Texas Instruments CC2520, User Manual

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6 RF testing
RF testing is best performed by using SmartRF Studio together with the Development Kit.
Connect the SmartRF05EB to a PC using the USB interface. Start SmartRF
Studio and select
the SmartRF05DK tab. Select the evaluation board with the CC2520EM (several boards can
be connected to a PC at once) - it should be listed as “CC2520 – new device” – and click the
start button. In the main SmartRF Studio window settings can be changed, tests performed
and registers adjusted. RF measurement equipment may be connected to the SMA connector
on the EM.
Please see the SmartRF Studio documentation for more information about how to use the
tool.
6.1 Output power testing
SmartRF05EB
USB
CC2520EM
50 Ohm coax cable
Spectrum Analyser
Figure 13 - Output power measurement set up
Instead of connecting an antenna to the SMA connector on the small EM, connect a 50 Ohm
coaxial cable directly to a spectrum analyzer. Use the “TX Test Modes”
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function in SmartRF
Studio to set up the chip to emit a signal at the desired frequency.
By using good-quality RF cabling, the loss in the cabling should be negligible. However make
sure that the spectrum analyser is calibrated. If possible, check it against a calibrated
instrument such as an RF signal generator. Un-calibrated spectrum analysers can display
errors of several dBs.
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Use either TXFIFO looping or pseudo random data.