Agilent
83554A/83555A/83556A
mm-wave Source Modules*
Data Sheet
26.5 to 40.0 GHz
33.0 to 50.0 GHz
40.0 to 60.0 GHz
Precision and power from a
millimeter-wave swept solution
* For mm-wave source modules from 50 to 110 GHz (Agilent model
numbers 83557A and 83558A) please refer to publication number 5958-0398.
2
The solution to your
millimeter-wave
signal source needs
The 83550-series millimeter-wave
source modules provide millimeterwave test signals for waveguide
bands from 26.5 to 60 GHz when
driven by 11 to 20 GHz microwave
sources. The 83550-series source
modules offer internally-leveled high
output power, full waveguide band
frequency coverage, and the high
frequency accuracy and resolution
of the driving microwave source.
There are several ways of configuring
a millimeter-wave source to best
suit your specific needs. For sweptfrequency testing, choose the 8 to
20 GHz 83550A RF plug-in for the
8350B mainframe as the microwave
source driver for the source module
covering your frequency range.
The 83550A offers +20 dBm of
internally- leveled output power
from 8 to 18.6 GHz and +18 dBm
from 18.6 to 20 GHz. This meets the
required input power for the source
modules (+17 dBm) to give you a
one-step solution.
An alternate way to generate swept
signals is to use your new or existing
microwave source with the 8349B
microwave amplifier as the driving
microwave source for the source
modules. The 8349B microwave
amplifier is a compact GaAs FET
instrumentation amplifier that delivers +20 dBm of output power from 2
to 18.6 GHz and +18 dBm of output
power from 18.6 to 20 GHz.
Thus, when you need a millimeterwave sweeper, the 8350B sweep
oscillator has the 83590-series RF
plug-ins driving an 8349B microwave
amplifier, or an 83550A plug-in to
operate over the frequency range
required by the 83550-series
millimeter-wave source modules.
Many capabilities and features of the
8350B are translated through the
source modules to the millimeter-
wave bands. These include the
continuous analog sweep, alternate
sweep, five independent frequency
markers, high frequency accuracy,
programmable and calibrated output
power (83500-series only), internal
and external leveling, and complete
programmability.
When increased frequency accuracy,
frequency stability and high spectral
purity are required, the 8340A/8341A
or 8340B/8341B synthesized sweepers
and the 8349B microwave amplifier
are attractive drivers for the source
modules. Besides all the sweep
oscillator features listed for the
8350B sweeper, an 8340/8341-based
millimeter- wave source delivers a
highly-accurate and spectrally-pure
signal with a frequency resolution of
6 Hz at 26.5 GHz and 9 Hz at 60 GHz.
The 8340B/8341B synthesized
sweepers additionally offer calibrated
output power that can be set from
the front panel or over the GPIB bus.
Improved external amplitude and
pulse modulation capability is provided, as well as external frequency
modulation capability. The 8673B/C/D
synthesized signal generators can
also drive the 8349B microwave
amplifier to offer similar synthesized
CW performance. In addition to the
synthesized frequency performance,
high-performance AM, FM and pulse
modulation make these synthesizers
ideal for many signal simulation
applications.
The small size of the 83550-series
source modules mean you can use
them even on a crowded benchtop.
Additionally, two flexible cables, an
RF cable and a source module
interface cable are provided with
the source modules to connect the
microwave source driver to the
source module. These cables allow
you to place the source module up
to 1 meter from the driving source.
Now you can bring your source to
your test system instead of the other
way around.
The 83550-series millimeter-wave
source modules deliver excellent
performance, versatility and reliability
at a reasonable cost. They make
simple, high-quality measurements
at millimeter-wave frequencies
a reality.
