background image

Picosecond Timestamp Words Format 

The two 32-bit words timestamp allotted for picoseconds are arranged as below. 
 

Table 29:  

64-bit or Two Words Picosecond Timestamp Format 

31  30  29  28  27  26  25  24  23  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15  14  13  12  11  10 

Timestamp 

– picoseconds, Word 1 (63..32) 

Timestamp 

– picoseconds, Word 2 (31..0) 

Data Payload Format 

The data payload of an IF Data packet contains a contiguous sequence of the Data 
Samples from an IF Data Sample stream. The number of words in the data payload is 
variable from packet to packet, and can be determined at the receiving end of the link 
from the Packet Size by subtracting the number of words dedicated to the header, trailer, 
and other additional fields. The presence or absence of these fields can be determined 
entirely from information in the header. 
 

52.  The maximum number of data payload 32-bit words shall be 2

16

-16 and must be a 

multiple of 16.  Limitation due to embedded data transferring engine. 

53.  The data payload shall consist of an integer number of contiguous 32-bit words. 
54.  IF Data Packets convey either the time domain in-phase (I or real) and/or quadrature (Q 

or imaginary) components forming the Complex Cartesian samples. 

{I

14

Q

14

} Data Payload Format 

55.  Each I or Q data is a signed two's-complement 14-bit data with signed extended into 16-

bit.  Thus, each component is an integer ranging from -8192 to +8191 (or ±2

13

). 

56.  The I-component is in the upper 16-bit of each data word followed by the Q-component in 

the lower 16-bit, as seen in 

Table 30

 

Table 30:  

{I

14

Q

14

Data Payload Arrangement with Upper 2-bit of Each Item Signed Extended to

 {I

16 

Q

16

31  30  29  28  27  26  25  24  23  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15  14  13  12  11  10 

0bxx 

Item 1 (Sample 1 I

14

)

 

0bxx 

Item 2 (Sample 1 Q

14

)

 

0bxx 

Item 3 (Sample 2 I

14

)

 

0bxx 

Item 4 (Sample 2 Q

14

)

 

0bxx 

Item 5 (Sample 3 I

14

)

 

0bxx 

Item 6 (Sample 3 Q

14

)

 









 

Example conversion, given the big-endian bytes 0x0018FFFE received: 
 

 

Split into two data items (i = 0x0018, q = 0xFFFE) 

 

Parse signed two's complement (i = 24, q = -2) 

 

Compute fractional value if needed: i/2

13

 and q/2

13

 

{I

14

} Data Payload Format 

57.  Each I data is a signed two's-complement 14-bit sample with signed extended into 16-bit.  

Thus, each component is an integer ranging from -8192 to +8191 (or ±2

13

). 

58.  The first I sample is in the upper 16-bit of each data word follows by the second I sample 

in the lower 16-bit, as seen in 

Table 31

 

Summary of Contents for RTSA 7500

Page 1: ...ime Spectrum Analyzer Programmer s Manual Version 3 6 2 Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation 2955 Kerner Blvd San Rafael CA 90901 Phone 415 453 9955 Fax 415 453 9956 info berkeleynucleonics com www berkele...

Page 2: ...ms of BNC s warranty policy all costs of repairs and shipping will be charged directly to the Customer BNC will warrant repaired units for a period of 90 days from date of shipment from BNC to the Cus...

Page 3: ...on 19 Digital Signal Processing 21 Digital Down Converter 21 Triggers 21 Frequency Domain Triggering 22 Periodic Triggering 23 External Triggering 23 Capture Controller 23 Trace Capture Control 24 Swe...

Page 4: ...re MODE 46 SYSTem COMMunicate LAN APPLy 47 SYSTem COMMunicate LAN CONFigure 47 SYSTem COMMunicate LAN DNS 48 SYSTem COMMunicate LAN GATEway 48 SYSTem COMMunicate LAN IP 48 SYSTem COMMunicate LAN NETMa...

