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Frequency selective power sensor

Figure 1: Power sensor NRQ6 (Courtesy of Rohde & Schwarz)

Figure 1: Power sensor NRQ6
(Courtesy of Rohde & Schwarz)

Frequency selective power sensor

A frequency selective power sensor uses the measuring principle of a calibrated receiver to measure the RF power. In contrast to the measurement method using a thermistor measuring bridge, this measurement principle is frequency-dependent and can exclude the RF-power of unwanted frequency components.

The mechanical structure is no longer a solitary measuring device, but only a small sensor, which transmits the measured values via USB or LAN cable to a computer for display. The desired center-frequency and bandwidth can be set via software on the sensor. The measurement sensitivity achieved with these sensors exceeds that of thermistor measuring bridges by several powers of ten. When using several such sensors, a phase difference between the RF sources can be measured.

Attenuator
(additional
sensors)

Figure 2: Measurement setup with frequency-selective power sensor, the router would only be required if several sensors are used.

PC
Router
Sensor
Attenuator
(additional
sensors)

Figure 2: Measurement setup with frequency-selective power sensor, the router would only be required if several sensors are used

PC
Router
Sensor
Attenuator
(additional
sensors)

Figure 2: Measurement setup with frequency-selective power sensor, the router would only be required if several sensors are used (interactive picture)