R&S
®
ZVL
System Overview
Basic Concepts
Quick Start Guide 1303.6538.62-01
64
Active Traces
If a trace is selected in order to apply the trace settings, it becomes the active trace. In
manual control there is always exactly one active trace, irrespective of the number of
channels and traces defined. The active channel contains the active trace. In remote
control, each channel contains an active trace; see section Active Traces in Remote
Control in the help system.
3.1.2.2 Channel
Settings
A channel contains hardware-related settings to specify how the network analyzer
collects data. The channel settings can be divided into three main groups:
E
Control of the measurement process
(Sweep)
E
Description of the test setup
(Power
of the internal source,
IF filter
Bandwidth
and
Step Attenuators, Port Configuration)
E
Correction data (Calibration, Port Extensions)
The
Channel
menu provides all channel settings.
Sweep initialization
After changing the channel settings or selecting another measured quantity, the
analyzer needs some time to initialize the new sweep. This preparation period
increases with the number of points and the number of partial measurements involved.
It is visualized by a Preparing Sweep symbol in the status bar:
All analyzer settings can still be changed during sweep initialization. If necessary, the
analyzer terminates the current initialization and starts a new preparation period.
During the first sweep after a change of the channel settings, an additional red asterisk
symbol appears in the status bar:
3.1.3 Data Flow
The analyzer processes the raw measurement data in a sequence of stages in order to
obtain the displayed trace. The following diagram gives an overview.
The diagram consists of an upper and a lower part, corresponding to the data
processing stages for the entire channel and for the individual traces. All stages in the
diagram are configurable.
All stages are described in detail in Chapter 4 of the help system,
GUI Reference.