Page 5: ...Commands 68 OUTput IQ MODE 68 OUTput IQ CONNector INVersion 69 TRIGger Commands 69 TRIGger TYPE 69 TRIGger LEVel 70 TRIGger PERiodic 70 TRIGger STATus 70 TRACe Commands 71 TRACe BLOCk DATA 71 TRACe BL...

Page 6: ...overing RTSA 7500 84 Appendix C SCPI Command Syntax 85 Entering Commands 85 Notation 86 Parameter types 86 Default Units 87 Appendix D SCPI Status and Event Registers 88 Status Byte Register SBR 88 St...

Page 7: ...ics Engineers IF Intermediate Frequency IQ In phase and Quadrature IQIN External I and Q Input LAN Local Area Network MB Mega Bytes MSB Most Significant Byte NB Narrowband NCO Numerically Controlled O...

Page 8: ...6 Association between Time and Frequency Domain 22 Figure 7 Synchronized Sweep using Sync Word 27 Figure 8 Synchronized Sweep with a Missed Capture 27 Figure 9 Connectivity and 4 Different Packet Stre...

Page 9: ...eference Level Field Format 34 Table 20 RF Frequency Offset Word Format 35 Table 21 Extension Context Packet Class Structure 35 Table 22 Extension Context Indicator Field Positions 35 Table 23 Receive...

Page 10: ...ink to the referenced source that can be clicked on Normal Bold Font When used within a sentence or a paragraph it emphasizes an idea to be paid attention to particularly Red Font Conveys special info...

Page 11: ...s who hold a valid end user license BNC provides technical assistance 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time Monday to Friday Contact us at microwavesupport berkeleynucleonics com or by calling 1 415 453 9955 or 1...

Page 12: ...ing and capture control The Model 7500 is designed for stand alone remote and or distributed wireless signal analysis It is ideal for monitoring management and surveillance of transmitters whether the...

Page 13: ...r spectral analysis with MATLAB applications The Python API is open source under BSD licensing Python API handles the low level details of real time acquisition signal processing and visualization and...

Page 14: ...hat only the application that has the lock can perform the task OPTions Returns comma separated 3 digit values to represent the hardware option s or features available with a particular RTSA 7500 mode...

Page 15: ...iple applications are connecting to the unit it is advised that only one of those is controlling the unit at any time The Architecture The RTSA7500 is an integrated wireless radio receiver and digitiz...

Page 16: ...q Range MHz IBW MHz DSP Data Output Format1 None CIC Dec Frequency Shift ZIF Zero IF Receiver 50 max 100 I14 Q14 I14 Q14 I14 Q14 SH Super Heterodyne Receiver 50 max 402 I14 I14 Q14 4 I14 Q14 SHN3 SH R...

Page 17: ...lass section page 36 for the exact VRT data output formats as well as packing method RF Receiver Front End The upper portion of Figure 2 shows a block diagram of the RFE within the RTSA 7500 The archi...

Page 18: ...d for in software Several options such as calibration or dynamic offset compensation in software have been described in the open literature Figure 3 DC Offset with Amplitude Roll Off at 50MHz If the a...

Page 19: ...t End Control Status Commands SCPI Command Description INPut Page 59 ATTenuator Enables disables the front end s 20dB attenuation on some models VARiable Sets the variable attenuation for RTSA7500 418...

Page 20: ...us of the RFE s PLL OUTput Page 67 IQ MODE Selects the IQ output path to be from the external connector or the digitizer See SCPI Command Set section page 42 onward for further details on each set of...

Page 21: ...nt Triggering can be considered a means of filtering signals of interest for the purposes of subsequent visualization and or analysis The following describes the different types of triggers and their...

Page 22: ...maximum trigger level to use is 10dBm and when the attenuation is out INPut ATTenuator OFF the maximum is 30dBm The threshold error is approximately 3dBm or less when the trigger level is 20dBm above...

Page 23: ...ides a means of defining and performing simple traces and complex sweeps For example it allows for the definition and execution of a complex sweep the interruption of that sweep the execution of a spe...

