1. Battery-powered applications have high drain rates
2. The heat generated causes unit to overheat and shut down in hot climates.
To reduce this, a reduced power state is available when needed. This state reduces power
consumption to 12-14 watts, and requires about 30 ms to resume operations. Using the reduced
power state will significantly reduce power consumption, and although it can resume sweeping or
streaming within 30 ms, it takes a full second for the SM200 amplitude and phase noise to fully
stabilize after exiting this state. Typically, about 0.7 dB amplitude variations, and several dB of
extra phase noise are observed in this state. In the Spike software, this feature can be activated
by increasing your Sweep Interval. If you only need to sweep once per second, power
consumption may be cut in half typically.
Some remote applications may require hours or days of off time in between uses, where battery
life is at a premium. By remotely shutting off a PC or laptop equipped with vPro or similar
technology, the USB voltage will drop to 0V, the SM200 will sense this and fully power down.
The FPGA in the SM200 has a maximum operating core temperature of 100 °C. Exceeding this
will cause the SM200 to automatically power down the RF, LO, and system clocks. The software
must close and re-open the device after it has sufficiently cooled to resume operations.
3.8.1 Active Cooling
An optional active cooling module may optionally be installed. Forced air reduces the temperature
difference between the SM200/SM435 and ambient air temperature. The fan will be turned on
when the device is warm, and off when the device is cool. Vibration from the fans may affect
phase noise, so the fan may be turned off during phase noise measurements.
4 Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting information can be found in the Spike user manual and the network configuration
manual for troubleshooting 10GbE networking issues.
5 Calibration and Adjustment
Calibration and adjustment of the SM200/SM435 can be performed by Signal Hound. Additionally,
calibration software is freely available for customer on-site calibration, but requires specialized
equipment typically found only in calibration labs. The calibration software provided can perform
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