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Configure Channels

Depending on your instrument options, selecting Configure Channels from the System Menu opens one of the following two configuration selection screens:

• Four or fewer available configuration choices

• More than four available configuration choices

These screens allow you to select one (or more with Option 004) of the output configurations described below. The interactive block diagram in the Channel Configuration Area updates accordingly when you apply your configuration.

If you have Option 004, refer to Using the RF Channel Configuration Editor for more information.

Four or fewer available configuration choices
For instruments with four or fewer configuration choices, you can set the instrument’s configuration by selecting a new configuration and clicking Apply.

More than four available configuration choices
For instruments with more than four configuration choices, use the Configuration drop-down menu and the add/remove (+/-) buttons to reconfigure the available RF channels into Groups. Clicking Apply clears the current configuration and regroups channels as specified here.

Available Configurations

Configurations are available to provide easy setup for various signal-generation use cases. Configurations are applicable for instruments with Option PCH.

With Option PCH:

• Independent:

  • For M9383B/M9384B: RF is coherent and basebands (arbs) are synchronized when Synchronization Role is set with one channel as the primary and the other channel as the secondary.

  • For M9484C: After Synchronization Alignment as been run, RF is repeatably coherent and triggering can be synchronized using Global Trigger.

• Tx Coherent: RF is coherent and basebands (arbs) are always synchronized.

• Bonded: with M9384B Option CB4, and D20 or D21, or M9484C Option CB5 and R25, and N7653APPC, the two physical channels are represented as a virtual-channel, which is utilized to set up and play wide-bandwidth waveforms. An external combiner is required to join the two RF channels into a single port to the Device Under Test. Keysight provides bonding kit Y1166A for 14/20-GHz instruments, or Y1167A for 32/44-GHz instruments.

• MIMO: for M9484C with N7605AP0C, each signal emulates an antenna with fader processing capability and is connected to multiple RF channels.

  With Option 8SG, up to eight signals can be connected to two or four RF channels.

  Without Option 8SG, one signal can be connected to two or four RF channels.

Without Option PCH:

• Independent: Nothing is coherent or synchronized.

When Independent is selected, each RF channel has its own Signal block where you can select or generate a waveform to play on each path.

When 2 Tx Coherent or 4 Tx Coherent is selected, one signal is connected to two or four RF channels, respectively. When Signal Mode is Waveform, Analog Modulation or Single Tone, the same waveform data is played on all paths.

When MIMO 2 or MIMO 4 is selected, each signal in the signal block (up to eight) emulates an antenna equal to the number of signals at the transmitter, and is connected to two or four receivers (RF channels), respectively. Each receiver has data from all antennas at the transmitter. AWGN and Fader processing is available in these configurations.

When Bonded is selected, multiple instrument channels and an external combiner are used to yield a high fidelity wide-bandwidth signal greater than what can be achieved with a single channel. For example, an instrument that support 2 GHz of modulation bandwidth can generate a signal with up to 4 GHz of modulation bandwidth. The Bonded configuration presents the concept of a virtual channel which provides a convenient user experience for waveform setup and playback. High fidelity playback is achieved via a calibration process that must be performed at a given output frequency, power, and operating temperature. The calibration is performed using a Keysight X-Series Signal Analyzer (N9040B, N9042B, or N9030B). When in Bonded configuration both channels are dedicated for bonding purposes; remote control applications must not use SCPI commands which are not applicable when in the bonded configuration.

Configure Channels Settings

Select Configuration

Group Count

Group Configuration

Group Signal Count List

Group Signal Count

Signal Count

Group RF Channel Count List

Group RF Channel Count

Group RF Channel List

Select Configuration

For instruments with multiple RF channels, configurations will be assigned by “Grouping” RF Output channels by your signal generation use case:

• Independent – Each channel has its own frequency, power, and modulation output. With Option PCH the basebands of the channels can be synchronized.

• [M] Tx Coherent – With Option PCH, a single baseband is configured to provide vector modulation to [M] (two or four) channels. Each channel has its own frequency, power, analog modulation, and I/Q outputs.

• MIMO[M] – With Option PCH and N7605AP0C, a common signal set is configured to provide vector modulation for [M] (two or four) channels. Each channel has its own frequency, power, analog modulation, and I/Q outputs. For instruments without Option 8SG, MIMO is 1xM, for instrument with Option 8SG MIMO is NxM where N is based on the 1 to 8 Signals configured.

• Bonded – With Option PCH, N7653APPC, and CB4 or CB5, two channels are joined with an external combiner to provide a single signal to the Device Under Test. A calibration process using an external Keysight X-Series Signal Analyzer provides a high fidelity wide-bandwidth modulation. Adjustments, I/Q outputs, analog modulation, and RF Output settings (e.g. ALC, Atten Hold, corrections/de-embedded, etc.) are not applicable.

Group Count

Remote command only.

Query only command. Returns the total number of Groups in the selected configuration.

Group Configuration

Remote command only.

Query only command. Returns a particular Group’s configuration.

Group Signal Count List

Remote command only.

Query only command. Returns a comma separated list containing the signal count of each Group in the selected configuration.

Group Signal Count

Remote command only.

Query only command. Returns the total number of signals within a particular Group in the selected configuration.

Signal Count

Remote command only.

This query command returns the number of signal blocks available in the selected configuration.

In instruments without Option 8SG, the maximum number of signals is 1 per configuration group. With Option 8SG, the number of signals is dependent on the configuration of the group: for example, if the configuration group is Independent, then 8 signals are available, if the configuration group is Bonded, then 1 signal is available.

Group RF Channel Count List

Remote command only.

Query only command. Returns a comma separated list containing the number of RF Channels consumed by each Group in the selected configuration.

Group RF Channel Count

Remote command only.

Query only command. Returns the number of RF Channels consumed by a particular Group in the selected configuration.

Group RF Channel List

Remote command only.

Query only command. Returns a comma separated list of the specific channels consumed by a particular Group in the selected configuration.

For instance, querying Group 2 on a four-channel system with a configuration of Group 1: Bonded and Group 2: MIMO2 will return: “3,4” since Group 2 is consuming channels 3 and 4.

Related Topics

Using the RF Channel Configuration Editor