RF system compensation is a required step to use multichannel relative phase and amplitude corrections on your system. Skip this step for 1-VST acquisition and generation configurations.

RF System Compensation (RFSysComp) adjusts the relative channel-to-channel phase and amplitude performance of the VSTs. A wideband signal is generated at the specified frequency, bandwidth, and reference/power level. Adjustments are calculated and stored in files in the public directory.

Note When using multi-VST (common LO) configuration, instruments must be addressed in the order of the daisy chain reference clock. The first instrument in the chain is considered the reference instrument. All adjustments are made relative to that instrument.
Figure 10. RF System Compensation State Machine

State machine for acquisition RF system compensation and generation RF system compensation.

  • Connected—A gRPC connection is established between the UI and ICsc gRPC server, no hardware is reserved, and settings are stored.

    To enter the Connected state:

    • Call Connect to establish a connection.
    • Call Abort from the Active state.
    • An error occurs when calling Start.
    • An error occurs during compensation.

    To exit the Connected state:

    • Call Start to transition to the Active State.
    • Call Disconnect to transition to the Disconnected state.
  • Active—Compensation is active.

    To enter the Active state:

    • Call Start from the Connected state.

    To exit the Active state:

    • Compensation completes successfully.
    • An error occurs; triggers transition to the Connected state.
    • Call Abort to transition to the Connected state.
    • Call Disconnect to transition to the Disconnected state.
  • Paused—Compensation is paused.

    To enter the Paused state:

    • Partial compensation is enabled and a compensation completed successfully.

    To exit the Active state:

    • Call Complete to transition to the Connected state.
    • Call Continue to transition to the Active state.
    • Call Disconnect to transition to the Disconnected state.

    • Definitions

  • Compensation Vector—Any combination of frequency, bandwidth/sample rate, and reference/power level have effects on the synchronization and timing performance. A compensation vector represents a given combination of those values. For example:
    • frequency = 6 GHz
    • bandwidth = 2 GHz
    • reference level = 0 dBm
  • Instrument Type—Adjusts the performance of instruments.
    • Acquisition: Adjusts the performance of a set of analyzers relative to the reference instrument.
    • Generation: Adjusts the performance of a set of generators. Requires an Acquisition RF System Compensation at the same compensation vector.
  • Compensation Type—Sets the compensation process.
    • Coherent: Compensation process that adjusts sample clock delay, sub-sample clock delay, and phase offset.
    • Aligned: Compensation process that completes a Coherent compensation first then adjusts the EQ filter coefficients and EQ filter gain of the instrument.
  • Synchronization Reference—Sets the referenced instrument when the Instrument Type is Generation.
    • None: Sets the reference instrument to the first analyzer or generator in the given instrument array.
    • Acquisition: Sets the reference instrument to the first analyzer in the given instrument array.
  • Compensation Reference—Sets the compensation adjustment when the Instrument Type is Generation.
    • None: Applies no adjustments to the analyzers.
    • Coherent: Applies the coherent RF compensation adjustments to the analyzers at the given compensation vector.
    • Aligned: Applies the aligned RF compensation adjustments to the analyzers at the given compensation vector.
    • Partial RF System Compensation: Compensates a portion of the total instruments at a time.