ApplicationNote

Understanding and Evaluating

the Dynamic Range of Spectrum
Analyzers
Holger Schwarz
Narda Safety Test Solutions, Pfullingen, Germany

Thomas Jungmann
Texterei Jungmann, Wangen, Germany

One of the most important aspects in choosing an electronic measurement instrument is

dynamic range; however, it is generally not enough to simply compare parameters stated in
data sheets. The following discussion explains the relationships among parameters to help
understand and evaluate spectrum analyzer dynamic range specifications.

W
hen monitoring mobile such as second harmonics, which occur at
phone interference in urban twice the frequency of the input signals, will
areas (see Figure 1), test en- appear in the spectral display the same as
gineers are frequently faced actual signals in the vicinity, and they can be
with the problem that the interference signals mistaken for interfering transmitters in the
are weak, often below the noise floor of the radio network (see Figure 2).
measuring instrument, such as
a spectrum analyzer. In such DYNAMIC RANGE
situations, greater sensitivity is High dynamic range enables a high per-
typically achieved by reducing formance test instrument such as a spectrum
the input attenuation, reso- analyzer to suppress such pseudo signals or
lution bandwidth (RBW) and keep them as small as possible. Dynamic
reference levels and by using range is the span where the minimum to
a preamplifier. In this way, the maximum strength signals can be detected
noise floor of the instrument is and measured before unwanted artifacts
lowered to a level where the appear above the noise floor. As a rule, the
interference signals are visible. greater this span or the smaller the ampli-
The disadvantage of this ap- tude of the artifacts, the higher the dynamic
proach is that the instrument’s range and the more unlikely the artifacts will
immunity to stronger signals in be mistaken for real signals. A system de-
the vicinity is reduced. Strong sign goal is to maximize the intermodulation
signals may drive devices in free dynamic range (IMFDR), where all un-
the signal chain to operate in desirable intermodulation is below the noise
nonlinear regions, generating floor. The IMFDR of a measuring instrument
unwanted artifacts such as har- is defined as the dynamic range just before
 Fig. 1 Identifying weak interfering monics, intermodulation prod- the second- or third-order intermodulation
signals in the presence of high signal
levels from nearby transmitters. ucts and interference. Artifacts products emerge from the noise.
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ApplicationNote
In Band Overmodulation Out of Band Overmodulation
ond-order intermodulation frequen-
cies of the frequencies f1 and f2 are
Span Setting 2
Span Setting 1 Span Setting 4 f1 + f2 and f2 – f1 and the third-order
Span Setting 3 intermodulation frequencies are 2f1
+ f2, 2f2 + f1, 2f1 – f2 and 2f2 – f1.

SIGNAL LEVELS
Weak Signals Reference If the level of the input signal
Swamped
by Noise
Strong Increase in
Noise Floor due to
changes, the level of the second-
High System order artifacts in dB changes by 2×
Modulation Level
the magnitude of the input change;
900 MHz 1800 MHz the level of the third-order artifacts
changes by 3× the magnitude of the
 Fig. 2 Receiver nonlinearity may create spurs that appear as real signals, in this
input change. If the input signal level
case harmonics around 1,800 MHz.
changes by 10 dB, for example, the
The term high dynamic range nonlinearity: harmonics and inter- levels of the second-order harmon-
(HDR) used for spectrum analyz- modulation. ics and intermodulation products in-
ers and radio receivers refers to the Harmonics—Second-order har- crease by 20 dB, and the third-order
ability of the instrument to reliably monics, for example, occur at twice artifacts increase by 30 dB.
record small signal levels, such as the frequency of the input signal. Considering the dynamic range
those from a mobile phone, in the Higher-order (i.e., nth-order) har- of an instrument, the input attenu-
presence of much larger signals. To monics occur at n times the fre- ation plays a prominent role de-
use an acoustic analogy, this is like a quency of the input. In contrast with termining the so-called intercept
high quality microphone’s ability to intermodulation, they occur when points, defined as follows:
pick up the fine tones of a flute with- only a single signal is present, par- • IP2/SOI: the second-order inter-
out significant loss when the flute is ticularly when RF components in cept point, based on the inter-
played adjacent to an operating jack- the instrument, such as amplifiers modulation products.
hammer. This requires a balance be- and mixers, are driven beyond their • IP3/TOI: The third-order inter-
tween high sensitivity for small level linear ranges with increasing power cept point, based on the inter-
signals and simultaneous immunity level. modulation products.
to saturation from large signals. Intermodulation—Intermodula- • SHI: The second-order intercept
While HDR is important for error- tion also occurs when RF compo- point, based on harmonics.
free measurements, spectrum ana- nents are operated in their nonlinear • THI: The third-order intercept
lyzer dynamic range is not a rigid regions. Unlike harmonics, they are point, based on harmonics.
criterion. It can change according not simple multiples of the individu- The values for IP2/SOI, SHI, IP3/
to the level of the required signal or al frequencies, rather the “mixing” TOI and THI automatically change
signals and the measurement set- of the input frequencies. At least with the input attenuation of the in-
tings of the instrument. For this rea- two signals, or tones, are required, strument. To accurately and mean-
son, one must consider at least two which mix together to produce new ingfully compare the data sheet
types of unwanted artifacts from frequencies. For example, the sec- values of various instruments, the

