The burgeoning advancement in system integration and high-speed data converters has rendered small form factor- high-performance radio frequency (RF) systems such as phased-array antennas (PAA), more practical. Their use cases have expanded to a variety of communication and RF sensing applications using an integrated RF front end with high-speed data converters as common architecture.  In this paper, we will discuss the performance characterization challenges of highly integrated digital and RF mixed devices.  We will look at the RF paths in digital beamforming, or software defined radio (SDR) devices, RF transceiver ICs, and high-speed data converters. A new digital and RF cross-domain stimulus/response method will be introduced to show how efficiently it characterizes the RF performance of a digital and RF mixed device, including frequency responses, receiver noise figure and IP3.

While awaiting delivery or while hardware is in use, users look to Keysight's VNA Simulator to utilize the same VNA firmware as their physical VNA without the hardware at hand. VNA Simulator provides a means for software development without connecting to any hardware and can also be utilized as a training tool for new users to familiarize with VNA UI.

In modern communications systems, modulation quality measurements of system components continue to get more demanding and complex.   This presentation provides an update on new capabilities the PNA-X offers to address these challenges.  It includes the ability to measure figures of merit such as EVM and ACPR under varying load conditions with a modulated input signal.  The advantages that the internal DDS sources and the VSA link offer when measuring extremely wideband, high frequency signals such as those used in 6G research is also presented.