Service Guide N5230-90024 5-11
PNA Series Microwave Network Analyzers Theory of Operation
N5230C Synthesized Source Group Operation
A16 Test Set Motherboard
The A16 test set motherboard serves these functions:
• to act as an interface between the A15 CPU board and the auxiliary rear panel interconnects.
• to provide ALC signals to the A17 MASS 26.5 and to the A19 MASS 50.
• to route control signals to the signal separation group. Refer to “Signal Separation Group Operation” on
page 5-15 for more information.
Rear Panel Interconnects
The A16 test set motherboard includes the following rear panel interconnects.
TEST SET I/O A DB-25 female connector that is used to control external test sets. The external test set
bus consists of 13 multiplexed address and data lines, three control lines, and an
open-collector interrupt line. Pin assignments are listed in Table 5-3 on page 5-12.
Up to 16 test sets may be “daisy-chained” on the bus at one time.
The Test Set I/O is not compatible with 8753 network analyzer test sets.
HANDLER I/O A rectangular 36-pin, female connector providing four independent parallel input/output
ports, nine control signal lines, one ground, and a power supply line. This connector has
Type 2 output pin assignments as listed in Table 5-4 on page 5-13.
All signals are TTL-compatible. Data input/output ports consist of two 8-bit output ports
(Port A and Port B) and two 4-bit bidirectional ports (Port C and Port D).
Connector settings can be changed using SCPI and COM commands. The settings are not
accessible from the front panel.
AUX I/O A DB-25 male connector that provides a variety of both analog and digital input and output
signals as described in Table 5-5 on page 5-14.
I/O 1 (TRIG IN) A BNC connector for input of an external trigger. The analyzer can be triggered by an
external device using this input. This is the same signal that appears on AUX I/O pin 19 as
described in Table 5-5 on page 5-14.
I/O 2 (TRIG OUT) A BNC connector for output of a trigger signal. This trigger signal can be used to trigger
external devices used in the measurement setup, such as signal generators.