Chapter 9. Eb/No Measurement

9.1MEASURING EB/NO

Although the CiM-550 calculates and displays the value of receive Eb/No on the front panel of the unit, it is sometimes useful to measure the value using a spectrum analyzer, if one is available.

The idea is to accurately measure the value of (C+N)/N, (Carrier + Noise/Noise) and this is accomplished by tuning the center frequency of the Spectrum analyzer to the signal of interest, and measuring the difference between the peak spectral density of the signal (the flat part of the spectrum shown) and the noise density. To make this measurement, use a vertical scale of 1 or 2 dB/division, and use video filtering and/or video averaging to reduce the variance in the displayed sweep to a low enough level that the difference can be measured to within 0.2dB. Use this value of (C+N)/N in the table on the following page to determine the Eb/No. You will need to know the operating mode to read from the appropriate column.

In the diagram above, the (C+N)/N measured is 4.6 dB. If Rate 1/2 QPSK is being used, this would correspond to an Eb/No of approximately 2.6 dB.

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