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Chapter 15 – Constellation diagram (Option) 67
10911 V01.10
Chapter 15
Constellation diagram (Option)
15.1 Introduction
The constellation diagram is a graphical representation of the states of a digitally modulated signal in a two dimen-
sional coordinate system. Individual signal states can be viewed as source vectors with I (inphase, horizontal axis) and Q
(quadrature, vertical axis) components. Only the peaks of the vectors are shown in diagram, however. Depending on
modulation method, there is a varying number of decision fields within the two dimensional field (e.g. 8 with 8PSK).
These decision fields are assigned to a fixed bit combination.
In the ideal case, all signal states are in the centre of the decision fields. A real signal is exposed to variable interferen-
ces, however. If you view these interferences as vectors that are superimposed on the ideal signal states, the peaks of
the sum vectors depict the deviation from the ideal state. The worse the signal quality is, the larger the distribution in
the two-dimensional state space. It is possible for you to draw conclusions about the type of signal interference based
on the form of the constellation diagram. This is explained later using examples.
The mean between two ideal states is designated as the decision limit (indicated in the diagram by horizontal and
vertical lines). A signal with enough interference to move several signal states beyond the decision limit will result in bit
errors. This means: The better all signal states centre on the ideal states (the smaller the signal clouds are), the better
the signal.
Approx. 15,000 symbols are recorded, analysed and displayed in colour on the TFT according to an analysis of frequen-
cy of occurrence. The colour gradation provides information about the distribution of the occurrence frequency of the
signal states. Blue, green, yellow and red represent increasing frequency. This gives the constellation diagram a three
dimensional appearance.
15.2 Operation
You must first tune the measuring receiver. Afterwards, you can use the
MODE
> Constellation diagr. menu item to
activate the constellation diagram. You can use
MODE
to access the hardcopy menu. From the constellation diagram,
you can use
ESC
to return to the normal measured value display.
Real 8PSK signal
with MER=16,2 dB
Содержание VAROS109
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