Page 24: ...The SWEep capture control provides the ability to define and execute simple or complex sweeps A sweep setup consists of defining a list or multiple lists and executing one of the defined lists with e...

Page 25: ...p entry SAVE Saves the current editing entry to the end of the list or before the specified ID location in the list when the integer value is given ATTenuator Enables disables the front end s 20dB att...

Page 26: ...en completed Master and slaves are also individually configured with a delay variable SYSTem SYNC WAIT nsec with a resolution of 8 nsec This delay wait time accounts for the typical worst case front e...

Page 27: ...Figure 8 Synchronized Sweep with a Missed Capture See SWEep Commands section page 73 for further interface details...

Page 28: ...e RTSA7500 settings information associated with the immediate following IF data packets Figure 9 Connectivity and 4 Different Packet Streams Supported by RTSA7500 Table 7 The Categories of VRT Packet...

Page 29: ...marizes numerically the list of Stream Identifiers used by BNC for different Packet Class Stream Each ID will be mentioned in the subsequent corresponding Packet Class sections Table 8 A List of Strea...

Page 30: ...ber of 32 bit words in the entire context packet including all headers the context indicator field and context sections 9 Stream Identifier shall be the 32 bit word 0x90000001 10 Timestamp Integer Sec...

Page 31: ...all use the 64 bit two s complement format as shown in Table 12 This field has an integer and a fractional part with the radix point to the right of bit 20 in the second 32 bit word This gives the RF...

Page 32: ...21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Pkt Type 0 1 0 0 C R T S M TSI TSF Pkt Count Pkt Size Stream Identifier 1 word Timestamp Integer Seconds 1 word Timestamp Integer Picoseconds 2...

Page 33: ...f the other bits in the indicator field will be also set indicating which values have been changed and have their updated values in the context fields that follow It is possible that a context packet...

Page 34: ...13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Reserved Integer Ref Level Frac Ref Level The value of the Reference Level field has a range of nearly 256dBm with a resolution of 1 128dBm 0 0078125dBm For examples a...

Page 35: ...g all headers the context indicator field and context sections 35 Stream Identifier shall be the 32 bit word 0x90000004 36 Timestamp Integer Seconds shall be in UTC format and will represent the numbe...

Page 36: ...ections Further information on the algorithm and its usage will be provided in a future release Contact BNC s Support for more information if necessary New Stream Start ID The New Stream Start ID indi...

Page 37: ...shall be set to 01 indicating that integer seconds part of the timestamps are in UTC 44 TSF field shall be set to 10 indicating that the fractional part of the timestamp measures in real time picosec...

Page 38: ...e domain in phase I or real and or quadrature Q or imaginary components forming the Complex Cartesian samples I14Q14 Data Payload Format 55 Each I or Q data is a signed two s complement 14 bit data wi...

Page 39: ...n Given the big endian bytes 0x0018FFFE then I24 0x18FFFFE Given the big endian bytes 0xFF800034 then I24 0x800034 or 8388556 Compute fractional value if needed i 223 Trailer Word Format Table 33 Trai...

Page 40: ...ynchronized Sweep with IQout AppNote for important information 69 The Over range Indicator shall be set to 1 if any data value in the packet has reached full scale at the input of the digitizer 70 The...

Page 41: ...Over range 1 The over range threshold is the absolute full scale of I or Q data For WB ADC the over range threshold is at Vpeak 1 0 V and for NB ADC Vpeak 1 6 V Enable the ATTentuator if it is not yet...

Page 42: ...o RTSA 7500 for more details SCPI Language Overview In the early 1990s a group of instrument manufacturers developed Standard Commands for Programmable Instrumentation SCPI for controlling programmabl...

Page 43: ...and status registers as defined in the Appendix D SCPI Status and Event Registers section They are mandated by the IEEE Caution The mandated IEEE SCPI commands are not affected by RST command CLS The...

