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Automatic measurement of the working band of a digital attenuator based on virtual instrument

 

SUN Tian-xi(孙天锡), WANG Ya-jun(王亚军)

 

(School of Physics and Mechanical & Electrical Engineering of Xiamen University, Xiamen 361000, China)

 

Abstract:To measure the working band of a digital attenuator automatically, a program based on virtual instrument was carried out, using Agilent E8362B network analyzer as its measuring tool. In the program, the attenuation values can be automatically written into Excel table to form the frequency-attenuation curve. Finally, through analyzing the attenuation in different frequency, the best working band of the digital attenuator can be determined easily, and the whole process is automated. Compared with the traditional way of changing the measured parameters manually and recording the measured data one by one, the developed method in the paper can avoid the cumbersome manual operation and its possible errors to improve the measurement accuracy and efficiency.

 

Key words:microwave attenuator; working band; GPIB interface; virtual instrument; computer automation

 

CLD number: TN715 Document code: A

 

Article ID: 1674-8042(2012)01-0018-04  doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8042.2012.01.004

 

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