Instrument for measuring the amplitude response of an RF-component for production testing

This paper introduces a low-cost instrument which can measure the amplitude response of an RF component in the frequency range 700-2600 MHz with a dynamic range of 60-40 dB. The device consists of a PLL-based transmitter, a receiver based on a wide-band power detector IC and a PC-interface/control block. The device is specially designed for measurements in a production line for modern antennas, where the quality of antennas is assessed in terms of the pass-band peaks of a measurement jig combined with an antenna. The main benefit of the device is the saving in costs, when an expensive network analyzer can be replaced with this low- cost device. The device can measure the pass-band peaks with excellent repeatability, with a standard deviation of less than 188 kHz for frequency and less than 0.077 dB for amplitude.