Page 44: ...ied the register is cleared Syntax ESR Parameter None Response integer Description Refer to the Appendix D SCPI Status and Event Registers section for the ESR register bit definition IDN Returns the R...

Page 45: ...register SRE query returns the decimal sum of the enabled bits in the SRE register The decimal sum is the binary equivalent of the 8 bit mask See Figure 13 for the SRE STB register bits mapping Syntax...

Page 46: ...will be put into the manual mode in other words process such as streaming trigger and sweep will be stopped The capturing process does not wait until the end of a packet to stop it will stop immediate...

Page 47: ...COMMunicate LAN CONFigure The set command will store the new LAN configuration type to be applied to the RTSA 7500 This command does not take effect until SYSTem COMMunicate LAN APPLy is sent please...

Page 48: ...7 100 10 SYSTEM COMMUNICATE LAN DNS SYST COMM LAN DNS CURRENT SYSTem COMMunicate LAN GATEway The set command will store the new LAN gateway to be applied to the RTSA 7500 This command does not take ef...

Page 49: ...fected by power on STATus PRESET or RST The query will return the maskaddress set or that of the actual current configuration if one is not issued The CURRENT query will return what is currently and a...

Page 50: ...that the flush command should be used when switching between different capture modes to clear up the remnants of packet within the RTSA 7500 Caution Issuing SYSTem FLUSh any time during streaming or s...

Page 51: ...connected or the last one remained that application will automatically has the lock The last application that requested successfully has the lock until another application attained it Any application...

Page 52: ...None OUTput IQ MODE is defaulted to DIGitizer 004 RTSA7500 4XX P Model None 1 ELO and or WBIQ are special RTSA7500 variants not available on all RTSA7500s Contact BNC for more details on the usage of...

Page 53: ...ies the current date of the RTSA7500 When the date is set the change is applied to the real time clock RTC of the RTSA7500 system and the SYSTem TIME SYNC field is changed to DISable automatically The...

Page 54: ...O unit ns RST State 0 Examples SYST TIME ADJUST 10 ns SYSTEM TIME ADJUST SYSTem TIME SYNC This command selects the time synchronization source for RTSA7500 and the query returns the source selected C...

Page 55: ...his command returns the current status of the time synchronization Further information will be provided in a future revision of this document Syntax SYSTem TIME SYNC STATus Parameter None Response TBD...

Page 56: ...tructures as illustrated in Figure 13 SCPI defines the QUEStionable OPERation Instrument SUMmary and INSTrument registers in addition to those in IEEE 488 2 These registers conform to the IEEE 488 2 s...

Page 57: ...tus register bits mapping Syntax STATus OPERation EVENt Parameter None Response integer Output Values 0 32767 215 1 RST State None Example STAT OPER STATus OPERation CONDition This command queries the...

Page 58: ...bit in the QSR will only appear set if and only if its event has occurred and the corresponding bit in the QSE is also enabled refer to Appendix D SCPI Status and Event Registers Caution This query c...

Page 59: ...3 in the STB register being set See Figure 13 Syntax STATus QUEStionable ENABle integer STATus QUEStionable ENABle Parameter Response integer Output Values 0 32767 215 1 RST State 0 Examples STAT QUES...

Page 60: ...d their variants only For RTSA7500 2XX 3XX 408 and their variants see INPut ATTenuator command instead Syntax INPut ATTenuator VARiable integer dB INPut ATTenuator Parameter Attenuation dB Input Data...

Page 61: ...n ON OFF 1 0 Query Response 1 0 Output Data Type Integer RST State 1 for all available stages Examples INPUT GAIN 2 ON INP GAIN 1 INP GAIN 1 0 Note The reference level context information see page 33...

Page 62: ...notes If OUTput IQ MODE CONNector is to be used with SH or SHN mode see the Important Note listed under that command Syntax INPut MODE ZIF DD HDR IQIN1 SH SHN2 HIF4 INPut MODE Parameter Response ZIF...

