Signal generators aim to eliminate field tests
ProductFebruary 21, 2012
Alice Moss
Military Embedded Systems
With the DoD tightening its belt and expecting suppliers to absorb many development costs these days, products like Rohde & Schwarz's R&S SMU200A signal generator topped with the company's R&S SMU-K77 signal generator - really come in handy.
With the DoD tightening its belt and expecting suppliers to absorb many development costs these days, products like Rohde & Schwarz’s R&S SMU200A signal generator topped with the company’s R&S SMU-K77 signal generator “option” really come in handy. The main benefit, the company says, is that through the Dynamic Scenario Simulation the combination of generators performs, military radio comms performance can be validated – minus the costly flight tests in the field. Keeping the simulation indoors, the generator combination helps engineers see whether their comms equipment is up to par in harsh environmental conditions and factors in things like multipath signal propagation and dynamic fading.
The provided simulation ability encompasses the signal behavior of transmissions, and the R&S SMU-K77 simplifies this by giving users a list of predefined comms standards to choose from. Users can also create their own defined data lists and customize the modulation scheme. But it all goes back to root functionality of the generators. The R&S SMU200A can simulate a radio channel and also generate interferers and the desired waveform. It also supports high Doppler speeds. Meanwhile, the R&S SMU-K77 sticks to the task at hand primarily – simulations – of trajectory and vehicles, at-sea ship maneuvers, and tower-to-aircraft mode scenarios.
