tinySA

Design and functionality

Content
 tinySA design
◦ Design goals
◦ RF architecture options (Zero IF, I/Q with low IF, high IF)
◦ Key functions and selected HW (attenuator, LPF, Mixer, LO, BPF, log detector)
◦ Bonus functionality (high input and signal generator)
◦ Raw measurement performance and limiting factors
◦ UI
◦ Putting it in a box
 Spectrum Analyzer
◦ Calibration and self test
◦ Measuring in the frequency domain, level and frequency setup (spur free dynamic range)
◦ Measuring in the time domain (level display unit, triggering )
◦ Manipulating traces and trace calculations (normalization and compensation)
◦ Tweaking the display (speed versus accuracy)
◦ Getting data with markers (noise power measurements)
◦ Built in Measurement functions (channel power, THD, IP3, Harmonics, modulation depth)
◦ Adding functionality (LNA, tracking generator, scope sync and listen)
 Signal generator
◦ Frequency and level control
◦ Modulation
◦ Sweeping
 User community and Web assets
◦ [Link]/tinySA
◦ [Link]/wiki
◦ Youtube channel
Design goals
 Standalone portable SA
 Maximum retail price 50$
 Usable by novice SA user
 Reliable measurements
 Spur free
 All the functions of a big SA
 Frequency range from (almost) zero to
above 200MHz (for HF designs)
 No need for very narrow RBW (use your
favorite SDR)
RF architecture options(1)
 Generic setup of SA :Variable frequency mixer for conversion to
fixed frequency, fixed frequency resolution filters and power
detector

 Zero Hz IF: Mixer with LO at input frequency

◦ Pro:
 Low frequency low pass filters as resolution filters
◦ Con:
 Gap at “zero” Hz
 LO needs to go as low as lowest input frequency
 Band pass filters needed before mixer to eliminate spurs from LO harmonics
 I/Q with low IF: Like RTL-SDR
◦ Pro:
 LO can be above or below RX frequency
 Resolution filters at fixed low IF frequency in DSP
◦ Con:
 Limited mirror suppression in I/Q combiner
 Band pass filters before mixer needed to eliminate spurs from LO harmonics
RF architecture options(2)
 High IF:
◦ First mixer converts to above the maximum input
frequency for filtering and down conversion to
frequency of resolution filters (classic heterodyne)
◦ Pro:
 Low pass filter before and band pass filter after mixer
eliminate mirrors.
 Down converter can be I/Q with low IF and DSP resolution
filters
◦ Con:
 LO range from max freq to twice the max freq
 Complexity: Extra IF, extra mixer and extra filters
 BW of 1st IF filter must be narrow to prevent mirror in I/Q
stage
High IF key components options
 Mixer
◦ Solid state Gilbert:
 Pro: Conversion gain
 Con: Noise and high current consumption for high IIP3
◦ Solid state switching:
 Pro: Excellent dynamic range and low noise
 Con: Difficult to realize above 100MHz
◦ Double balanced diode mixer
 Pro: Low noise and high IIP3
 Con: Conversion loss (7 to 13dB) and LO drive power required

 1st IF filter
◦ Must have narrow BW for one step down conversion to resolution filters
◦ LC filters: cheap but wide
◦ Helical filters: expensive
◦ Cavity filters: large and expensive
◦ Lumped elements filters: Too large for PCB when well below 1GHz
◦ SAW filters: cheap and sufficiently narrow, especially near 433MHz
Key function selection(1) USB
LO1 MCU

LO 2
Disp
Input Log
Atten LPF Mix 1 BPF Mix 2 VGA Filter det

 Atten: Integrated 6 bit step attenuator 0-31.5dB

◦ Must have well defined attenuation over entire frequency to avoid calibration need.
◦ Required for mixer protection and assessment of harmonics/spur free dynamic range
 LPF: 9th order Elliptic low pass filter with 350MHz corner frequency
◦ Commercial available filters not steep enough
◦ High corner frequency supports higher max input frequency
 Mixer 1: ADE-25MH. Double balanced level 13 diode mixer
◦ Better noise/IIP3 performance versus power compared to active mixers.
 LO 1: SI4432 TX 240-960MHz LO and +20dBm output power amplifier
◦ Sufficient power to drive the AD-25MH at its required +13dBm
◦ Frequency range sufficient for 0-350MHz Input range and 433MHz first IF
◦ Phase noise not very good
 BPF: two 433MHz SAW filters with LC matching
◦ Sufficient narrow to avoid images after mixer 2
 MCU STM32F072
 No gain blocks before mixer 2. Dynamic range would require too much current.
Key function selection(2) USB
LO1 MCU

LO 2
Disp
Input Log
Atten LPF Mix 1 BPF Mix 2 VGA Filter det

 Mixer 2, LO 2, filters and Log detector: all integrated in SI4432

◦ Dual I/Q mixer to low IF at 937kHz
◦ I/Q IF digitized.
◦ Resolution filters 3kHz – 600kHz in DSP
◦ Image suppression only 30dB.
 No problem due to narrow BPF as image is two times IF away.
◦ Log power detector with 120dB range and 0.5dB resolution
◦ Uses large range internal AGC range to compensate for limited bits in
ADC.
◦ AGC range matched with Phase Noise performance
Bonus functionality

 SI4432 contains both TX and RX, only one can be active

 Whole signal path before Mixer 2 is bidirectional.
 TX in the RX SI4432 is used to create a 0-350MHz -76dBm to -6dBm
signal generator with low harmonics (BPF+LPF)
 RX of LO SI4432 is used for “high input” (240-960MHz)
 LO SI4433 output used for “high output” (240-960MHz)
 Both “high” functions have limited performance.
 SI4432 fixed frequency output used for calibration generator at 30MHz
Raw Measurement Performance