8350/83550A
sweep oscillator
E8241A/44A/51A/54A
Option 1EA
OR
83554A
mm-wave
source module
83555A
mm-wave
source module
83556A
mm-wave
source module
83557A
mm-wave
source module
83558A
mm-wave
source module
8349B
microwave amplifier
8350B/8359x
8340A/8341B
8340B/8341B
8673B/C/D
microwave sources
E8241A/44A/51A/54A
26.5 – 40 GHz
33 – 50 GHz
40 – 60 GHz
50 – 75 GHz
75 – 110 GHz
3
High accuracy
and resolution
Because the 83550-series source
modules use frequency multiplication
to generate millimeter-wave frequencies, the millimeter-wave system frequency specifications are directly
proportional to those of the microwave
source driving the source modules.
Frequency accuracy, stability, and
resolution specifications are multiplied by a factor of either two or
three depending on whether the
drive frequency is doubled or tripled.
For example, a millimeter-wave
source based on the 8341B/8349B
will have frequency resolution of
6 Hz in the 26.5 to 40 GHz band,
9 Hz in the 33 to 50 GHz band, and
9 Hz in the 4 to 60 GHz band.
Spectral purity
The 83550-series source modules offer
harmonic and sub-harmonic suppression of >20 dBc in any band. Greater
spectral purity (>40 to 50 dBc) can
be achieved in certain frequency
ranges by using a harmonically clean
microwave source such as the 8350B/
83550A, 8673B/C/D, 8350B/83592C
or 8341B Option 003 to drive the
source module. Low harmonics help
to increase the validity and range of
many millimeter-wave measurements.
When the 8340B/41B or 8673B/C/D
synthesizers (combined with the
required 8349B amplifier) serve as
the driving microwave source for the
source modules, their high stability
and low phase noise performance
are available for a variety of signal
simulation applications. For example,
the phase noise performance of the
8340B/8349B/83554A is typically
–70 dBc in a 1 Hz noise bandwidth at
10 kHz offset from a 35 GHz carrier.
High output power
The 83550-series source modules
provide plenty of output power. This
high output power can permit the
source module to serve as a mixer LO
in some applications. High power also
expands the available dynamic range
in frequency response measurements.
The 83550-series source modules also
offer internal leveling. The output
power of the source module is displayed on the 83550A, 8340B/8341B,
8673B/C/D or the 8349B power display
(depending on your millimeter-wave
source configuration) to yield 0.1 dB
of digitally-displayed resolution.
Operational simplicity
The digital displays on the microwave
source drivers indicate the active
function values, including sweep
limit frequencies, sweep time and
output power. This makes your measurements easier, faster and more
efficient. Simple front panel operations let you enter a display multiplier, so that the actual output frequency of the source module may be
entered and displayed directly on the
microwave source driver.
For multiple test setup sequences, each
of the nine internal nonvolatile storage
registers, standard on the microwave
source drivers, can save the entire
instrument state for later, rapid recall.
And complete
programmability
The complete programmability of all
functions of the microwave sources
via the GPIB* is directly translated
through the 83550-series source
modules to provide you with the most
powerful millimeter-wave sources in
the industry.
More than just IEEE-488, GPIB is an
internationally accepted standard, so
you can easily integrate the microwave
source drivers into existing automatic
systems as well as new ones. Mnemonic
programming codes simplify software
development and reduce programming
and debugging time. Finally, GPIB also
means that all the documentation is
available for you to design, configure,
and program your own system with
minimum development time.
All at a lower cost
Until now, sources at millimeter-wave
frequencies were usually high cost
items. Now, the 83550-series source
modules change all that by combining
performance and quality with a low
cost of entry. This is possible because
the source modules are backwardcompatible with existing Agilent microwave sources. Thus, you can generate a
full waveguide band of millimeter- wave
frequencies for just the cost of the
8349B and a source module. Also, low
cost of ownership is enhanced by the
two-year warranty on the microcircuits
of the 83550-series source modules
and the 8349B microwave amplifier.
30 34 38 42 46 50 54 58 6026.5
+3
+5
+7
+9
+11
+13
+15
Output frequency (GHz)
Output power (dBm)
83554A
83555A
83556A
Typical
Specified
Spectrum analyzer photo of 8340A/8349B/
83556A signal at 50 GHz.
