Direct Data Connectivity to the 89600 VSA (89601101C)

Introduction

Keysight’s 89600 Vector Signal Analysis (VSA) software is used with confidence by many thousands of users to troubleshoot systems, validate product performance, and examine compliance for dozens of named wireless standards, as well as automotive and aerospace/defense applications.  Well known in test & measurement applications for acquiring IQ waveforms from hundreds of Keysight instruments, the VSA performs detailed signal analysis of those modulated waveforms, and presents the results, either through a visual GUI, or through a mature software API.  

With Keysight’s Direct Data Connectivity to the 89600 Vector Signal Analysis software (option 89601101C), you can push IQ data directly from your own software and hardware platform.  In other words, you may now leverage Keysight’s sophisticated measurement IP, interactive visualization, and automation tools to a richer set of data sources, including

• Data from the inside of your signal processing chain, such as the baseband IQ from your own receiver (rather than a transmitter)

• Data from a preferred hardware receiver, including 3rd party or custom measurement solutions

• Data from software streams, MATLAB™, simulated environments, large offline recording files, and multi-channel data that was captured manually or sequentially

• Data from the VITA-49 streaming over LAN

With a state-of-the-art signal analysis software directly in your application context, you avoid the expense of needing to develop or support your own demodulation algorithms, plus you take advantage of the quality, interoperability, and standards compliance of the same software that Keysight uses on its own Test & Measurement platforms.

Say you are building a custom signal quality measurement solution leveraging in-house hardware or software that provides IQ data.  You don’t want to reinvent all the algorithms for signal processing to get relevant metrics, nor do you care to track the standards for the latest changes to the test models.  You need great visualization to showcase many facets of your received signal.  With the 89601101C User Input Data Stream Connectivity, you can bring instrument grade metrology to your custom hardware solution. You can be assured that both you and your customers will have Keysight level customer care and great support for these continually evolving measurements.

Benefits of direct data connectivity:

• Save custom solution development time.

• Track evolving wireless and cellular measurement standards.

• Compare your own receiver IQ data against reference Keysight spectrum analyzer IQ data.

• Apply Keysight IP directly inside your signal processing chain.

• Showcase your own hardware performance (EVM, Power Spectrum, etc.) for early design wins.

Take VSA Connectivity to the Next Level

How do we get IQ data into a signal analysis toolbox?  Now there are 4 ways.

1. Via direct hardware connection.  With the PathWave Vector Signal Analysis tool, you can connect over 300 Keysight model numbers, ranging from digitizers to oscilloscopes to signal analyzers and even modular instruments. Once you’ve connected, the software feels like an extension of the instrument, so you can trigger on an event of interest (like an RF burst of power), and then later record your acquisitions to a binary file for postprocessing.

2. Through software connection with Keysight EDA software. The VSA software connects to both PathWave Advanced Design System (ADS) and PathWave System Design (SystemVue).

3. Through recording file playback. A waveform saved in MATLAB format, text, CSV, or various other binary formats can be recalled into the VSA. 

4. With Direct Data Connectivity, you can bypass file-based recordings or having to create a dedicated hardware extension. You can also push IQ data directly through API programming or VITA-49 streaming.

Flexibility in connectivity enables the VSA to test anywhere in the transmitter chain. Digital signal processing engineers can verify their baseband algorithms alongside RF systems engineers who can check the EVM floor of their ASIC.