L8990M Switch Matrix Support

This topic guides you through the following:

• Overview

• Starting the L8990M PLTS Calibration & Measurement Wizard

Overview

PLTS supports the Keysight L8990M-0LZ switch matrix, this capability calls the L8990M-0LZ switch matrix support function in latest  Keysight VNA enhanced TDR (Option S9x011B, revision 11 Feb 2022 or later) and require VNA firmware A.15.60.xx or higher.

The PLTS  L8990M Switch Matrix Calibration include two parts, Tier 1 and Tier 2 calibration.

• Tier 1 Cal is performed at the end of switch matrix test ports 1 - 4,  which is one full 4-port calibration.
• Tier 2 Cals are performed at the end of switch matrix test ports 5 - 20, which are multiple 1-port calibrations.
• The number of calibrations and connections depends on the number of switch matrix test ports. In “4-Port VNA + L8990M-0LZ 20-Ports Switch Matrix” configuration,using a 4-port ECal, user need to connect the ECal 5 times in total. Behind the scenes, there are one 4-port ECal calibration and thirty-two 1-port  ECal calibrations performed.

Physical Configuration

•        4U Frame

•    4x SP6T, 8x transfer switches, 16x semi-rigid cables for connecting switch module to module.

Starting the PLTS L8990M Calibration & Measurement Wizard

The L8990M switch matrix calibration employs the same wizard using the PLTS Cal and Measurement Wizard. Learn more Calibration and Measurement Wizard

The wizard will guides you through all the Calibration and Measurement .

1. First, enable the switch matrix capability  by clicking Tools->User Preferences->Measurement,  and check Use Switch Matrix.

2. Next, click the Use switch matrix L8990M. From the drop-down menu choose detected device,  or keying the specify VISA address for the L8990M.

3. By default, the number of  DUT Port  is 20 for the L8990M configuration.

4. When performing a new calibration, the first step is Tier1 Cal which calibrates the switch matrix test ports 1 - 4 using an Ecal. After completing the Tier1 calibration, save under a calset name.  

Note: The L8890M switch matrix calibration only support the Ecal and not the mechanical Cal Kit.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions, and complete the calibration for Test Port 5 - 20. This Tier2 Cals calibrate at the end of switch matrix test ports 5 - 20, which are multiple 1-port calibrations.

6. If a previous calibration was done and saved, user can choose to load the existing calibration data.

7. After the calibration , user can choose which parameters to measure.

8. Click the Measure button, the port switching will take place automatically. Users can choose whether to have the switch path de-embedded or not.

9. At the end of the measurement, user will get a 20-port .dutfile.