Spectrum analyzer photo of 8341A/8349B/
83555A signals at 44 GHz with resolution of 10 Hz.
Typical maximum leveled output power
available from the 83550-series millimeter-wave
source modules.
*GPIB is Agilent Technologies’ hardware, software,
documentation, and support for IEEE-488 and IEC-625,
worldwide standards for interfacing instruments.
4
Exceptional modulation
capabilities
Radar and ECM threat simulation
make high-performance demands on
millimeter-wave sources. The 83550series source modules combined
with the 8340/8341 or the 8673B/C/D
synthesizers and an 8349B microwave
amplifier help meet these demands
for broadband frequency coverage
and high-performance modulation.
For example, you can use their ability to simultaneously pulse and
amplitude modulate the RF signal to
simulate the effect of an antenna
scan on a pulse-modulated signal.
Agilent’s 8340B/8341B and 8673B/C/D
have internal pulse modulators to
provide calibrated, leveled pulse
modulation with 80 dB on/off ratio
over the full frequency range.
DC coupled AM is available on the
8340/8341 and 8673B/C/D when an
external modulation source is used.
Since the AM circuitry is DC coupled,
it can accurately reproduce complex
waveforms that have a DC component,
such as the antenna scan waveform.
The 8340B/8341B, for example,
operates at rates ranging from DC
to 100 kHz.
FM may be applied to the 8340B/8341B
or 8673B/C/D synthesizer input and
the corresponding millimeter-wave
frequency output will be modulated
with an FM deviation two or three
times (depending on the source
module used) the modulation input
at the same rate. For example, the
8673B/8349B/83556A combination
can be frequency-modulated at rates
between 100 Hz and 10 MHz with
deviations up to 30 MHz.
Millimeter-wave
swept systems
for high-quality
measurements
Tracking two-tone sweep
Broadband testing of mixers, receiver
front-ends, and frequency translators
is greatly simplified with this “two
tone” source configuration. Using
one source for RF drive and the other
for LO, they can be offset in frequency
equal to the IF of the device under
test. This tracking two-tone sweep
significantly reduces measurement
time by producing a swept display of
the devices frequency response over
the full frequency range of millimeterwave sources based on Agilent’s
8350B sweep oscillators.
In addition, you can reduce the effects
of LO feedthru at the mixer output
by using AC detection of the 8756A
or 8757A scalar network analyzers.
By modulating the RF input and not
modulating the LO input, the desired
IF signal will be modulated but the
undesired LO feedthru will not.
Since the AC detectors only respond
to signals modulated by 27.8 kHz,
the unmodulated LO feedthru does
not cause an inaccuracy in the conversion loss measurement. For further information refer to application
note 312-1 (publication number
5952-9316).
8340A/8349B/83554A pulse performance at
35 GHz. Pulse width = 5 ms.
8341A/8349B/83554A AM performance at
30 GHz. AM rate is 17 kHz and depth is 70%.
5
Scalar network analysis
Scalar measurements to 110 GHz are
facilitated by the use of the Agilent
83550 series millimeter-wave source
modules. When these modules are
driven by an 11 to 20 GHz, > +17
dBm microwave source, such as the
Agilent 83623B, 83624B, or any
source in conjunction with an
Agilent 8349B amplifier, they provide waveguide frequency coverage
to 110 GHz. These efficient frequency
multipliers offer internally leveled,
high output power, and the high
frequency accuracy and resolution
of the driving microwave source.
Sweeper
RF
cable
Source
module
interface
Millimeter-wave
source module
Short
circuit
* Required for R, Q, and U band measurement systems only.
** Required for V and W band measurement systems only.
Isolator*
Detector
Scalar network analyzer
ABR
Isolator**
Thru
DUT
Directional
coupler
Detectors
Straight
or twist
Directional
coupler
Typical scalar transmission and reflection measurement setup from 33 to 50 GHz.
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