4 ms·

I wonder if this tool can help with EMC compliance testing. My TinySA needs an LNA, so I wonder if this has the required noise floor.

raziel2701 3mo ago
I don't see any professionals turning to this for EMC/EMI testing, they already have all the test equipment for that job.
- peteforde 3mo ago
  That's absolutely missing the point. EMC/EMI testing is expensive, time consuming and requires scheduling and experiment design. Being able to do local soft-run testing on-site to be sure that you eliminate the easy 90% of issues before you get to the lab would be a huge win.
  - lambda 3mo ago
    I think that for a single device, this probably wouldn't help much over just having a more traditional signal analyzer, either benchtop or handheld. If you know what you're testing, just using a signal analyzer around it will give you a good first pass picture of emissions, and probably be much more informative and precise than this. This seems more useful for finding unknown or hidden RF sources, for instance looking thorugh an entire building to find unknown RF sources, or maybe a whole complex assembly like a car or aircraft.
    - peteforde 3mo ago
      It is surreal to me that a comment stating that being able to do a certification pre-check on site before booking testing got downvoted. Sure, maybe this isn't the device for that... but the idea that what I said was objectionable is just bizarre.
- varispeed 3mo ago
  How about "non-professionals"? It could be useful to check device before sending for pre-compliance / compliance checks and save money - that would avoid very expensive iterations.
  - lambda 3mo ago
    But there are already benchtop or handheld signal analyzer for that purpose. This seems more like a tool for checking across entire large assemblies like an entire building, car, aircraft, etc, for unknown sources. If you have an individual discrete device that you're already testing, just using traditional instrumentation seems reasonable, but on a large, complex assembly, I can see it being useful. Also useful for things like detecting if a particular antenna is working without actually going up there to measure near it; if you have a MIMO setup with multiple antennas, this might make it easier to check if all of them are working correctly when mounted in inconvenient areas.
tliltocatl 3mo ago
I don't think it's any good for that. It's relatively narrowband and not the frequency you usually have issues with EMC on (5 to 6GHz - unless you are specially transmitting on this frequency you are unlikely to emit anything there).

raziel2701 3mo ago

I don't see any professionals turning to this for EMC/EMI testing, they already have all the test equipment for that job.

peteforde 3mo ago
That's absolutely missing the point. EMC/EMI testing is expensive, time consuming and requires scheduling and experiment design. Being able to do local soft-run testing on-site to be sure that you eliminate the easy 90% of issues before you get to the lab would be a huge win.
- lambda 3mo ago
  I think that for a single device, this probably wouldn't help much over just having a more traditional signal analyzer, either benchtop or handheld. If you know what you're testing, just using a signal analyzer around it will give you a good first pass picture of emissions, and probably be much more informative and precise than this. This seems more useful for finding unknown or hidden RF sources, for instance looking thorugh an entire building to find unknown RF sources, or maybe a whole complex assembly like a car or aircraft.
  - peteforde 3mo ago
    It is surreal to me that a comment stating that being able to do a certification pre-check on site before booking testing got downvoted. Sure, maybe this isn't the device for that... but the idea that what I said was objectionable is just bizarre.
varispeed 3mo ago
How about "non-professionals"? It could be useful to check device before sending for pre-compliance / compliance checks and save money - that would avoid very expensive iterations.
- lambda 3mo ago
  But there are already benchtop or handheld signal analyzer for that purpose. This seems more like a tool for checking across entire large assemblies like an entire building, car, aircraft, etc, for unknown sources. If you have an individual discrete device that you're already testing, just using traditional instrumentation seems reasonable, but on a large, complex assembly, I can see it being useful. Also useful for things like detecting if a particular antenna is working without actually going up there to measure near it; if you have a MIMO setup with multiple antennas, this might make it easier to check if all of them are working correctly when mounted in inconvenient areas.

tliltocatl 3mo ago

I don't think it's any good for that. It's relatively narrowband and not the frequency you usually have issues with EMC on (5 to 6GHz - unless you are specially transmitting on this frequency you are unlikely to emit anything there).