Test Plan Variants

There are now two test plan variants offered in the N7840A PNA Calibration Application:

• Normal Variant

• Factory Recommended Variant

The Factory Recommended Variant is the preferred variant because it optimizes test times with reduced connections and supports updated test equipment. Legacy ETE is supported in the Normal Variant. Some PNA models can only use one of the variants as explained in this topic. For models that can use either variant, test results will be identical in either variant.

Factory Recommended Variant Test Plan

Note the following for the Factory Recommended Variant test plan:

• The following PNA models are not supported:

  • N5230A/C with firmware version < A.09.00
  • N5244AS with Option H29
  • N5245AS with Option H29

  • N5247AS with Option H29

• N5230A/C models using the Factory Recommended Variant require firmware version ≥ A.09.00.

• The following PNA models can only use the Factory Recommended Variant:

  • PNAs with Low Frequency Extension (LFE options 205, 220, 405, 420, and 425)
  • N5290A and N5291A mm-wave systems
  • N5247B/BC [224, 423, 425] configurations with option E29

  • N522xB and N524xB, N5241BC, N5245BC, and N5247BC assigned by TME with option <SYN>. For an explanation of option <SYN>, see Option <SYN> in the Frequency Accuracy Performance Test topic.

• Includes all tests from the Normal Variant plus two new tests for LFE options:

  • Dynamic Accuracy at Low Frequency

  • Receiver Compression at Low Frequency

• The following tests have combined the below 50 GHz and above 50 GHz tests:

  • Maximum Leveled Power
  • Power Level Accuracy

  • Noise Floor

• Legacy test equipment such as 84xxA power sensors and Z5623A test sets are not supported in the Factory Recommended Variant.

Reduced connections with unknown thru functionality

Calibration Coefficients Performance Test and Noise State Calibration Coefficients Performance Test in the Factory Recommended Variant have been enhanced to use an unknown thru functionality that reduces the number of connections required in the test.

Reduced equipment mapping

For some tests, certain test equipment such as cables and adapters are no longer required to be mapped due to improved test processes. This will save the operator time when setting up test station.

Reduced power sensor connections

The Factory Recommended Variant supports USB U-series power sensors and flexible power sensor channel assignment Identifies the channel that a power sensor is connected to using the ability of "smart" sensors such as the N848xA and U848xA series to report their full model and serial number. which allows for connections on all four channels on the power meter:

• Standard channels A and B for N-series sensors

• USB channels C and D for U-series USB sensors

This flexibility significantly reduces the number of power sensor connections which in turn reduces overall test times. In some cases, the number of connections are reduced by more than half as shown in the examples below:

Normal Variant Test Plan

The Normal Variant allows the operator to use legacy test equipment such as 84xxA power sensors and Z5623A test sets. The following PNA models can only use the Normal Variant test plan:

• N5230A/C with firmware version below A.09.00
• N5244AS with Option H29
• N5245AS with Option H29

• N5247AS with Option H29