RF Measurement Devices

[margarette]

Hello. I tried transmitting an RF signal at 6 dBm (peak power) but an error occurs. I attached the screenshot of the error. From my understanding, it doesn't allow power levels greater than 5 dBm. I have tried working at power levels less than 5 dBm and they worked just fine. But why is the power level limited at 5 dBm? Thank you.

[James_M.]

Hello Margarette,

the message you're seeing is in fact a warning rather than an error (this you can tell by the status box having a check mark rather than an x). Warnings do not prevent the code from running; this particular warning indicates that you are trying to set the output power above the specified limits of the physical hardware, hence it's message:

'Requested attribute value exceeds device specification limits. Device performance is not guaranteed.'

So you can try running at the specified power level, but you may see clipping or distortion on your output.  If additional output power is needed, we recommend using an RF amplifier:

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/207935

The above device would allow you to achieve up to 24 dBm of power.

All the best,

James M.  |  Applications Engineer  |  National Instruments

[James_M.]

Hello Margarette,

the message you're seeing is in fact a warning rather than an error (this you can tell by the status box having a check mark rather than an x). Warnings do not prevent the code from running; this particular warning indicates that you are trying to set the output power above the specified limits of the physical hardware, hence it's message:

'Requested attribute value exceeds device specification limits. Device performance is not guaranteed.'

So you can try running at the specified power level, but you may see clipping or distortion on your output.  If additional output power is needed, we recommend using an RF amplifier:

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/207935

The above device would allow you to achieve up to 24 dBm of power.

All the best,

James M.  |  Applications Engineer  |  National Instruments