RF Signal Analyzers for Wideband Wireless System Validation

Keysight Technologies has expanded its hardware portfolio with the introduction of the Pro XA6 SA6320A and Expert XA5 SA6210A signal analyzers. These instruments are engineered to enable signal characteristic acquisition in wideband wireless systems, radar applications, and modern multi-antenna architectures while reducing analysis cycle times.

Pro XA6 SA6320A: Wideband and Millimeter-Wave Analysis
The Pro XA6 SA6320A analyzer covers a frequency range up to 67 GHz with full preselection and provides an analysis bandwidth of up to 8 GHz. These specifications support the capture of wideband signals for next-generation mobile communications, radar, and millimeter-wave applications. To decrease analysis times for 5G NR error vector magnitude (EVM) measurements, the system leverages GPU-accelerated demodulation. A resolution bandwidth (RBW) of up to 80 MHz enables standards-compliant measurements, while improved phase noise performance and displayed average noise level (DANL) facilitate the identification of weak spurious emissions.

Expert XA5 SA6210A: Dual-Receiver for MIMO Architectures
The Expert XA5 SA6210A is designed for rapid, image-free sweep measurements up to 32 GHz and offers an analysis bandwidth of 2 GHz. A core architectural feature is its integrated dual-receiver architecture, which enables two-channel RF analysis on a single hardware platform. This design supports 5G NR and WLAN MIMO measurements, as well as cross-correlated error vector magnitude (ccEVM) calculations to evaluate complex RF interactions. To optimize integration into existing R&D and manufacturing environments, the system maintains backward compatibility with legacy X-Series SCPI commands.

Additional Context: This section details technical specifications and competitive benchmarking not included in the original announcement.
In radio frequency metrology, measuring the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) is a critical parameter for evaluating the modulation quality of complex transmission schemes such as 256-QAM or 1024-QAM (utilized in 5G and Wi-Fi 7). However, the wideband thermal noise of the signal analyzer itself can limit measurement results when testing highly pure signals. The cross-correlation technique (ccEVM) implemented in the Expert XA5 via two parallel receiver channels resolves this issue: uncorrelated noise originating from the instrument's internal hardware is mathematically canceled out to determine the actual, isolated EVM value of the Device Under Test (DUT). Furthermore, the 67 GHz frequency range of the Pro XA6 covers critical frequency bands for 5G FR2 (millimeter-wave) as well as the V-band spectrum. In this high-end RF instrumentation segment, Keysight competes directly with analyzer platforms such as the Rohde & Schwarz FSW and the Anritsu MS2850A.

Edited by Lekshman Ramdas, Induportals editor – adapted by AI.

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