RF power sensor covers 10 MHz to 8 GHz

Updated September 7, 20221 Mins read134

The PWR-8PW-RC from Mini-Circuits let’s you measure peak, average, crest factor, and duty cycle.

Anything you design with an RF transmitter needs power measurements to ensure it meets specifications. The PWR-8PW-RC Smart Power Sensor from Mini-Circuits connects to a PC, µC-based device, or network, letting you measure peak, average, crest factor, and duty cycle power on modulated, pulsed, and CW type signals.

The sensor and associated Windows and Linux software provides pulse profiling and statistical signal analysis on ASK, FSK, ODFM, QAM, and LTE modulations. It samples signals at speeds up to 20 MSa/s.

I/O ports include USB and Ethernet for connecting to a local or networked computer. A video output with 30 MHz bandwidth lets you view signals on an oscilloscope. Trigger inputs and outputs let you synchronize measurements to external test equipment or trigger an event should an out-of-range incident occur. Connect or signal-under-test to the sensor through its N-Type connector.

The windows-based software lets you configure the sensor for measurements and triggers, providing readouts in watts or dBm. You can get numerical readouts or graphical plots. For example, you can view pulse profiles and modulated signals. Calculated pulse parameters include width, duty cycle, rise time, fall time, pulse power, crest factor, and overshoot.

You can also control the sensor using and API. When using Ethernet, you get ACII/SCPI comment sets and you can communicate over HTTP or Telnet. For USB, Mini-Circuits provides and ActiveX DLL for 32-bit programs and a .NET library DLL for 32-bit or 64-bit programs. Under Linux, you can use a series of USB interrupt codes plus you get programming instructions and examples.