About the Frontend Control option
R&S
®
SMW-K553
11
User Manual 1179.4240.02 ─ 02
Frontend control connection
You can control an external frontend via LAN by one control instrument, that exclu-
sively controls the external frontend. Using an SSL connection, the control instrument
sends commands to the external frontend to perform the following actions:
●
To lock the external frontend
●
To unlock the external frontend for frontend control by another instrument
●
To set network settings of the external frontend
●
To set and read out the IF frequency, the frequency conversion factor and the fre-
quency bands
●
To calibrate the external frontend
●
To check and update the frontend firmware
Once a lock of the SSL connection is established, the external frontend is not accessi-
ble by other instruments in the LAN. When an external frontend is locked, the LAN LED
on the front panel is orange.
Some test setups require that more than one instrument controls the external frontend
during test execution. R&S
FE50DTR-type external frontend has two channels that are
an Rx and a Tx signal path. Both channels use the same internal LO and thus both
signal paths operate on the same frequency.
For details on setting up and operating external frontends, see
Test setup
