Expanding PXI 5660 using Ascor 7208 downconverter (thirdparty)

[VADrew]

I am trying to use an Ascor 7208 downconverter (2.7 GHz to 6.0 GHz range) to expand the capabilities of a PXI 5660 (9kHz to 2.7 GHz range) setup.  Does anyone have experience doing this, and if so, can you please provide some example code showing how these two work together?

Thank you!

[Kenn_N]

Hey VADrew,

Thanks for contacting National Instruments support.  We do not have this hardware to test at the moment, but you would have to use the 5620 in conjuction with this external downconverter. And you need to make sure that the IF frequency of downconverter falls with in the IF range of 5620. Also, hopefully the Ascor downconverter can export it's 10MHz clock.

Let us know if we can be of further help.

Regards,

[VADrew]

I made a mistake, I am actually using the PXI 5661 (5600 downconverter coupled with a 5142 digitizer).  The Ascor 7208 is made to integrate with the PXI 5660, I will be sure to post when I am successful in doing so.

[Kenn_N]

Hey VADrew,

Thanks for the quick reply.  The same considerations will need to be applied with the 5142 digitizer, so let us know how it works out. You may need to simply use the NI-SCOPE driver API instead of the RFSA since you won't be using the 5600 downconverter. 

Take care.

Regards,

[VADrew]

Ken,

A little more detail on what I am doing:

I am generating a signal between 500kHz and 3GHz which is being sent through a test system(we are verifying routing so the output will equal the input, we also know what the output should be).  Therefore, we need to read overall frequencies from 500kHz to 3GHz; the PXI 5661 will read values up to 2.7GHz and the Ascor downconverter will read values from 2.7 to 3.0GHz (i.e., it cannot read values below 2.7Ghz).  So, I think I can achieve this by modifying the existing RFSA Getting Started Spectrum.vi in two ways:

1.   By turning on the bypass of the Ascor if the frequencies are below 2.7 GHz and off if they are above 2.7 GHz
2.   By modifying the existing code to allow for these higher frequencies (I currently get an error if the center frequency is above 2.7 GHz)

Please let me know if this approach sounds reasonable or if I am oversimplifying, any additional advice (especially on how to allow for these higher frequencies) would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks