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How to perform a calibration with specified response/measurement type

Question asked by ChrisSight on Mar 9, 2020
Latest reply on Mar 12, 2020 by ChrisSight

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Hi Everyone,

I was hoping to inquire about calibration functionality in my PNA.

In some older calibrations I see R(A), R(B)...R(R1) in the "Cal Type/Ports" Column

I see in the help section that it shows the measurement type it corrects.

I'm not sure what this means, I want to perform a calibration and make sure it's exactly the same level as the one highlighted, but I don't get these Response factors. What measurement types do they represent? And how can I perform a calibration such as to allow for these "Measurement Types"

Thank you for your time,

Chris

daras

Mar 12, 2020 8:54 AM

Correct Answer

Hi Chris,

They are the same. You must have updated the firmware on your PNA since you did the cal on 10-11-19. The only difference is in the verbosity of the Cal Type/Ports field. Listing all the possible correction types in that column was getting out of hand, especially since we introduced our PXI VNA which could have many more ports than 4. So now, only the highest level correction type is listed. when you look at these correction types (like 4P+/1-2-3-4) the first number is the total number of ports in the s-parameter calibration portion of the calset. If that is followed by a "+", it means that a power calibration was also performed as part of that calibration. When power calibration is included, then that mean all source ports in that calibration have source power corrections and all reference (R1, R2, ...) and measurement receivers (A, B, C, D, ...) associated with the calibrated ports also have a response correction. In the old cal type field when you saw something like R(A), it meant a response correction for receiver A. In addition to our legacy receiver naming convention (Rn, A, B, C, D, ...) we also use the standard "a", "b" notation, where "a" followed by a port number refers to the reference receiver for the port and "b" is the measurement receiver. So if you actually look at the list of error terms in a calset (which you can do with the Calset Viewer dialog) you may see something like ResponseTracking(R1), but also ResponseTracking(a1). they are the same error term.

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daras

Mar 11, 2020 2:57 PM

I am not sure if I correctly understand your question. What you see in the caltype/ports column is all the possible correction types you have available with that calset, but if you want to see which of those correction types is being applied to any particular measurement after selecting that calset, you can select the trace in your measurement window and look at the correction status below the window. By default the PNA tries to apply the highest level of correction to each measurement in the channel based on the error terms that are available in the selected calset. in some cases, you are allowed to devolve the correction and apply a lesser correction type to your measurement. For example you may have performed a full 2-port calibration, but you are able to change the correction type for an S21 measurement for a full 2-port to an enhanced response 2-1 (which is considered a lesser correction).

If this is not what you are asking about, please repost back here with some more detail and maybe an example of the measurements you are trying to make and the calibration you want for those measurements.

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ChrisSight @ daras on Mar 11, 2020 4:10 PM

Hi daras,

Thank you very much for taking the time to comment, more explicitly I'm not sure what the difference is between the following selected calsets:

Here's what I am able to create now:

Here's what I'm interested in:

I'm specifically curious why I see the "R(A), R(B), R(C), R(D), R(R1) ... " portion of the Cal Type/Ports column in the older calset. What would have to be done differently to go from the upper picture to the lower in terms of calibration procedure? I'm trying to mimic how that calibration was done exactly, but I'm not sure what in the procedure should be done differently. The documentation shown when I click help (shown in the screen shot in my original post) doesn't really go into this.

Best,

Chris

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daras

@ ChrisSight on Mar 12, 2020 8:54 AM

Hi Chris,

1 person found this helpful

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ChrisSight @ daras on Mar 12, 2020 10:47 AM

Daras, thank you, that was very clear. I did indeed upgrade the firmware which caused this verbosity change. Not only were you clear but also extended your response in such a way that explains the entire labeling schema to completion.

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4 Replies

daras Mar 11, 2020 2:57 PM
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Correct Answer
I am not sure if I correctly understand your question. What you see in the caltype/ports column is all the possible correction types you have available with that calset, but if you want to see which of those correction types is being applied to any particular measurement after selecting that calset, you can select the trace in your measurement window and look at the correction status below the window. By default the PNA tries to apply the highest level of correction to each measurement in the channel based on the error terms that are available in the selected calset. in some cases, you are allowed to devolve the correction and apply a lesser correction type to your measurement. For example you may have performed a full 2-port calibration, but you are able to change the correction type for an S21 measurement for a full 2-port to an enhanced response 2-1 (which is considered a lesser correction).

If this is not what you are asking about, please repost back here with some more detail and maybe an example of the measurements you are trying to make and the calibration you want for those measurements.
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- ChrisSight @ daras on Mar 11, 2020 4:10 PM
  Mark Correct
  Correct Answer
  Hi daras,
  
  Thank you very much for taking the time to comment, more explicitly I'm not sure what the difference is between the following selected calsets:
  Here's what I am able to create now:
  
  Here's what I'm interested in:
  
  I'm specifically curious why I see the "R(A), R(B), R(C), R(D), R(R1) ... " portion of the Cal Type/Ports column in the older calset. What would have to be done differently to go from the upper picture to the lower in terms of calibration procedure? I'm trying to mimic how that calibration was done exactly, but I'm not sure what in the procedure should be done differently. The documentation shown when I click help (shown in the screen shot in my original post) doesn't really go into this.
  
  Best,
  Chris
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  - daras @ ChrisSight on Mar 12, 2020 8:54 AM
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    Correct Answer
    Hi Chris,
    
    They are the same. You must have updated the firmware on your PNA since you did the cal on 10-11-19. The only difference is in the verbosity of the Cal Type/Ports field. Listing all the possible correction types in that column was getting out of hand, especially since we introduced our PXI VNA which could have many more ports than 4. So now, only the highest level correction type is listed. when you look at these correction types (like 4P+/1-2-3-4) the first number is the total number of ports in the s-parameter calibration portion of the calset. If that is followed by a "+", it means that a power calibration was also performed as part of that calibration. When power calibration is included, then that mean all source ports in that calibration have source power corrections and all reference (R1, R2, ...) and measurement receivers (A, B, C, D, ...) associated with the calibrated ports also have a response correction. In the old cal type field when you saw something like R(A), it meant a response correction for receiver A. In addition to our legacy receiver naming convention (Rn, A, B, C, D, ...) we also use the standard "a", "b" notation, where "a" followed by a port number refers to the reference receiver for the port and "b" is the measurement receiver. So if you actually look at the list of error terms in a calset (which you can do with the Calset Viewer dialog) you may see something like ResponseTracking(R1), but also ResponseTracking(a1). they are the same error term.
    1 person found this helpful
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    - ChrisSight @ daras on Mar 12, 2020 10:47 AM
      Mark Correct
      Correct Answer
      Daras, thank you, that was very clear. I did indeed upgrade the firmware which caused this verbosity change. Not only were you clear but also extended your response in such a way that explains the entire labeling schema to completion.
      Like • Show 0 Likes0
      Actions

How to perform a calibration with specified response/measurement type

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