“Using the Instrument Control toolbox and a MATLAB Graphical User Interface (GUI), I have developed an application that can control instrument settings of two Synthesizers, one as the Local Oscillator and one as an Input signal to our system, and capture the measured Output data from a Spectrum Analyser. The measured data is then processed in MATLAB so that results can be visualised to show the RF Spurious components in a 3 dimensional matrix. These 3D matrix plots assists the design engineers to quickly identify and then solve the problematic components in our design in order to optimise the Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR) of the Systems Under Test.
Using Instrument Control Toolbox and a MATLAB GUI allows for our test engineers to focus on the accurate and repeatable measurement of the Systems Under Test, and not on the complexity in manually controlling the instruments to generate measured results. Using the GUI to interact with the instruments, allows users who are not experienced with the instruments or MATLAB to be more effective in their production of test results. In this way, we were able to minimise time spent on testing of systems and improve on our production of results, and subsequently get better insight into our data.”
Johann de Jager,
Systems Engineer,
CSIR DPSS
