Rohde & Schwarz R&S SMB100B - Using the Reference Frequency for Instruments Synchronization

Reference oscillator
R&S
®
SMB100B
190User Manual 1178.3711.02 ─ 08
8.5 Using the reference frequency for instruments syn-
chronization
Test setups with two or more instruments often require that the instruments use a com-
mon reference frequency. Depending on the availability of external reference frequency
source and its quality, the instruments are connected and configured in different ways.
This section gives an overview of the possible test setups and the related settings. The
following situations are considered:
●
External reference source is not available or the built-in reference oscillator is of
better quality than the external source
(see "Distributing the internal 10 MHz reference signal to further instruments"
on page 190)
●
Clean external reference source with quality exceeding the quality of the built-in
reference oscillator
(see "Using external reference source" on page 191)
●
Interfered or noisy external reference signal
(see "Deriving 10 MHz from the external reference frequency" on page 192)
●
1 GHz reference coupling for phase coherence of the RF signals with enhanced
long-term phase stability
(see "Sharing the 1 GHz reference frequency to obtain phase-coherent signals"
on page 191)
Connectors overview
Use the "Show Connector" function to indicate the connector on the front/real panel:
●
"Ref In/Ref Out" on page 38
●
1GHz "Ref In/Ref Out" on page 38
Distributing the internal 10 MHz reference signal to further instruments
The internal reference oscillator provides the reference frequency:
●
Internal f
ref
= 10 MHz (10 MHz at connector Ref Out)
●
Source = "Internal"
●
Reference Output/1 GHz Reference Output = "10 MHz"
Figure 8-1: Synchronizing instruments using the internal 10 MHz reference signal of the
R&S SMB100B
Ref In, Ref Out = Connectors
Using the reference frequency for instruments synchronization