Not exactly sure if this is the right forum section, but this one is the best I could find for such a question...
Hi,
I am an electronics engineering university student. I am just starting my journey with all the measurement equipment. I gained a reasonable knowledge about digital oscilloscopes and know I am starting to learn the fundamental principles of spectrum and vector analyzers...
As I know so far, a spectrum analyzer is an instrument that shows the spectrum content of a signal. It depicts the amplitude of the signal in dBm (most often) and the frequency span on the X axis. No problems so far...
But spectrum analyzers very often come with an integrated tracking generator. As I understand, the generator generates signal in the defined frequency range and passes that signal through a system. Then the spectrum analyzer measures only the frequency response of a mentioned system.
On the other hand, there is also an instrument called a vector analyzer. As far as I know (again), vector analyzers measure S parameters by measuring the transmitted and reflected power levels. They provide one with a graph having dBm on the Y axis and frequency on the X axis (same as the spectrum analyzer.)
In the past I was thinking that the only difference between a frequency response measurement using a spectrum analyzers with TG and measurement with a vector analyzer is that spectrum analyzer measures the voltage of a signal, and the vector analyzer measures the power level, but recently one of my professors mentioned that in the RF tech field, a ,,dBm" is almost always referring to power (dBm is a power unit with respect to the 1 mW.)
So my question is:
Is there any difference between a spectrum analyzer with TG and a vector analyzer, because they both measure system`s frequency response? Can you use one instead of another? If anything that I wrote does not make any sense, please let me know, I was basing it on my knowledge, but like I said, I am only a beginner and I would love to hear any professional observations. Thank you in advance.
Hi,
I am an electronics engineering university student. I am just starting my journey with all the measurement equipment. I gained a reasonable knowledge about digital oscilloscopes and know I am starting to learn the fundamental principles of spectrum and vector analyzers...
As I know so far, a spectrum analyzer is an instrument that shows the spectrum content of a signal. It depicts the amplitude of the signal in dBm (most often) and the frequency span on the X axis. No problems so far...
But spectrum analyzers very often come with an integrated tracking generator. As I understand, the generator generates signal in the defined frequency range and passes that signal through a system. Then the spectrum analyzer measures only the frequency response of a mentioned system.
On the other hand, there is also an instrument called a vector analyzer. As far as I know (again), vector analyzers measure S parameters by measuring the transmitted and reflected power levels. They provide one with a graph having dBm on the Y axis and frequency on the X axis (same as the spectrum analyzer.)
In the past I was thinking that the only difference between a frequency response measurement using a spectrum analyzers with TG and measurement with a vector analyzer is that spectrum analyzer measures the voltage of a signal, and the vector analyzer measures the power level, but recently one of my professors mentioned that in the RF tech field, a ,,dBm" is almost always referring to power (dBm is a power unit with respect to the 1 mW.)
So my question is:
Is there any difference between a spectrum analyzer with TG and a vector analyzer, because they both measure system`s frequency response? Can you use one instead of another? If anything that I wrote does not make any sense, please let me know, I was basing it on my knowledge, but like I said, I am only a beginner and I would love to hear any professional observations. Thank you in advance.