National Instruments mmWave, User Manual

Page 1: ...tion with the mmWave OTA Validation Test Software Notice The protection provided by this equipment may be impaired if it is used in a manner not described in the documentation Contents Hardware Overview 2 Software Overview 2 Hardware Components 4 mmWave OTA Validation Anechoic Chamber Exterior 4 mmWave OTA Validation Anechoic Chamber Interior 8 Getting Started 8 What You Need to Get Started 9 Oper...

Page 2: ... mmWave OTA Validation Anechoic Chamber Interior on page 8 mmWave OTA Validation Anechoic Chamber Exterior on page 4 What You Need to Get Started on page 9 Software Overview The mmWave OTA Validation Test Software comprises the following components for interfacing and controlling the mmWave OTA Validation Anechoic Chamber and instrumentation mmWave OTA Test Configuration UI Use the mmWave OTA Test...

Page 3: ...tor magnitude EVM Half power beamwidth HPBW Beam center Beam direction First null beamwidth Visualizations 1D cut analysis 1D polar plot 3D antenna pattern Heat map Best beam index Plugin Interfaces Use the LabVIEW plugin interfaces to customize and adapt the mmWave OTA Validation Test Reference Architecture for your testing environment To enable the highest degree of customization NI provides the...

Page 4: ...rface on page 33 mmWave OTA Test Visualizer on page 27 Antenna Plugin on page 33 Hardware Components mmWave OTA Validation Anechoic Chamber Exterior Top Bulkhead Notice To avoid damage to chamber connectors connect only cables that have the correct connector type 1A 2A 1B 2B 1A 2A 1B 2B 3A 4A 3B 4B VHD CI RJ45 1 USB 2 0 1 VGA RESE T A M E ST OP Butt on 15 1 DC USB 3 0 2 0 RF filte r The rma l T Ty...

Page 5: ...B 2 0 1 VGA RESE T A M E ST OP Butt on 15 1 DC USB 3 0 2 0 RF filte r The rma l T Typ e 1 2 1A 2A 1B 2B VHDCI RJ45 1 USB2 0 1 VGA RESET A M E STOP Button 15 1 Table 2 Connector Descriptions Connector Connector Type Use VHDCI VHDCI Connects to the PXIe 6361 Multifunction I O Module VHDCI connector for data acquisition of the state of the positioner This is required for autonomous operation RJ45 1 R...

Page 6: ...normal operation Rear Bulkhead 1A 2A 1B 2B 1A 2A 1B 2B 3A 4A 3B 4B DC USB3 0 2 0 RF filter Thermal T Type 1 2 1A 2A 1B 2B DC USB 3 0 2 0 RF filte r The rma l T Typ e 1 2 1A 2A 1B 2B VHD CI RJ45 1 USB 2 0 1 VGA RESE T A M E ST OP Butt on 15 1 Table 3 Connector Descriptions Connector Connector Type Use DC RF Filter Eight 4A 24 V filtered DC connectors 5 08 mm 8 position Supplies power to the DUT or ...

Page 7: ... USB Supplies a filtered USB connection into the chamber for any DUT needs Use the USB 3 0 1 5 m maximum length cable included in the chamber shipping kit to connect the chamber to your PC Note Use the AC switch on the rear of the chamber to power on the system Related Information External Connections on page 11 Operating the Chamber on page 10 mmWave OTA Validation Test Reference Architecture Nat...

Page 8: ...f rotation it holds only one antenna for the mmWave OTA Validation Test Reference Architecture Related Information Internal Connections on page 13 Getting Started Refer to the topics in this section to get started using the mmWave OTA Validation Test Reference Architecture Complete the tasks in the following table in sequential order to ensure your system is ready for use 8 ni com mmWave OTA Valid...

Page 9: ...rence Architecture Depending on your application you may require a different variation of the items listed below Contact the NI services personnel contracted on your project to help you determine which variation your application requires Required Hardware Components mmWave OTA Validation Anechoic Chamber Laser Alignment Kit Dual Polarized Measurement Antenna Fixture DRH50 Dual Ridge Horn Antenna F...

Page 10: ... Software for Instrumentation The following instruments require specific drivers that are not installed with the mmWave OTA Validation Test Software Refer to the instrument documentation available at ni com manuals for more information about installing required driver software PXIe 5831 Vector Signal Transceiver and mmRH 5582 mmWave Radio Head PXIe 6361 Multifunction I O Module PXIe 1095 Chassis o...

