Why calibrate network analyzer

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Search Blogs. Keysight Blogs. Jessica Patterson Product Marketing Engineer. Calibration Signal Analyzers. At Transcat, we understand that RF equipment calibrations are vital to your network analysis. Our world-class calibration expertise provides the following capabilities related to RF measurement systems:. We are committed to delivering exceptional service on your VNAs. Transcat is your source for:. For more information on an RF testing device calibration, please use our Live Chat system located on the right side of the page, Request a Quote form, or call Transcat directly at Consider a transmission line of length L driven by a sinusoidal voltage source G with a source resistance R G , and terminated by a resistive load R L , as shown in Figure 1.

Z C is the characteristic impedance of the transmission line and T is the time it takes for the voltage wave to travel from the source to the load. Figure 1: Transmission line driven by a sinusoidal source and terminated by a resistive load.

This shown in Figure 2, see [1] for the detailed discussion. Figure 2: Forward voltage wave originates at the source and travels toward the load. This is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3: Incident and reflected voltages at the load. Next, we will discuss three special cases of the reflection coefficient [2], these three cases are directly applicable to the network analyzer calibration procedure.

The Smith chart, shown in Figure 4, is based on a polar plot of the voltage reflection coefficient, [3]. Next, replace the short from port one with a broadband load. And on port one, select loads and type N50 broadband load to measure the load on port one.

Once the measurement has completed, remove the open from port two and the broadband load from port one and transfer the broadband load from port one to port two. Place the open from port two on port one to prevent leakage signals. And on port two, select loads and type N50 broadband load. Insert a thru calibration standard between the cables attached to ports one and two and select thru to measure the thru calibration standard.

Multiple traces will appear. Once all of the standards have a check mark above them, select next and save as user CalSet. Then enter a name for the calibration and click save. To check the calibration, connect a thru adapter without obvious signs of wear to the cables between ports one and two and select response, scale, scale, and set the per division to 0.

To measure the insertion loss of the thru, select the stimulus menu, trigger, and single. A single sweep will appear across the frequency range. Once the thru has been checked, select response, scale, and scale to return the per division value to 10 decibels. To measure S11, select stimulus menu, trigger, and single, and select response, measure, and S To measure components and system losses, first connect the device under test to the VNA and select response, measure, and S To measure the device under test, select stimulus menu, trigger, and single, and select file and save data as to save the data as a displayed traces displayed format trace file.

Set the scope to displayed traces, the format to displayed format, and choose a feel type of either CSV or s2p which saves the two port S parameters. To check and analyze the test results of a bandpass filter, select marker analysis, marker search, and max to find the insertion loss of the filter. Select marker analysis, marker, marker, and set the stimulus for marker one to 1, megahertz to set the center frequency of the filter being measured. From the dropdown menu, select marker two and check the on box, moving the knob to lower the marker frequency to the point that is three decibels below the measured loss at the center frequency.

Select reference and check the on box. Then select marker three, check the on box and check the delta marker box. Then set the stimulus for marker three to the point at which the delta three is closest to zero.

The filter's three decibel bandwidth will be displayed by delta three. If a manual calibration is not selected, select the electronic calibration option and attach the electronic calibration kit to the cables between ports one and two. Select response, calibration, start calibration, calibration wizard, and use electronic calibration.