Page 63: ...ce REFerence PLL INT EXT SOURce REFerence PLL Parameter Response INT EXT I O Data Type Character RST State INT Examples SOURCE REF PLL INT SOUR REF PLL SOURce REFerence PLL RESET This command resets t...

Page 64: ...f 8 to 1024 a 4 stage CIC of rate 4 to 512 is applied first for each I and or Q data The resulting I and or Q data pipes are then passed to a FIR filter with a fixed decimation of 2 to arrive at the r...

Page 65: ...e of programmable frequencies varies Check with your product s data sheet For example RTSA7500 408 has a range of 0 1 to 8GHz while RTSA7500 427 has 0 1 to 27GHz Syntax SENSe FREQuency CENTer NRf unit...

Page 66: ...ith External Local Oscillators AppNote for more important details Syntax SENSe FREQuency LOSCillator 1 2 3 Parameter None Query Response integer 0 LO Off RST State 1 Example FREQ LOSC 2 SENSe FREQuenc...

Page 67: ...er None Query Response 0 1 1 Reference PLL is locked 0 Reference PLL is not locked Output Data Type Integer RST State N A Example LOCK REF SENSe LOCK RF This command queries the lock status of the RF...

Page 68: ...E OUTput IQ MODE Parameter Response CONNector DIGitizer I O Data Type Character RST State DIGITIZER Examples OUT IQ MODE CONNECTOR OUTPUT IQ MODE OUTput IQ CONNector INVersion This query only command...

Page 69: ...trigger level at any single sample within the defined frequency range then the trigger will occur and the associated IQ data will be stored The frequency range encompasses all FFT bins of which their...

Page 70: ...Context Class subsection of the VITA 49 Radio Transport Protocol section for further details on the VRT packet organization To do a single block capture of continuous data the total number of samples...

Page 71: ...ts of data will be returned In other words TRACe BLOCk DATA needs to be sent only once to get SPP PACKets block of data The returned data in each VRT packet is presented in continuous hexadecimal chun...

Page 72: ...aders and any optional fields see IF Data Packet Class for more details The 16 bit Packet Size defines the total number of 32 bit words in each packet not samples which could have different bits per s...

Page 73: ...Changes can be sent after TRACe STReam STOP command is issued Syntax TRACe STReam STARt ID Parameter Stream ID value Input Data Type Unsigned 32 bit integer Response None RST State 0 Stream stopped Ex...

Page 74: ...is issued If trigger is defined for an entry captured data is returned only if a trigger event occurred Otherwise when the DWEll time is reached the trigger is aborted and the next sweep entry will b...

Page 75: ...the beginning of new data packets belonging to a new sweep start Even though the start ID value is optional a VRT Extension Context Packet with the New Sweep Start ID page 36 value will always be sent...

Page 76: ...the specified index No new entry is created until SWEep ENTRy SAVE command is issued and any changes will not affect the existing entry Syntax SWEep ENTRy COPY integer Parameter Sweep entry integer i...

Page 77: ...req step freq shift decimation attenuator IF gain HDR gain SPPacket packets dwell second dwell microsecond trigger type NONE PULSe WORD LEVel freq start freq stop amplitude Output Data Type Comma sepa...

Page 78: ...this command Examples SWEEP ENTR DEC 16 SWEEP ENTRY DEC SWEep ENTRy FILTer PRESelect Refers to the INPut FILTer PRESelect section page 60 for the definition of this command Examples SWEEP ENTR FILT PR...

Page 79: ...100000000 Examples SWEEP ENTRY FREQ STEP 10 5 MHZ SWE ENTRY FREQ STEP 4000 KHZ SWEEP ENTR FREQ STEP 10000000 SWEEP ENTR FREQ STEP SWEep ENTRy FREQuency SHIFt Refers to the SENSe FREQuency SHIFt secti...

Page 80: ...d microsecond Allowable Values 0 4294967295 or 232 1 0 0 infinity Query Response integer integer I O Data Type Integer Comma separated integers RST State 0 0 infinite dwell time Examples SWEEP ENTR DW...