Page 11: ...s to verify the external and internal connections External Connections Ensure that all required instrumentation is properly configured with the mmWave OTA Validation Anechoic Chamber before use Note The following figure does not show the PXIe 5831 installed in the chassis or the required connections between the PXIe 5831 and mmRH 5582 Refer to the PXIe 5831 Getting Started Guide at ni com manuals ...

Page 12: ... mmWave Radio Head ALL PORTS ALL PORTS 50 50Ω Ω 2 4mm 2 4mm RX INPUT MAX POWER RX INPUT MAX POWER REF PWR REF PWR 30 dBm 30 dBm PMAX REF PWR 6 dB PMAX REF PWR 6 dB REF PWR REF PWR 30 dBm 30 dBm PMAX 36 dBm PMAX 36 dBm 0 0 1 1 8 7 3 4 6 5 2 1 Figure Callout Connection 1 The first mmRH 5582 module RF0 connects to the PXIe 5831 not pictured 2 The second mmRH 5582 module RF1 connects to the PXIe 5831 ...

Page 13: ...se 192 168 2 1 for the client PC If you are connecting multiple clients to the host chamber through a switch each client must have a unique IP address on the same subnet as the host Verify the Connection To verify that the chamber is connected to the client PC open a Command Prompt window and enter ping 192 168 2 10 Internal Connections The internal chamber connections may differ depending on your...

Page 14: ...ed Attaching the Reference Antenna The reference antenna verifies the functionality and integrity of the system during system calibration and ensures that the system is ready for testing your DUT 1 Mount the reference antenna to the azimuth axis as shown in the following figure 14 ni com mmWave OTA Validation Test Reference Architecture ...

Page 15: ...erwise leave the cable connected to the 2A port until the system calibration procedure is complete 3 Close the chamber door 4 Set the Elevation in the mmWave OTA Test Positioner SFP to rotate the positioner so the reference antenna points straight up toward the measurement antenna as shown in the previous figure Related Information Performing System Calibration on page 18 mmWave OTA Test Positione...

Page 16: ...a 4 Connect the opposite end of the cable connected to the interior chamber top bulkhead 2A port to port V on the antenna Aligning the Antennas Antenna alignment improves the repeatability and accuracy of your test The reference antenna data assumes that the antennas are perfectly aligned so alignment must be performed for each antenna setup Figure 1 Reference Antenna Pointing Misalignment To mini...

Page 17: ...the laser cross hits the center of the reference antenna the measurement antenna is aligned 4 Attach the reference antenna laser to the reference antenna fixture and plug the reference antenna laser USB cable into the USB port inside the chamber 5 Use the mmWave OTA Test Positioner SFP to move the laser until it is aligned to the center of the measurement antenna fixture 6 When the laser cross hit...

Page 18: ...er Meter Note The Rohde Schwarz NRP50S Power Meter requires software that is not included with the mmWave OTA Validation Test Software Install the power meter driver software before you complete the following steps 1 Connect the power meter USB cable to the PXI chassis USB port 2 Open the RF System Calibration Assistant and click Start Calibration 3 In the Load Configuration Dialog dialog box clic...

Page 19: ... in the PXIe 5831 Specifications document and to perform self calibration when the best accuracy numbers are desired 7 Click Next 8 In the De Embedding Resources window verify that the Resource Name and Resource Type are correct for the reference antenna Figure 3 De Embedding Resources Window mmWave OTA Validation Test Reference Architecture National Instruments 19 ...

Page 20: ...he graphs and values to ensure the results are as expected Click Accept Values or repeat the calibration if necessary d Optional For the second signal generator path disconnect the 2 4 mm m to 2 4 mm m cable from the power meter Connect the opposite end of the 2 4 mm m to 2 4 mm m cable connected to the interior chamber rear bulkhead 2A port to the power meter Repeat steps 11b 11c 12 When the Conn...

Page 21: ...self with the following settings before making changes to the default settings Generator Paths The power meter measures one signal generator SG path The Generator Paths window provides an example of how the SG system calibration works The SG path is connected to the reference antenna to calibrate the path loss on the system You can add as many paths as your application needs for your specific conf...

Page 22: ...Use the mmWave OTA Test Positioner SFP to verify that your DUT can move in all directions without collision Configure TestStand to include the following search paths including subdirectories in the search directories C Program Files National Instruments LabVIEW 2018 user lib OTA Test C Program Files National Instruments LabVIEW 2018 instr lib C Program Files National Instruments LabVIEW 2018 vi li...

