Evaluating phase noise power spectrum with variable frequency resolution

Measurement of phase noise affecting sinusoidal carriers is dealt with here. A new method is proposed, mainly intended to overcome the limits of two digital signal-processing solutions, already presented by the authors and devoted, respectively, to far-from-the-carrier and close-to-the-carrier phase noise analysis. Thanks to an original measurement procedure, the method optimizes the frequency resolution in the evaluation of phase noise power spectral density; in particular, the closer to the carrier the analysis, the finer the frequency resolution granted. It is possible to obtain accurate and reliable results in a wide range of frequency offsets with no need for heavy computational burden and expensive hardware resources of the adopted data acquisition system. The results of a number of experiments, conducted on actual sinusoidal carriers through a measurement prototype implementing the method, confirm the efficacy and reliability of the proposal.