Technical Data Sheet
Power Meters and Power Sensors
ML2430A CW Power Meter
ML2480B Wideband Power Meter
ML2490A Pulse Power Meter
MA2400A/D & MA24000A Power Sensors
Anritsu Power Meters and Power Sensors: Accurate, Fast, and Affordable.
Introduction
Anritsu offers the world’s most comprehensive range of power meters. The ML2490A series has the performance required
for narrow fast rising-edge pulse power measurements (e.g., radar), while the ML2480B series is suited for Wideband power
measurements on signals such as W-CDMA, WLAN, and WiMAX. The ML2430A series of power meters are designed for
CW applications, offering a combination of accuracy, speed and flexibility in a low cost package.
Also available are seven different families of power sensors with frequency coverage to 50 GHz and dynamic range up to 90
dB. Most of the power sensors can work in either pulsed/modulated or CW mode (the ML2480B/90A series meters offer both
modes). In choosing a power sensor, several factors must be considered, including: frequency range, dynamic range and the
modulation. The rise time of the sensor should also be chosen to match the rise time of the modulation.
The MA24106A power sensor is a highly accurate instrument that communicates with a PC using the Universal Serial Bus
interface (USB). Therefore, the MA24106A is ideal for measuring average (true RMS) power of any signal type or bandwidth,
e.g. CW, multi-tone, and modulated RF waveforms such as 3G, 4G, and OFDM.
The MA24106A power sensor provides lab performance accuracy in a rugged and portable field solution.
PowerMax™ is a free graphical user-interface software, for the ML2480B and ML2490A Power Meter Series.
PowerMax provides an enhanced visualization of instrument display and simplified remote control of the instrument, allowing:
• Continuous view of measurement traces in real-time
• Multiple gates and markers readings displayed at a glance
• Archiving or printing of data and plots for future analysis
PowerMax requirements:
Hardware
PC Processor: 1.5 GHz
Ethernet Interface: 10/100BaseT LAN
Memory: 1 GB RAM or greater
Monitor: 1024 x 768 or greater resolution
Software
Operating System: Windows XP, Service Pack 2 or higher
Browser: E.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1 or higher
PowerSuite
Free software available for ML243xA power meters, to continuously view measurement traces on the PC in real-time, or
archive data and plots for future analysis. PowerSuite runs on a standard PC running Windows® 95 or higher, via GPIB or
RS232.
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Power Meter Specifications
ML2430A Series ML2480B Series ML2490A Series Comments
ML2437A ML2438A ML2487B ML2488B ML2495A ML2496A
Signal Inputs 1 2 1 2 1 2
Frequency range 100 kHz to 65 GHz (sensor dependent)
Dynamic range –70 to +20 dBm (dependent on sensor, external coupler or attenuator) Continuous or Peak
Pulse/Modulated mode
>65 MHz range 7
>38 MHz range 8
>16 MHz range 9
(Repetitive Sampling)
20 MHz (One shot)
Combined B/W (with MA2411B sensor)
>39 MHz range 7
>29 MHz range 8
>12 MHz range 9
MA2411B nominal Bandwidth = 50 MHz
CW mode
17 kHz range 1-4
36 Hz range 5
Auto/Manual
CW Mode
75 kS/s
Pulse/Modulated Mode
31.25 kS/s to 62.5 MS/s Continuous Sampling
(Trigger capture time 3.2 µs to 7s,
200 data points)
1 GS/s Random Repetitive Sampling
(Trigger capture time 50 ns - 3.2 ns,
200 data points)
Conflicts between selected settings and other
instrument settings are indicated through user
warnings (displayed and GPIB)
Nominal Video BW
Sampling rate
Performance
100 kHz (Profile mode)
31.25 kS/s
Pulse/Modulated mode
20 MHz with MA2491A sensor
CW mode
17 kHz ranges 1–4
35 Hz range 5
Auto/Manual
CW Mode
75 kS/s
Pulse/Modulated Mode
31.25 kS/s to 62.5 MS/s
(dependent on trigger capture time)
Conflicts between selected settings and other
instrument settings are indicated through user
warnings (displayed and GPIB)
Accuracy
(Defined by
uncertainty
calculations with
relevant sensor
and source match
conditions)
N/A
N/A 10% to 90% Rise-time measurement of –20 dBm to +20 dBm Peak power (with MA2491A)
N/A ≤3% in linear power at +10 dBm
<0.5%
Equivalent Noise Power
(512 Moving Average)
MA2472D MA2491A MA24002A
Range 1 0.5 µW 2 µW N/A
Range 2 50 nW 100 nW 0.5 nW
Range 3 0.8 nW 2 nW 8 µW
Range 4 0.2 nW 1 nW 2 µW
Range 5 50 pW 0.5 nW 0.5 nW
(CW mode)
Range 7 5 µW 15 µW N/A
Range 8 1 µW 5 µW N/A
Range 9 0.5 µW 2 µW N/A
(Pulse/Modulated mode)
<18 ns
(with MA2411B sensor)
CW Mode
<0.5% (±0.02 dB absolute Accuracy, ±0.04 dB relative Accuracy)
Pulse/Modulated Mode
<0.8% Nominal range 7, 8
Typical 8 ns, Maximum 12 ns
(with MA2411B sensor)
Fall-time typically 11 ns
System rise-time
(10% to 90% at +10 dBm)
Rise-time measurement
dynamic range
Overshoot
(Pulse/Modulated mode)
Instrumentation Accuracy
Equivalent Noise Power
is RSS of Zero Set,
Zero Drift and noise.