Page 23: ...s mode drastically reduces test time The motor control sends a digital trigger that causes the instrumentation to execute the measurement at predefined points in the motion path The measurement results and absolute coordinates of the positioner are stored in a table to link each measurement with its exact position later during results processing During autonomous position sweeping motion is superv...

Page 24: ...ments National Instruments TestStand 2019 64 bit Examples OTA Test Sequences and open the CSV settings file Autonomous_TRP csv 2 Verify that the individual modules are named correctly in MAX If the names do not match either change the name in MAX to match the file or change the file to match your MAX settings 3 Open the Autonomous_TRP seq TestStand sequence located at C Users Public Public Documen...

Page 25: ...ioner SFP on page 25 mmWave OTA Test Visualizer on page 27 Software Reference Soft Front Panels mmWave OTA Test Positioner SFP The mmWave OTA Test Positioner SFP allows you to quickly manipulate the positioner You can complete the following tasks with the mmWave OTA Test Positioner SFP Move the azimuth or elevation independently Configure a sweep in both azimuth and elevation Configure the Absolut...

Page 26: ...and exit the SFP 7 Start Sweep Start a sweep 8 Settings Configure the absolute azimuth and elevation of the positioner Select the Set Absolute Home button to save the current location as the new home position 0 0 9 Sweeps Configure a sweep 10 Connected Reconnect to the positioner if the connection is lost The SFP attempts to connect to the positioner at startup RFmx Soft Front Panels Use the RFmx ...

Page 27: ...cated at Start All Programs National Instruments OTA Test Visualizer Figure 5 mmWave OTA Test Visualizer 1 3 2 4 1 Configuration Tab 2 Cut Analysis Tab 3 Plot Settings Tab 4 Plot Plane Window Refer to the following sections for more information about the configuration options in the mmWave OTA Test Visualizer Related Information File Format for Measurement Results on page 32 Configuration Tab Use ...

Page 28: ...s Window Setting Description Cut Settings Plane Selects the cut plane Desired Angle Selects the cut angle Lobe Detection Settings Beam Width Power Reduction Level Selects the beam width definition for the main lobe Minimum Side Lobe Detection Level Selects the beam width definition for the side lobes Plot Settings Tab Use this tab to configure the plot settings Window Setting Description Range and...

Page 29: ...how the beams are displayed on each graph However all graphs can also work with only one beam All plot values are references to the maximum EIRP found in the results file For example a value of 3 dB on the cut plot and a reference power EIRP of 15 dB means that the cut value is 12 dB Tip You can right click on the Plot Plane window to display the built in LabVIEW options such as exporting the imag...

Page 30: ...Polar Plot Visualization Example Polar Plot Single Beam 3D Pattern Plot Single Beam 3D Pattern Plot All Beams 30 ni com mmWave OTA Validation Test Reference Architecture ...

Page 31: ...Heat Map Visualization Example Heat Map Single Beam Heat Map All Beams mmWave OTA Validation Test Reference Architecture National Instruments 31 ...

Page 32: ...wever in certain cases the index that best suits the direction is not the expected index The visualization makes it easier to quickly detect a problem with your codebook File Format for Measurement Results You must save your measurement results as a CSV file to load them into the mmWave OTA Test Visualizer Figure 6 Example File Format Elevation and Azimuth Plot the measurement data with the values...

Page 33: ... import measurement data into OTAMI from a CSV file or you can add measurement data on the fly For an example on how to use OTAMI to import measurement data from a CSV file refer to the Results Example VI located at C Program Files National Instruments LabVIEW 2018 user lib OTA Test Measurement Interface Examples Antenna Plugin You can create a custom antenna plugin to add support for a specific a...

Page 34: ...tive database indexes that are currently stored in the beam database Set DB Beam Searches the beam database for the beam with the given index and stores it in the Beam class property This does not change the beam of the actual antenna until the Update method is called Antenna Plugin Interface The following VIs are used as the interface to the antenna plugin niOTA Antenna Initialize niOTA Antenna C...

Page 35: ...ents EULAs and third party legal notices in the readme file for your NI product Refer to the Export Compliance Information at ni com legal export compliance for the NI global trade compliance policy and how to obtain relevant HTS codes ECCNs and other import export data NI MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN AND SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY ...