amplifier test if saturated in 61000-4-3 and 4-6

[radiuser]

Hi,

concerning the substitution test in 61000-4-3 and 4-6 is it necessary to check it manually(3.1 - 5.1dB) if the amplifier is saturated or not?
In chapter 12 (Calibration) I found the following, see pic.

calibration 61000-4-3.jpg (356.43 KiB) Viewed 17431 times

So I assume Radimation uses the "final calibration result file" method in 4-3 and 4-6 achieving that the amplifier isn't saturated. Is this correct?

Currently I've added a protection file (1dB compressionspoint) for each amplifier. I got this directly from AR.
Is this necessary/useful or not in this case?


Thanks


Regards
Juergen

[Lüder]

Hi Jürgen,

I am also not sure what radimation is doing, but you chose the calibration level (not radimation) so you can do the first option. I guess you want 10V/m, calibrate 18V/m and test (18 / 1.8 = 10) 10V/m, more save is after calibrating 18V/m run a test with 10V/m and compare signal generator level and measured forward power (should be 5.1 dB both) I had this test automatically in BAT-EMC but have not found it in Radimation till now.

Best regards from Basel
Lüder

[radiuser]

Hi Lüder,

thank you for answering.
I saw that you're from Basel.
Is it possible that I can contact you directly by phone or email?

give me feedback, thanks

Best Regards from Graz
Juergen

[joro]

Hello Juergen en Lüder,

In version 2015.2.4 of RadiMation the amplifier saturation test is not automatically performed. The part of the manual that was shown in the first post, just specifies that a verification of the amplifier should be done to ensure that the amplifier is not saturated too much.
As already described and suggested by Lüder, we also suggest to perform another test to determine the saturation after the calibration has been performed. This additional test can be performed automatically using RadiMation. If a 10 V/m setup is calibrated, it is best to perofrm the calibration on 18 V/m, and afterwards perform a test on substitution test without modulation on 10 V/m. Then the signal power and the forward power of the calibration can be compared with the signal power and forward power of the substitution test, and should be around 5.1 dB.
More details regarding this verification using the RadiMation software can be found on another post of our forum: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=19&p=37#p37

Another possibility is to use the 1 dB compression point of the amplifier. RadiMation is able to limit the power of the amplifier to the 1 dB compression point, by activating the amplifier protection and specifying the corresponding 1 dB compression point values to the amplifier. It is also good practice to use the 1 dB compression point limitation of the amplifier to prevent that the amplifier will be broken caused by driving it for too much power.

The method that is described above is an additional test that requires some manual calculation of the measurement data in an Excel Sheet.
In the upcoming 2015.3.1 release of RadiMation we will include a fully automated test to perform the amplifier saturation check (also know as the amplifier linearity test). For this amplifier saturation check, you only have to select the calibration file that was generated, and RadiMation will then perform an automated test of the 5.1 dB lower power levels. The result of the difference in the forward power will then be plotted in a graph, including the 5.1 and 3.1 lines.
This same automated test for the amplifier saturation check can also be used for the 61000-4-3 standard.

I hope that this clarifies your questions. Otherwise, please let us know.
With best regards,

John

[radiuser]

Hi John,

thank you for your well described answering to my question.

At the moment I use the amplifier protection as you know I've got an excel-file directly from AR where all the relevant data is in.
e.g. 1dB, 3dB compression line, linearity line and so on.
currently I've added the 1dB file in Radimation to limit the Forward power.

when will be the Release date for the 2015.3.1?
this new feature where Radimation does the saturation check is quite good.

thanks a lot.

Regards
Juergen

[joro]

Hello Juergen,

I hope that the beta-release of the 2015.3.1 version will be available later this week. We are currently running verification tests on it.

With best regards,
John

[radiuser]

Hello John,

thank you.
I think in January i will then upgrade to the new version and test this feature.

thank you.

Regards
Juergen

[Lüder]

Hi Radiuser

I am a "radiuser" as well so feel free to ask per mail lueder.bosse@flowtec.endress.com

Best regards
Lüder

[joro]

In RadiMation 2015.3.1 a completely automated test for the amplifier linearity as described by the EN 61000-4-3 is implemented.
See the following link for a detailed description. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=525