Zero Set and Drift is measured over on hour warmup at constant ambient
temperature.
Noise is measured over
five minutes over 512
averaging after one hour
warm up at constant
ambient temperature.
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Power Meter Specifications continued
ML2430A Series ML2480B Series ML2490A Series Comments
ML2437A ML2438A ML2487B ML2488B ML2495A ML2496A
2 2 (CW or Pulse/Modulated measurement modes)
Power vs. Time graphic of readout data
or Profile of Peak power for analysis of
repetitive pulse or transient waveforms
Single channel power sweep or frequency sweep Source sweep
Operation
±5 dB range CW (Readout mode) only Peaking meter
Dynamic range covered by five overlapping
amplifier ranges, R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5
Universal Sensor MA2481/82D ranges 1 to 6
Auto or Manual
(current range or selectable 1 through 5)
0.1 to 0.001 dB
Linear power units, 3 to 6 digit, 1 to 3 digits
selectable to right of decimal nW to W;
Voltage, 1 to 2 digits selectable to right
of decimal
2 (Pulse/Modulated measurement mode)
Pulse modulated mode:
Dynamic range covered by three overlapping amplifier ranges, R7, R8 and R9
CW mode:
Dynamic range covered by five overlapping amplifier ranges, R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5
Universal Sensor MA2481/82D ranges 1 to 6
Automatic or manual. When in manual clear indication given to user
(display and GPIB) of fault conditions (under or over-range)
0.1 to 0.001 dB
Measurement DisplayReadout (Numerical)
Measurement DisplayProfile (Graph)
Amplifier Range
Range Hold
Display resolution in
Readout mode
Features
(summary)
0.01 dB
Profile and P vs. T modes:
200 pixels display resolution
For a 1 ms Profile window, cursor resolution
on the display is 5 µs
Hold, Max, Min Measurement hold
Average, Min, Max Average, Min, Max, Peak, Crest, PAE (Power Added Efficiency) Measurements
— PDF, CDF, CCDF Power statistics
0.00 to 20.00V nominal
Watt, %, Volts
dBm, dB, dBµV, dBmV, dBr dBm, dBW, dB, dBµV, dBmV
–199.99 to +199.99 dB Display range
1
2
Fixed value high and low limits with audible,
rear panel TTL output, and/or visible
Pass/Fail alarm indication
Failure indication can latch for
transient failure detection
–199.99 to +199.99 dB (Fixed value or frequency dependent table) Offset range
16 ns
Pulse/Modulated mode
15 µs
CW Mode
Four Independently set Gates or eight repeated Gates
One Fence per Measurement gate
Gate measurement supports Average, Peak, Crest, Max and Min
Four Markers and One Delta Marker, Marker to Max/Min, Pulse Rise/Fall-time,
Pulse Width, Off Period, Pulse Repetition Interval
Rise Fall/Search Parameter Variable %
Reference: Max Marker or Gate Power Level
Simple pass/fail for CW
Complex limits for pulsed and TDMA systems
30 Limits Stores available on the instrument
1 ns (RRS mode)
16 ns (non RRS mode)
Pulse/Modulated mode
15 µs
CW Mode
Display resolution in
Profile mode
Time measurement
resolution
Voltage
measurement range
Display units (Lin)
Display units (Log)
Measurement Gates
Markers
Limit lines
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