Pasternack Blog

Software Defined Radios (SDRs) were once a poorly understood niche device, and have essentially overtaken the architecture of most radio devices, superseding hardware defined radios (HDRs). Most common types of modern test equipment have some form of SDR capability, meaning that at least some of their physical-layer functions are determined by software instead of hardware. ..

Many types of RF test equipment are designed specifically to be used in high accuracy and repeatability test bench applications. These instruments include many spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, signal generators, oscilloscopes, though there are certainly portable and headless (PC-driven) varieties of this equipment out there. However, for technicians and installers, the broad capabilities, complexity, and ..

Unlike spectrum analyzers of the past, modern signal analyzers provide additional phase (time) information that can be used for much more expansive analysis than a power sweep across frequency. Though modern signal analyzers are often still called spectrum analyzers, the capability of signal analyzers includes many features beyond what a spectrum analyzer can perform. For ..

Spectrum Analyzers are one of the essential RF test and measurement instruments, alongside network analyzers, oscilloscopes, and signal generators. Spectrum Analyzers are one of the most versatile RF test instruments, and are used as dedicated laboratory equipment, integrated within larger RF test assemblies, part of mobile RF signal/interference hunting applications, and are even slung over ..