Jackson Labs PHASE STATION 53100A, User Manual, Page: 131 / 225

PhaseStation 53100A User’s Manual V1.04 25-Apr-2022 131
PhaseStation 53100A Measurement Roles
The PhaseStation 53100A differs from earlier direct-digital instruments in that all four of its
internal ADC channel inputs are user-accessible. For simplicity’s sake, the 53100A is typically
operated in one of several predefined “measurement roles,” in which the individual channel
inputs and jumper positions are assumed to be configured specifically for the selected task with
their per-channel controls populated accordingly, or in a user-defined role in which the channel
controls may be freely assigned. Not all of the information needed to take advantage of these
capabilities can be accommodated in the acquisition dialog help text, so we’ll look at the details
here.
Color-keyed diagrams for each role appear below in which
red
corresponds to external
reference source connections, blue to connections made to the device(s) under test, and orange
to the SMA jumper positions associated with the role. All of the remaining jacks that do not
appear on the diagram for a given measurement role may be left unconnected.
Measure single DUT with single external
reference
This is the default measurement role, which is based on the factory-default jumper positions shown
above. In this configuration, a single measurement will be recorded when the
Start measurement
button is pressed. Depending on which measurement type(s) are selected, the measurement will
include a phase data record based on the phase differences at channels 3 and 1, as well as cross-
correlated phase noise and/or AM noise records based on independent acquisition of the signals
present at channels 3-1 and 4-2.
The DUT and reference frequencies displayed in the legend table will be rounded to the nearest 100 kHz
when this role is selected. The frequency- and phase-difference plots will represent the fractional
frequency difference between the measured DUT signal and the displayed DUT frequency in the legend
table. The frequency count chart will inherit the accuracy of the reference source at channel 1, given
the assumption that the reference frequency is in fact an exact multiple of 100 kHz.
Application note AN 53100A-1 ,
Oscillator Measurement and Calibration with the PhaseStation 53100A
provides a practical introduction to the single DUT/single reference measurement role, based on a wide
variety of real-world test scenarios.