IIP3 +17dBm Phase noise at 1MHz -121dB

DANL -148dBm/Hz
Limiting factors
 Phase noise: Comparable to Rigol DSA815
 Dynamic range limited for close by signals (within 1MHz) due
to phase noise and ADC resolution, similar to Rigol DSA815
 Amplitude uncertainty 2dB, comparable to Rigol DSA815
 DANL of -148dBm/Hz, comparable to Rigol DSA815 without
LNA
 Lowest RBW 3kHz: not low enough to fully measure audio
modulation performance
 Power level resolution of 0.5dB.
 Measuring below 1MHz requires careful setup of attenuation
and phase noise reduces dynamic range
 Lower RBW will lead to (substantially) increased sweep time,
no FFT mode
UI
 LCD + resistive touch, Jog button
 Control by PC over USB
 Remote display/touch from PC
 UI approach similar to nanoVNA
 Main UI elements
Markers Menu
Status
panel

Traces
on grid

Scan range
 Putting it in a box
USB-C

Linear
supply

LO

Attenuator
LPF Mixer
RX+BPF

Up to 2
hours
Calibration and Self test
 Why Level calibration?
 Some manufacturing variation in loss in
LPF and BPF
 Calibration uses 30MHz signal of known
level

 Selftest validates whole low input path

 Selftest was able to detect bad clones
Measuring in the frequency domain
 Scanning speed dependent on many parameters
 Lower RBW increases scan time but reduces noise floor
 Narrower scan takes less time unless RBW is also reduced
 Less scan point reduces scan time unless RBW was already at
maximum

Full scan at default settings Full scan with RBW of 32kHz takes 26s
takes 400ms but reduces noise floor with 10dB
Assessing harmonics
 Signal level and internal attenuation determines level of internally
generated spurs
 Spur Free Dynamic Range (SFDR) is maximum level difference that
can be observed without internally generating spurs.
 Use internal attenuator to asses harmonics

Is the second harmonic under Increasing the internal attenuation to

marker 2 internally generated? 4dB removed the second harmonic so
It was internally generated
Measuring in the time domain
 A selective power meter
 Scan time between 2ms and 600s
 Pre/mid/post up/down level trigger
 Much larger dynamic range than a scope
 Useful for studying dynamic behavior of amplifiers

1.8ms scan with -40dBm trigger 1.1s scan with post trigger to show
full event
Changing the level unit
 Level can be displayed in dBm, dBmV, dBuV, Volt and Watt
 Scan time between 2ms and 600s
 Single, auto and normal scan
 Can be used to assess AM and FM modulation
 Linear unit shows 0.5dB power resolution as steps in signal level

Measuring level in mV of 2kHz Slope detection in uV of 2kHz FM

100% modulated AM signal Modulated signal with 2kHz deviation
Multiple trace and calculations
 3 independent traces available
 Each trace can be enabled/disabled or frozen
 Traces can be subtracted from each other
 Each trace can have calculation over multiple scans:
Min Hold, Max Hold, Average

Mobile phone base station with Wide band noise source averaged and
max hold(red), min hold(green) stored (green) and subtracted
and current(yellow) signal from live trace (yellow)
Create static trace with trace table
 A static trace be defined by 6 points and
optionally shown on the display
 Static traces can be used to display limits
or to compensate for known frequency
dependencies as specified in datasheet

Static trace table used to Static table trace used to compensate

quickly assess if any signal goes measurement for frequency dependent
above measurement limit sensitivity of antenna
Tweaking the display(1)
 Scan points can be 51,101, 145 or 290
 Scan speed can be increased with some reduction in
accuracy
 Allows balancing between speed and detail of information
shown
 Speedup is useful for fast feedback when tuning HW

35% AM modulated signal with Reducing scan points, setting FAST

default settings. 2s scan time scanning and enabling fast speedup
results in 200ms scan time
Tweaking the display(2)
 Waterfall (small and large) for
monitoring a spectrum over time
 Big number display

Monitoring frequency shift Displaying the value under the marker

over time as big number
Measuring with markers
 Maximum 4 markers active
 Manual positioning of tracking for auto peak search
 Display signal level at marker in selected unit
 Or used as delta marker referring to any other marker
 Markers can be put on any trace
 Noise markers remove impact of selected RBW
 Doing the setup for a specific measurement can take some time!

Tracking markers automatically Noise marker shows DANL/Hz

Find the strongest signals Using this number you can calculate
the tinySA NF: 25dB
Measurement functions(1)
 Perform quick setup of range and markers
 Optimize internal settings for specific
measurement if needed
 Calculate additional information

Harmonic measurement function Measuring OIP3 of amplifier

quickly sets up to measure
fundamental and 3 harmonics
Measurement functions(2)
 Perform quick setup of range and markers
 Optimize internal settings for specific
measurement if needed
 Calculate additional information

Measuring the width of an FM SNR measurement using channel

signal power to integrate noise power
Measurement functions(3)
 Perform quick setup of range and markers
 Optimize internal settings for specific
measurement if needed
 Calculate additional information

Measuring AM signal with 2.5kHz Measuring FM signal with 1kHz

modulation at 30% depth modulation and 35kHz deviation
Measurement functions(4)
 Perform quick setup of range and markers
 Optimize internal settings for specific
measurement if needed
 Calculate additional information

Measuring THD, 10 harmonics Measuring internal phase noise at

found 100kHz offset. This is the lower
limit that can be measured
Extending functionality(1)
 LNA can be adding supplied from internal +3Volt

 In low mode the LO can be

output through the high port to
create a tracking generator
Extending functionality(2)
 The high port can output a pulse at the start of each low
input sweep for synchronization of other equipment

 A simple HW modification enables you to listen to the

demodulated signal using a regular headset