simple fast measurements.

■ Simplified Measurement Procedure
The MA2806A is shipped with a USB memory stick (standard accessory) containing the conversion loss correction data for all frequencies. This data is loaded to the MS2830A with a simple button operation to perform auto-correction for each measured frequency.

Target Markets and Applications

■Target Markets: WiGig (802.11ad) wireless module vendors, compliance testing organizations, wireless backhaul equipment makers, microwave/millimeter-wave communications RF component and module makers
■Applications: Development, manufacturing and QA of microwave and millimeter-wave wireless infrastructure and equipment