Noise considerations when determining phase of large-signal microwave measurements

Advances in microwave instrumentation now make it feasible to accurately measure not only the magnitude spectrum, but also the phase spectrum of wide-bandwidth signals. In a practical measurement, the spectrum is measured over a finite window of time. The phase spectrum is related to the position of this window, causing the spectrum to differ between measurements of an identical waveform. It is difficult to compare multiple measurements with different window positions or to incorporate them into a model. Several methods have been proposed for determining the phase spectrum such that multiple measurements can be effectively compared and utilized in models. The methods are reviewed in terms of the information required to determine the phase and compared in terms of their robustness in the presence of measurement noise