The Mission
Antenna characterization and EMC testing both rest on a dependable swept or stepped carrier. Antenna ranges measure pattern, gain, and return loss across frequency, while EMC immunity and pre-compliance work injects controlled signals to see how a device responds. Neither task needs exotic modulation. What they need is a clean tone, accurate level, and a reliable sweep that the rest of the measurement chain can trust.
The Challenge
The source's own spectral purity sets the noise floor of an antenna measurement, so harmonics and spurious content show up as artifacts in the pattern if the generator is not clean. EMC pre-compliance adds a different demand: broad frequency coverage and a controllable sweep so a device can be walked across the band. A compact, often flange-mounted or USB-powered source is welcome here, since antenna positioners and chambers rarely have spare rack space.
Recommended Berkeley Nucleonics Solutions
The RFS-1000 is purpose-built for this work: an ultra-compact, USB-C powered, flange-mount CW and sweep source covering up to 42 GHz (RFS-1420), ideal for mounting close to an antenna under test. For a full-featured bench source, the Model 845 covers 100 kHz to 26.5 GHz with clean CW and sweep plus full modulation when immunity testing calls for it.
Where sub-6 GHz coverage is enough, the Model 835 provides a cost-effective 9 kHz to 6.1 GHz clean source with sweep, drawing only 12 W. For an embeddable, phase-coherent flange-mount module to 40 GHz, the Model 866-M brings low spurious content and passive cooling to fixed or chamber installations.
Why It Works
A clean, low-spurious source keeps the generator from writing its own artifacts into an antenna pattern, so the data reflects the antenna and not the instrument. Wide, controllable sweep handles both pattern measurement across frequency and EMC immunity scans. And the compact, flange-mount and USB-powered options in this family fit where bench instruments cannot, mounting near the antenna or inside a chamber without consuming a rack.
Getting Started
Berkeley Nucleonics applications engineers help match the right source, channel count, and options to your test plan. Tell us your frequency span, switching budget, and channel needs, and we will recommend a configuration and arrange a demo.
Contact info@berkeleynucleonics.com or call 800-234-7858. Browse the full family on the RF & Microwave Signal Generators documentation page.