VSL builds software to make calibrating VNAs easier

Measurement institute VSL has developed a software platform under the name FAME to calibrate VNAs. This enables research labs to work more efficiently and faster. During the RF Technology event 2020, Faisal Mubarak of VSL will elaborate on this.

By: Dimitri Reijerman

Mubarak sees VNAs, vector network analyzers, as an essential component for RF research. He says: “It is a device for accurately measuring high-frequency signals and is the workhorse internationally. It is one of the most important devices for such high-frequency electrical measurements. The software that we have developed at VSL enables the user to calibrate such an instrument himself. Because no instrument is perfect. So when you perform measurements you have to be able to minimize the influence of the measuring instrument.”

The application of VNAs by researchers and in industry is very diverse, says Mubarak: “Consider the basics, for example, in the mobile telecom sector. None of these mobile applications would be possible without vector network analyzers. Mobile phones contain dozens of transmitters and receivers. You have to be able to determine the properties of a component in relation to all the other components in a smartphone. A VNA is therefore essential to develop these complex systems, because you have to have measured each component extensively in order to know exactly what this part does.”

But what exactly is the added value of our calibration software? Mubarak: “Twenty years ago, you didn’t need the extreme accuracy of VNAs. But today we have systems that demand much more from our communication systems and equipment, simply because we send much more data. Because nowadays it’s all about data, that requires much stricter specifications for the required components. So you have to measure much more accurately.”

He continues: “Our software is essentially a synthesis of years of RF research by us. We have been researching for decades how to calibrate measurements for high frequency signals. Not only are there many techniques, but they are also very complex techniques. An average calibration lab simply does not have enough people to master all of those techniques. Furthermore, the process is very time-consuming.”

Fame

The FAME platform should help them, he says: “With machine learning technology, which emerged from European research programs, we built this platform. We made the software so simple that an average calibration lab can use FAME quickly and perform measurements at the same level as here in the VSL lab.”

The entire process will also become cheaper, Mubarak promises: “That is certainly an added value. We have managed to achieve a time reduction of 75 percent. A measurement that used to take us four hours, we now do in an hour. And the measurements are also more accurate. Furthermore, research institutes need to build less of their own software to enable measurements. It is must-have software if you want to do anything with measurements with VNAs. You can even perform measurements on chips. We are also developing algorithms that take over the entire measurement process. Once the algorithm has been properly trained, it is many times better and more reliable than a human user.”

And looking to the future, these measurements will be performed on an even smaller domain, down to the nanoscale. Mubarak: “We have already performed measurements on nanotubes, the building blocks of the future. We are now working on the software to ‘touch’ nanotubes on such a small scale. Because a half-degree change in temperature can already have an enormous impact.”

VSL wants to offer the FAME platform commercially next year. During his lecture at the RF Technology event 2020, in digital form this year due to the corona crisis, he will go into this subject in more detail.

You can register for free to attend the webinars from December 1 to 3.