Rapid-VT Digital Tuners
Focus Microwave also offers the RAPID-VT digital tuner for very broadband signals such as 5G FR1 and IEE 802.11ax standards. This solution is based on the National Instruments PXI vector signal transceiver PXIe-5841. This tuner is a very fast and accurate load-pull test solution.
With two of the PXIs, RAPID-VT creates a vector network analysis for load-pull up to 1 GHz bandwidth. With this solution, flexible load-pull tests for broadband and high modulation cellular standards such as 1024QAM and 502.11ax are possible. This system structure enables use for the entire design cycle: whether device characterisation, MMIC or power amplifier, design, verification testing or even product testing.
Analogous to load-pull, Focus also provides source pull using the Gamma Boosting Unit (GBU).
Active load-pull demands high power feedback amplifiers, because high power must be delivered due to the impedance difference with the DUT. This problem can be solved by using a hybrid configuration with the broadband passive tuners CCMT (fundamental) or MPT (harmonics). This can reduce the impedance difference or mismatch and also the required gain factor.
The digital tuner RAPID manufactured by subsidiary MESURO is the best candidate for such applications with high-speed load-pull (50 points/second), 100 MHz modulated signals for hybrid and harmonic tuning.
Low-Frequency Tuners
Low-frequency tuners (LFT) are based on the algorithms of MPT tuners (passive automatic tuners) for low broadband tuning ranges. For basic frequency tuning, 3-sections are used. If you are interested in harmonics, then six or more are needed. These tuners generally cover the frequency range from 10 MHz to 200 MHz and for each range the setup is different in terms of cables and capacities.