Agilent Technologies U2000 Series
Additional Information[edit]
When configuring the Agilent Technologies U2004A be aware of the following.
There are four settings that can be set from the RadiMation® software. The ones that have influence on the measurement time are filter, measure rate and ranging.
Here are the explanations from the settings.
Zeroing Method
Here you select the zeroing method used. This setting has no influence on the speed or accuracy.
Filter:
When you use auto sampling for the filter setting the settling times are related to the dBm value. Check the spec-sheet on page 16 for a tabel on the times the powermeter needs to settle related to the dBm value.
Due to long measurement times it could raise problems if ‘auto-filter’ is selected. Eg. -40 dBm value translates to 42 sec on 'normal' speed and 24 sec on 'double' speed.
It probably is better to select a fixed filter number, but which filter should be selected is however depending on the expected powerlevels that are being measured. For more information on this setting please check the manual on the Keysight website. On page 43 there is a paragraph about measurement speed and accuracy.
This is important to read as it tells you the trade-offs between speed and accuracy.
Measure rate:
Measure rate generally can be set to 'x2' (also called 'Double') This speeds up the measurement (See the table mentioned earlier)
Ranging
The ranging parameter determines if the 'High' power path or the 'Low' power path or 'Auto'-selection is being used, as described on page 11 of the datasheet. This also can have influence on the measurement time.
Conclusion
As you see these parameters influence each other. So the optimum setting for these can differ. It's also depended of the input level and it could be needed to have different settings to run different tests. Another aspect is the accuracy and the speed you need and which settings are optimal.
If you find yourself switching between a set of optimal settings for different tests you could make separate test-sites. These would have the same devices but different settings for the powermeter.
Eg. one for very quick but not so accurate tests and one for the opposite.