ThinkRF WSA5000 User Manual
ThinkRF WSA5000
Wireless Signal Analyzer
Version 3.9
User Guide
February 2015
Document no. 75-0015-150216
Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015 ThinkRF Corporation, All rights reserved.
All product names are trademarks of their respective companies.
Important notice
The information in this
guide is furnished for
informational use only
and is subject to change
without notice. ThinkRF
Corporation assumes no
responsibility or liability
for any errors or
inaccuracies that may
appear in this document.
No part of this
publication may be
reproduced, published,
stored in an electronic
database, or transmitted,
in any form or by any
means, electronic,
mechanical, recording,
or otherwise, for any
purpose, without the
prior written permission
of ThinkRF Corporation.
Trademarks
ThinkRF, the ThinkRF
logo and WSA5000 are
trademarks of ThinkRF
Corporation.
The following are
trademarks or registered
trademarks of their
respective companies or
owners:
Windows, Windows XP /
Microsoft Corporation
All other brand or
product names are
trademarks or registered
trademarks of their
respective companies or
owners.
ThinkRF Corp
390 March Road
Kanata, ON K2K 0G7
(613) 369-5104
HARDWARE WARRANTY AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
Read this warranty carefully before you use the product.
WSA Wireless Signal Analyzers are warranted for workmanship and materials for a
period of one (1) year from the date of shipment as identified by the Customer’s
packing slip or carrier waybill. ThinkRF reserves the right to void the warranty on any
equipment that has been altered or damaged due to Customer negligence,
unauthorized repair, misuse of equipment, evidence of physical or environmental
damage, transportation abuse or removal of any ThinkRF identification labels or
serial numbers.
It will remain the responsibility of the Customer, having obtained a Return Material
Authorization (RMA) and shipping instructions from ThinkRF, to return, at the
Customer's expense, the defective unit to ThinkRF’s repair facilities. ThinkRF will
incur shipping charges for the return of warranty repaired equipment. The RMA
number can be secured by calling ThinkRF Customer Service and Support (1-613369-5104). If the product does not fall within ThinkRF’s warranty period or the
product is found to be functioning as designed, then under the terms of ThinkRF’s
warranty policy, all costs of repairs and shipping will be charged directly to the
Customer. ThinkRF will warrant repaired units for a period of 90 days from date of
shipment from ThinkRF to the Customer. If the remaining period on the original
hardware warranty is greater than 30 days, then ThinkRF will honor this remaining
warranty period.
THINKRF EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES AND
CONDITIONS, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT
LIMITATION, WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR REPRESENTATIONS OF
WORKMANSHIP, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE, DURABILITY, OR THAT THE OPERATION OF THE HARDWARE OR
LICENSED SOFTWARE WILL BE ERROR FREE. IN NO EVENT WILL THINKRF
BE LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES.
USE OF PRODUCTS IN HIGH RISK ACTIVITIES
THINKRF PRODUCTS ARE INTENDED FOR STANDARD INDOOR COMMERCIAL
USE. WITHOUT THE APPROPRIATE NETWORK DESIGN ENGINEERING, THEY
MUST NOT BE USED FOR ANY “HIGH RISK ACTIVITY”, as described in this
paragraph. Customer acknowledges and agrees that the products supplied
hereunder are not fault-tolerant and are not designed, manufactured or intended for
use or resale as on-line control equipment in hazardous environments requiring fail
safe performance including but not limited to the operation of nuclear facilities,
aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control, direct life support
machines, or weapons systems, in which the failure of products could lead directly to
death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage, all of which are
examples of “High Risk Activity”. THINKRF AND ITS SUPPLIERS EXPRESSLY
DISCLAIM ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR HIGH
RISK ACTIVITIES.
GNU General Public License
This device contains free firmware: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This
program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
for more details. GNU General Public License is available at
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
Table of Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................................ 5
Audience ............................................................................................................................................ 5
Conventions ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Obtaining the Latest Documentation and Software ............................................................................ 5
Document Feedback .......................................................................................................................... 5
Obtaining Technical Assistance ......................................................................................................... 5
Overview of the ThinkRF WSA5000 ............................................................................. 7
Getting Familiar with the ThinkRF WSA5000 ..................................................................................... 7
The Front Panel .......................................................................................................................... 8
The Rear Panel .......................................................................................................................... 8
The Underside ............................................................................................................................ 9
Installing the ThinkRF WSA5000 ................................................................................ 10
Preventing Electrostatic Discharge Damage .................................................................................... 10
Unpacking the Box ........................................................................................................................... 10
Connecting the Antenna, Ethernet and Power Cables ..................................................................... 11
Selecting Where to Mount the WSA5000 ........................................................................................ 12
Connecting to the WSA5000 ....................................................................................... 13
Deciding on Your Network Topology and IP Address Allocation ...................................................... 13
Changing the WSA5000's Method of IP Address Allocation ............................................................ 14
Connecting the WSA5000 Directly to a Computer ........................................................................... 14
Connecting to the WSA5000 Across a Network ............................................................................... 16
Administration Console .............................................................................................. 18
Connecting via Your Web Browser .................................................................................................. 18
Configuring the WSA5000's Time .................................................................................................... 19
Configuring the WSA5000's IP Address .......................................................................................... 20
Updating the WSA5000's Firmware ................................................................................................. 21
Customizing the WSA5000's Calibration ......................................................................................... 23
Uploading a Custom Calibration File ........................................................................................ 24
Calibration File Source Selection .............................................................................................. 26
Restoring the Default Calibration Settings ................................................................................ 26
Restarting the WSA5000 ................................................................................................................. 27
Reset to Factory Settings ........................................................................................... 28
Using the USB Console ............................................................................................... 29
Installing the USB Drivers on Your PC ............................................................................................ 29
Connecting to the USB Console ...................................................................................................... 29
Configuring the WSA5000's IP Address via the USB Console ....................................................... 31
Status Indicator LEDs ................................................................................................. 33
Power (PWR) Indicator LED ............................................................................................................ 33
Status (STS) Indicator LED .............................................................................................................. 33
10 MHz Reference (REF) Clock Source and Lock Indicator LED .................................................... 34
RF Chain PLLs LOCK Indicator LED ............................................................................................... 34
Ethernet LINK Status and ACT Indicator LEDs ................................................................................ 34
Hardware Reference .................................................................................................... 35
System Specifications ...................................................................................................................... 35
SMA Connectors .............................................................................................................................. 35
Ethernet RJ-45 Port Pinout .............................................................................................................. 36
GPIO Port Pinout ............................................................................................................................. 36
USB Console Port Pinout ................................................................................................................. 38
RJ-45 Straight-Through Ethernet Cable .......................................................................................... 38
RJ-45 Crossover Ethernet Cable ..................................................................................................... 38
Preface
This preface describes the audience for, the organization of, and conventions used in this
document. It also identifies related documentation and explains how to access electronic
documentation.
Audience
This document is written for technical people who have basic understanding, familiarity
and experience with network test and measurement equipment.
Conventions
This section describes the conventions used in this document.
Note: This symbol means take note. Notes contain helpful suggestions or references to
additional information and material.
Caution: This symbol means be careful. In this situation, you might do something that
could result in equipment damage or loss of data.
Warning: This symbol means danger. You are in a situation that could cause bodily
injury. Before you work on any equipment, be aware of the hazards involved with
electrical circuitry and be familiar with the standard practices for preventing accidents.
Obtaining the Latest Documentation and Software
Please regularly visit our website's resource page at
http://www.thinkrf.com/documentation to obtain the latest documentation, and our
website's releases page at http://www.thinkrf.com/download to obtain the latest
releases of new firmware and software.
Document Feedback
Please send your comments about this document or our other documentation to
support@thinkrf.com.
Thank you, we appreciate your comments.
Obtaining Technical Assistance
The ThinkRF Support website provides online documents for resolving technical issues
with ThinkRF products at this URL: http://www.thinkrf.com/documentation.
For all customers who hold a valid end-user license, ThinkRF provides technical
assistance 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time, Monday to Friday. Contact us at
support@thinkrf.com or by calling +1.613.369.5104.
Before contacting support, please have the following information available:
WSA5000 serial number which is located on the identification label on the
WSA5000's underside.
The product version.
The firmware version running on the WSA5000.
Versions of ThinkRF software you are using, potentially including the API
libraries to third-party applications.
The operating system and version you are using.
Overview of the ThinkRF WSA5000
Overview of the ThinkRF WSA5000
The WSA5000 Wireless Signal Analyzer is a high-performance software-defined RF
receiver, digitizer and analyzer. It is designed for stand-alone, remote and/or distributed
wireless signal analysis, monitoring and intelligence applications.
ThinkRF has patent-pending software-defined RF receiver technology that provides
industry leading combined sensitivity, tuning range, instantaneous bandwidth and scan
rate. Additionally, the WSA5000 provides real-time sophisticated triggering, search and
loss-less capture of signals of interest using an integrated patent-pending digital signal
processing engine.
The WSA5000 is ideal for monitoring, management and surveillance of transmitters,
whether they are in-building or spread across a geographic area. Applications include
but are not limited to spectrum analysis, wireless network management and interference
mitigation; cognitive radio and white space spectrum sensing, enterprise wireless signal
intrusion detection (WSID); government spectrum licensing monitoring and enforcement;
technical security counter measures (TSCM) and military communications and signals
intelligence.
The WSA5000 Wireless Signal Analyzer provides Gigabit Ethernet for stand-alone,
remote and distributed applications. ThinkRF conforms to standardized protocols and
provides APIs designed for easy integration with third-party applications. Standard
protocols include the Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments (SCPI)
protocol for controlling and obtaining status from the WSA5000 and the VITA 49 Radio
Transport (VRT) protocol for digitized data and its associated context information.
APIs are provided for interfacing and performing data acquisition and as well as for
spectral analysis with MATLAB® applications. Digitized RF signals (I/Q data) are passed
directly to MATLAB®, and/or MATLAB® communications system or signal processing
toolboxes.
