Below are the questions asked during the live event, along with their respective answers.
Q: The advantages for conducted emissions and radiated debugging are obvious. Given the slow rotation rate of turntables and antenna height scan, how can these methodologies speed up the time required to maximize emissions?
A: Time Domain Scan greatly increases the measurement speed. Depending on the speed of the turntable it may be faster to measure with the weighted detector rather than conduct a pre-scan and follow up with the weighted detector sequential measurements on the critical frequency list.
Q: Are the current certification labs using the real time FFT frequency measurements method?
A: There is a difference in the terminology we use at R&S differentiating the concept of real-time (spectrum analysis) and FFT frequency ‘measurements’. Real time spectrum analysis does use FFT technology to calculate the spectrum, but real-time mode does not produce CISPR 16-1-1 compliant EMC measurements. Real-time mode is also at a fixed frequency.
FFT ‘measurements’ can be thought of us CISPR 16-1-1 compliant EMC measurements and this type of measurement is referred to as Time Domain Scan. However, we don’t use the real-time term to describe Time Domain Scan because real-time mode is at a fixed frequency and Time Domain Scan typically scans through the spectrum and different frequencies (conducted band being an exception).
So yes, current certification labs current use FFT measurements (Time Domain Scan) to make their certified measurements. And more and more labs are starting to invest in Real-time Spectrum Analysis to provide their customers with a powerful EMI Diagnostic tool.