基于FPGA的模拟信号源设计（中英文翻译）.docVIP

Choosing a signal generator for frequency-agile apps Depending on a signal generators primary use, or a companys budget, one of the various types of traditional signal generator designs may YIG-tuned or banded-synthesizer as typically been preferred over the others. However, the recent emergence of signal generators based on a synthetic-instrument architecture promises to change the selection process. In testing frequency-agile radios, finding a signal generator able to keep up with the desired frequency-hopping pattern on instrument with a very fast hopping rate and settling time limits the users options. If the test system were only required to produce simple frequency modulation, or only used as a fast hopping local oscillator, a fast-tuning signal generator would be fine. Unfortunately, this same signal generator is unlikely to produce the complex modulation required by the latest commercial wireless or military communication standards. As a result, designers have typically purchased two or more signal generators to perform unique tasks within the application, adding considerable expense. The introduction of synthetic-instrument (SI) signal generators consisting of an arbitrary-waveform generator (AWG) and a vector up-converter takes it possible to reduce the number of signal generators needed, and thereby reduce costs. What’s a synthetic instrument? As defined by the Synthetic Instrument Working Group (SIWG), a synthetic instrument is a combination of hardware and software modules concatenated together so they can emulate traditional instrumentation (see Fig. 1) while allowing flexibility in instrumentation configuration. Fig. 1. Synthetic-instrument architectures divide functions between hardware and software to increase flexibility. The SIWG is chartered with developing the standards for the interfaces between modules, so as to facilitate vendor and module interchangeability. This interchangeability would promote the longevity and