Round Robin Measurements

This feature allows you to measure more DUT ports than you have VNA ports. For example, if your VNA has 4 ports, you can still measure an 8-port DUT. PLTS guides you through the process.

Beginning with PLTS 2018, Round Robin measurements support 64 ports.

Measurements are displayed on the VNA screen as they are made. The reflection measurements are displayed in the upper window and the transmission measurements in the lower window as shown.

In addition, the PLTS supports the E5080A as well as 2-, 4-, 8-, 12-, and 16-port VNA systems.

Procedure

Start the VNA Calibration and Measurement Wizard as usual.
At the DUT Configuration dialog, select the number of DUT ports to measure. Also select the configuration of the DUT.
- Optional: click Load Round Robin or Recover Round Robin if you already had a Round Robin measurement in progress.
Perform or load a calibration as usual.
The following Select Parameters to Measure dialog appears:

All measurement parameters are selected by default. Check the parameters that you will measure, then check OK.

- Optional: Check one or more of the following:
- - Show Differential Parameters - Select differential parameters to measure.
  - All - All parameters selected.
  - All Thrus and Reflections - All parameters EXCEPT differential crosstalk measurements. For example, in the above images, DUT ports 3 and 4 ARE Thru ports of the same differential pair. Therefore, S43 and S34 are selected. However, DUT ports 4 and 5 are NOT in the same differential pair. Therefore, S45 and S54 are NOT selected.
  - All Reflections - All reflection measurements are selected, such as S11, S22, and so forth.
- Optional: When finished, click Save Parameter Set to save the selections.
- Click Load Parameter Set if you have already saved a measurement selection.

Click Next >.

The following dialog is presented to guide you through the measurement process:

Connect and Measure DUT dialog

Legend explaining the colored buttons:

Red button - Not yet measured. Click to make it Blue.
Blue button - Make the connections shown in the prompt, then click to make the measurement.
Green button - Measured. Optional: click to re-measure.
Light Green - Ideal values.
Grey button - Disabled measurements. These are filled with idealized values automatically.

Idealize Remaining Parameters - Click to fill the remaining measurements with ideal values (perfect Thrus or Reflections).

Save Measurement - Click to save this intermediate Round Robin session to a *.dat or *.snp file. This will allow you to exit PLTS, then resume the DUT measurement process at a later time.

Show Measurement List View - Check to replace the Matrix View with a list of connection steps as shown here:

Select the measurement parameters from the Data Browser dialog as usual.