Applications can also be built within the PyRF development framework. PyRF is built on
the Python programming language and is open-source under BSD licensing. PyRF
handles the low-level details of real-time acquisition, signal processing and visualization,
and provides feature rich libraries, example applications and source code, all specific to
the requirements of signal analysis.
Getting Familiar with the ThinkRF WSA5000
This section provides information about the WSA5000's front and rear panels, connection
ports and identification label.
ThinkRF WSA5000 Wireless Signal Analyzer User Guide 7
Overview of the ThinkRF WSA5000
Note: The type and placement of connectors and components on the panels and the
case may vary depending upon the product variant and version.
The Front Panel
The following figure shows the front panel of the WSA5000. The front panel contains the
power switch, status indicator LEDs and input connectors for the RF antenna and analog
IQ ports.
Note: The WSA5000-208 and -220 include Analog IQ inputs, Analog IQ outputs and 10
MHz reference clock output, and the WSA5000-108 does not. WSA5000-3XX and -4XX
does not include Analog IQ input. In addition, the type and placement of connectors and
components on the panel may vary depending upon the product variant and version.
The Rear Panel
The following figure shows the WSA5000 rear panel. The rear panel contains power
input, and digital ports for Ethernet, USB console and GPIO, and analog I/Q outputs, 10
MHz reference clock I/O and hardware reset push-button.
8 ThinkRF WSA5000 Wireless Signal Analyzer User Guide
Overview of the ThinkRF WSA5000
Note: The type and placement of connectors and components on the panel may vary
depending upon the product variant and version.
The Underside
The underside of the ThinkRF WSA5000 provides an identification label, as illustrated
below for product version 1 and 2. The label on your product may vary depending on
your product variant and version. The main difference is that for product version 2 and
above, a version number is listed beside the S/N value. This product version number is
important for identifying which firmware image can be used to update your product (see
Updating the WSA5000's Firmware).
Product Version 1: Product Version 2 and higher:
ThinkRF WSA5000 Wireless Signal Analyzer User Guide 9
Installing the ThinkRF WSA5000
Installing the ThinkRF WSA5000
Ensure that you read and understand the following information about safety and
electrostatic discharge before you unpack and install the WSA5000.
Warning: Only trained and qualified personnel should be allowed to install or replace
this equipment. Read the installation instructions before you connect the system to its
power source.
Preventing Electrostatic Discharge Damage
Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is a single-event, rapid transfer of electrostatic charge
between two objects, such as an operator and a piece of electrical equipment. ESD can
occur when a high electrostatic field develops between two objects in close proximity.
ESD occurs when electronic components are improperly handled and is one of the major
causes of device failures in the semiconductor industry.
Electrostatic discharge is more likely to occur with the combination of synthetic fibers and
dry atmosphere. Always follow these steps to prevent ESD.
Warning: Never open the front or rear panels of the WSA5000 as personal injury may
result and opening the chassis will void the warranty. There are no user-serviceable
parts inside. Always contact ThinkRF support for service.
Caution: To prevent ESD, wear an ESD-preventive wrist strap that you provide,
ensuring that it makes good skin contact.
Caution: Do not touch any exposed contact pins or connector shells of interface ports
that do not have a cable attached. If cables are connected at one end only, do not touch
the exposed pins at the unconnected end of the cable.
Unpacking the Box
The following table lists the items that come with your WSA5000. If any of the items are
missing or damaged, please contact your ThinkRF customer service representative.
10 ThinkRF WSA5000 Wireless Signal Analyzer User Guide
Installing the ThinkRF WSA5000
ThinkRF WSA5000 Shipping Box Contents:
• WSA5000 Wireless Signal Analyzer
• Power adapter and cable
• Straight-through Ethernet cable
• USB console cable
• Antenna
• Quick start guide
• Precautions note
Note: The antenna is included for your convenience and only intended to perform
adequately across a limited frequency range.
Connecting the Antenna, Ethernet and Power Cables
Caution: Never connect a transmitter directly to the receiver with a cable.
Caution: Do not over-tighten the antenna connector on the jack. Using a wrench, pliers
or even your hand to over-tighten the antenna can cause permanent damage to the
receiver.
1. Screw the antenna on to the WSA5000 "RF IN" antenna input SMA jack.
Carefully turn the antenna screw by hand until it encounters resistance. See
SMA Connectors section for the maximum allowable input and cautions.
2. Connect one end of the Ethernet cable to the WSA5000's Ethernet port and the
other end to an Ethernet port on your router or PC.
3. Connect the WSA5000 to its power adapter.
Warning: Use only the power adapter provided with the unit.
4. Plug the power adapter into a power outlet.
5. Push the power switch towards the power symbol to power the unit on.
Note: See Status Indicator LEDs section for description of the WSA5000's status.
ThinkRF WSA5000 Wireless Signal Analyzer User Guide 11
Installing the ThinkRF WSA5000
Selecting Where to Mount the WSA5000
Caution: To prevent damage to the WSA5000 radio receiver, do not install or operate
the WSA5000 within 2 feet (60 cm) of devices such as Wi-Fi access points that transmit
more than +15 dBm power.
12 ThinkRF WSA5000 Wireless Signal Analyzer User Guide
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