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 ApplicationNote
Source
Components specified dynamic range or the cor-
responding parameters for immu-
DANL
Intercept points are one of two
with Ease and nity and sensitivity should be based
on the same system settings. Typi-
quantities important to determining
an instrument’s IMFDR. The other is
Convenience cally, the intercept points are speci-
fied with an input attenuation of 0
the displayed average noise level
(DANL). The intrinsic noise of an in-
dB. In all other cases, the values for strument determines the lower limit
IP2/SOI, SHI, IP3/TOI and THI must of measurement, i.e., the sensitivity
be reduced by the attenuation for of the measuring system. The lower
the values to be compared. the noise floor, the greater the dy-
Cable Assemblies
namic range. DANL depends on
INTERCEPT POINTS the RBW setting, the system sensi-
The output power at the input tivity or noise figure (NF) and ther-
Waveguide to Coax
Adapters signal frequency and its harmon- mal noise. For spectrum analyzers
ics are linearly related to the input and receivers, -174 dBm, the level
power until the components in the of thermal noise, is the physical
signal chain near saturation. If the lower limit of noise power at 300 K,
Amplifiers linear relationships are extrapo- although it can be reduced by cool-
lated as the input power increases, ing the hardware.
Waveguide the output signal level will intersect When evaluating dynamic range,
Sections
the level of the unwanted artifacts. the DANL or NF should be deter-
For third-order intermodulation, mined using the same instrument
the level difference and the dy- settings used for IP2 and IP3. Any
namic range between the third- preamplifier connected to the in-
Mixers
order products and the target sig- strument must be inactivated. Al-
nal is 0 dB. This intersection of the though better NFs can be achieved
Waveguide
Bends
target signal and the third-order using a preamplifier, the IP2 and IP3
intermodulation signal is called the will be degraded. The DANL is gen-
TOI or IP3 value, i.e., the intercept erally specified in data sheets as a
point of the third-order intermodu- guaranteed value.
Multipliers lation products or the third-order
intercept point. This value indicates ITU RECOMMENDATIONS
MMICs the theoretical level where the sig- The International Telecommu-
nals are equal. nication Union (ITU) has issued a
Broadband
The other intercept points are de- guideline to better assess dynamic
fined similarly, i.e., IP2/SOI, SHI and range. The recommendations in the
Millimeterwave THI. SHI is an informative indicator
an instrument’s dynamic range when
of ITU Handbook of Spectrum Moni-
toring do not refer specifically to
Components making a high sensitivity measure- spectrum analyzers, rather more
ment of weak signals in the presence generally to monitoring receivers
~ In Stock ~ of a single strong signal that gener- and radio direction finders. In addi-
ates harmonics in the instrument. tion to establishing methods to de-
When the instrument is saturated by termine dynamic range parameters
a single signal, only the harmonics such as IP3 and NF, the ITU speci-
of the signal are produced. Where fies absolute values for different fre-
the intermodulation is caused by the quency ranges.
presence of two or more input sig- As well as the ITU’s numerical rec-
nals of comparable amplitudes, the ommendations, presented as values
THI is more relevant. in a table (see Table 1), a graphical
The intercept points depend representation of the parameters
on the selected system settings, can show dynamic range in a way
HASCO Components whether second- or third-order har- that makes the relationships easier
Phone +1 (888) 498-3242 monics or intermodulation. Again, to understand and enable quick
when comparing instrument perfor- and easy performance compari-
sales@hasco-inc.com mance, the settings should be the sons. Figure 3 shows a triangle con-
www.hasco-inc.com/mmwave same. It is customary to specify in- structed from the values of DANL,
tercept points based on the highest IP2 and IP3, where the area of the
system sensitivity, i.e., at the lowest triangle represents the dynamic
settings for the input attenuation range. Increasing the area of the
and reference level. Most compa- triangle corresponds to greater dy-
nies specify the IP2 and IP3 as typi- namic range. The values shown in
cal values. the figure correspond to the ITU
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ApplicationNote

