Generalized millimeter-wave distortion measurements over a wider range of time scales

Distortion measurements in mm-wave systems are becoming increasingly important and sometimes in the context of more complete digitally modulated structures. As at lower frequencies, multisine and complex envelope techniques can yield useful insight but now with wider instantaneous bandwidths and hence a wider range of time constants that can be studied. Side-effects can include more complicated calibrations (particularly for match-related effects) and synchronization requirements but these can be mitigated with an appropriate receiver structure. Using a W-Band upconverting system as a test bed, multisine intermodulation and multilevel pulsed envelope measurements covering ns-μs time ranges are examined in the sense of setup and calibration requirements, dominant uncertainty sources and possible DUT observations.