The swept-tuned, superheterodyne spectrum analyzer is the traditional architecture and is best suited for observing controlled, static signals. Spectrum Analyzers can be classified in 3 basic categories in reference to their architecture – Swept Spectrum Analyzers (SA) and Vector Signal Analyzers (VSA) and Real-time Spectrum Analyzers (RSA). A real-time spectrum analyzer can help with most modern RF measurement challenges, like: discovery of rare, short deration events seeing weak signals masked by stronger ones observing signals masked by noise, finding and analyzing transient and dynamic signals capturing burst transmissions, glitches, switching transients, to just name a few. One such measurement tool that’s evolved to keep up is the Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer. To overcome evolving challenges, it is crucial for today’s engineers and scientists to be able to reliably detect and characterize RF signals that change over time, something not easily done with traditional measurement tools. The Real-time Spectrum Analyzer (RSA) is an instrument that can discover elusive effects in RF signals, trigger on those effects, seamlessly capture them into memory, and analyze them in the frequency, time, modulation, statistical and code domains.Īs RF signals have become ubiquitous in the modern world, so too have problems with interference between the devices that generate them. To overcome these evolving challenges, it is crucial for today’s engineers and scientists to be able to reliably detect and characterize RF signals that change over time, something not easily done with traditional measurement tools. This is often not enough information to confidently describe the dynamic nature of modern RF signals. Traditional tools like Swept Spectrum Analyzers (SA) and Vector Signal Analyzers (VSA) provide snapshots of the signal in the frequency domain or the modulation domain.

Given the challenge of characterizing the behavior of today’s RF devices, it is necessary to understand how frequency, amplitude, and modulation parameters behave over short and long intervals of time. The primary use is to measure the power of the spectrum of known and unknown signals. A spectrum / signal analyzer measures the magnitude of an input signal versus frequency within the full frequency range of the instrument.

Spectrum network analyzer