TABLE 1 10
DANL

ITU DYNAMIC RANGE RECOMMENDATIONS

5 ITU
Parameter Frequency Range ITU SignalShark
(MHz) Recommendations 0

IP2/SOI > 3 to < 30 60 dBm –5

IP2/SOI ≥ 30 to ≤ 630 40 dBm –10
IP2/SOI > 630 to ≤ 3000 40 dBm
–15
IP3/TOI > 3 to < 30 20 dBm
–20
IP3/TOI ≥ 30 to ≤ 3000 10 dBm
–25
Noise Figure > 2 to < 20 15 dB
Noise Figure ≥ 20 to ≤ 3000 12 dB

recommendations for the frequency the ITU recom-

range from 20 MHz to 3 GHz: a NF mendation, which IP3 IP2
of 12 dB, an IP2 of 40 dBm and an is reflected by the
IP3 of 10 dBm. smaller DANL val-  Fig. 3 Graphical performance metric plotting DANL, IP2
The triangle diagram can be ue of the triangle. and IP3, comparing the ITU recommendation for an ideal
used to compare spectrum analyzer The IP2 above 20 receiver with the performance of the SignalShark spectrum
analyzer. (Source: Narda STS).
dynamic range performance rela- MHz matches the
tive to the ITU recommendations. ITU recommenda- ear performance of the spectrum
Figure 3 illustrates this by including tion and the IP3 is better than the analyzer.
the performance of the SignalShark ITU recommendation by 2 dB. Over- The performance of a spectrum
spectrum analyzer from Narda Safe- all, the triangle for the SignalShark analyzer, monitoring receiver or ra-
ty Test Solutions. The NF of this de- almost matches the ITU recommen- dio direction finder reflects no single
vice in the corresponding frequency dations above 20 MHz, graphically component in the signal processing
range is 15 dB, 3 dB higher than representing the low noise and lin- path, rather the combination of all
the components in the signal chain,
including the analog-to-digital con-
verter and the signal processing
architecture of the RF front-end. To
improve dynamic range, receivers
often include preselectors or filter
banks to suppress frequency ranges
that may overload the front-end and
degrade performance. Using low
noise preamplifiers and minimizing
the noise of the first mixer stage
help set a low intrinsic noise floor of
the receiver.

SUMMARY
The dynamic range of an instru-
ment such as a spectrum analyzer
is not a fixed quantity easily com-
pared by reviewing the data sheets
of commercial instruments. Dynam-
ic range depends on interrelated
factors reflecting the input signal
level and the instrument’s settings.
Comparing instruments requires un-
derstanding of all the parameters
determining the dynamic range
and how they depend on the instru-
ment’s settings. The ITU guidelines
and triangle diagram are helpful for
assessing instrument performance
and comparing products from dif-
ferent manufacturers.n

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