Page 81: ...strated in the following figure A RTSA 7500 when powered up will have a dynamic or preassigned static IP address which when bind with a port will form a network socket To successfully establish a conn...

Page 82: ...sion is used to determine how to parse the response message Note that the bracket is for clarity of the explanation purpose only not to be included in the message A RTSA 7500 with the discovery versio...

Page 83: ...Rce command Command Entry Correct Entry SOURCE SOURce source SOUR sour Incorrect Entry SOU SOURC sourc Note At the end of each SCPI command string whether a single command or multiple commands separat...

Page 84: ...dix point Ex 1 234 or 1 0 or 0 0 NR3 Scaled explicit decimal point numeric value with and an exponent Ex 2 73e 2 or 2 351e2 NRf NR1 NR2 NR3 NRr Non decimal numeric value such as hexadecimal octal or b...

Page 85: ...ionable Register Summary This bit is not used and is always 0 4 Message Available MAV This bit is set if there is any unread data in the Output queue 5 Standard Event Status Bit ESB This bit is set if...

Page 86: ...termine the state of operation It is read by issuing a STATus OPERation EVENt command Bit Name Description 0 3 not used These bits are not used and is always 0 4 Measuring MEAS Set to indicate that a...

Page 87: ...eter value A parameter was received that is NOT allowed for the particular command 230 Data corrupt or stale Possibly invalid data new reading started but not completed since last access 240 Hardware...

Page 88: ...gister v1 0 ESR Query Event Status Register v1 0 IDN Query device identification v1 0 OPC Operation Complete TBD OPC Query OC TBD RST Reset to factory default v1 0 SRE integer Service Request Enable b...

Page 89: ...ENTer NRf unit Sets the center frequency of the RFE v3 0 CENTer MAX MIN IF non zero integer Queries the IF frequencies that are used for the current input mode and center frequency v4 3 2 LOSCillator...

Page 90: ...es the settings of an existing sweep entry into the current settings for quick editing v3 1 COUNt Gets the number of entries available in the list v3 1 DELETE integer ALL Deletes a specified entry or...

Page 91: ...PACKets page 71 v3 0 PPBlock SPPacket As defined in TRACe SPPacket page 72 v3 0 SPPacket TRIGger LEVel As defined in TRIGger LEVel page 69 v4 1 0 LEVel TYPE As defined in TRIGger TYPE page 69 v3 1 2 P...

Page 92: ...task such that only the application that has the lock can perform the task v3 0 OPTions Returns comma separated 3 digit values to represent the hardware option s or features available with a particul...

Page 93: ...AX MIN STReam STARt integer Initiates the capture storage and streaming of IQ data v3 1 STOP Stops streaming v3 1 TRIGger Page 69 LEVel NRf unit NRf unit NRf unit start stop level Sets the frequency r...

Page 94: ...tium May 1999 version 1999 0 http www spiconsortium org 2 VITA Radio Transport VRT Draft Standard VITA 49 0 2007 VITA Standard Organization 31 October 2007 Draft 0 21 http www vita com 3 IEEE Standard...

Page 95: ...on IF gain change settling time It is no longer applicable as the issue is resolved v3 0 September 03 2013 Updated this document to correspond with the capabilities of RTSA7500 Contact Support for lis...

Page 96: ...larified the IQmeasured parameter in the VRT s Reference Level section RST value for INPut GAIN NB is changed from 0 to 10dB v3 2 2 April 14 2014 Enabled STATus TEMPerature and SYSTem TIME query only...

Page 97: ...tor INVersion Enable frequency level trigger command TRIGger LEVel Caution note for using external 10MHz refence source in the SOURce REFerence PLL command v3 3 1 Aug 11 2014 Corrected the equation fo...

Page 98: ...is not available for 418 and 427 models Consistency clean up for some SCPI commands v3 6 0 Jan 15 2016 Added WBIQ and P values to SYSTem OPTions command a note in IDN regarding the model string return...

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