rf list mode

[Al-rawachy]

HI all,

Sorry for this generic question, I've tried to google it, but unfortunately I couldn't found any answer, I was wandering if there is someone can help me to know the difference between RF list mode in RFSA and the list mode in RFSG and when can I use both of them.Thanks in advance

[PWoodward]

Hi Al-Rawachy,

RFSA stands for Radio Frequency Signal Analysis and RFSG stands for Radio Frequency Signal Generation. So the difference between the two is reading (analysing) and writing (generating) the RF signals.

RF List mode is specific to certain RF hardware that allows it to do some HW timed deterministic operations. There is a white paper document that explains it nicely here: http://www.ni.com/white-paper/10312/en/

I hope this helps?

Pete

NI Applications Engineer

[Al-rawachy]

Dear Peter,

Thank you for your feedback, actaully I have known these things, but my question was so generic, in other words, how can i decide to use list mode for analyzer or for use the list mode for generator, or use both of them with synchronizing as mentioned in the ni examples. cause i've seen some examples use only rfsa list mode, others use only rfsg list mode, and also some other examples use both them ( and as I know both of generator and receivers that I have support this feature (as mentioned in the attached photos). thanks in advance

Best regards

Azam

[thoalfukar]

Follow up

[Al-rawachy]

HI All,

I am Using RFSG NIPXIe-5673E  and RFSA NIPXIe-5663E.In my code which is being attached, I am trying to do power sweep using RFSG list mode. but it is not working with me. Can any body please help me to find out how to use RF list mode in appropriate way by checking my code. 

In addition, I would be grateful if you could help me to know when can I use rf list mode for receiver or generate or both together especially my RFSA & RFSG both supported this feature. 

Thanks in advance

Regards

[Al-rawachy]

Follow the attached code

[SachaE]

Hi Al-rawachy, I haven't got my PC over xmas to look at the code, but if you've followed the example code in the example finder you should be fine.
For the reasons to use list mode, there are times when you are commanding or being told that something is occurring in the device you're connecting to. If the device is outputting a signal and can be triggered or gives a synchronised trigger out then you can use RFSA to stay in step with that output. You save overloading the IQ data from the ADC or looking in the wrong place in terms of frequency. In the frequency case, that enables a slow version of hopping where you know exactly where you would be looking in what order.
Sometimes it's the other way around - you want to send your signal out (so RFSG) and the device may let you know when it has jumped to a different power reference level or frequency.
In some cases, the requirement may be to simply test fast. Say an amplifier - a simple two port device - by using list mode and passing triggers from say the RFSA session to say it is ready for another capture and the RFSG to go to the next list item by using the PXI backplane you save the time of a software reconfiguration.
Ultimately list mode is about staying in touch with the relative timing of things the outside world is doing even when some of those things are caused by your code and system.
Can you describe your application or area of research so we might advise more specific use cases for list mode?
Cheers
Sacha

[SachaE]

Hi,

  looking at the code, I think you may be missing a step here.

You're using the TCLK but separately on the RFSA and RFSG (and with only one RFSG in TCLK, it's a bit pointless), and you're also using timer event intervals on the RFSG, so I'm assuming you're trying to output a whole chain of power levels, and then take all the data back in one record from multiple analysers. Is that correct?

With the separation of the RFSA and RFSG with TCLK, you don't know exactly when one starts relative to the other.

I'm also assuming your calculation for record length is samples to read * IQ Rate must be at least as long as the timerinterval * number of steps?

Finally, you've said that "it's not working for you" - what is it doing - anything?

Thanks
Sacha

[Al-rawachy]

Dear Sacha,

Thank you so much for your reply, actually, I am using 5 generators not only one, but I attached the simplest copy of the code becasue I want to know why the power sweep doen't work with me. The full code attached with 5 generators. Also I used Two analysers because I am focusing on only RFSA 5 but it doesn't show me the right values unless I attached the RFSA1 with it becasue It only one has the LO attached with it.

Regarding the Tclk, I've tried to combine them together (RFSG& RFSA) but it shows me an arror. So I forced to seperate them. Do you mean that the Tclk is not working in this situation? 

Thanks for your help and sorry for this long message.