High-Precision Measurement of Sine and Pulse Reference Signals Using Software-Defined Radio
Andrich C, Ihlow A, Bauer J, Beuster N, Del Galdo G (2018)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2018
Journal
Book Volume: 67
Pages Range: 1132-1141
Journal Issue: 5
Abstract
This paper addresses simultaneous high-precision measurement and analysis of generic reference signals by using inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf software-defined radio hardware. Sine reference signals are digitally downconverted to baseband for the analysis of phase deviations. Hereby, we compare the precision of the fixed-point hardware digital signal processing chain with a custom single instruction multiple data x86 floating-point implementation. Pulse reference signals are analyzed by a software trigger that precisely locates the time where the slope passes a certain threshold. The measurement system is implemented and verified using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) N210 by Ettus Research LLC. Applying standard 10 MHz and 1 PPS reference signals for testing, a measurement precision (standard deviation) of 0.36 and 16.6 ps is obtained, respectively. In connection with standard PC hardware, the system allows long-term acquisition and storage of measurement data over several weeks. A comparison is given to the dual-mixer time difference and time interval counter, which are state-of-the-art measurement methods for sine and pulse signal analysis, respectively. Furthermore, we show that our proposed USRP-based approach outperforms measurements with a high-grade digital sampling oscilloscope.
Involved external institutions
Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Andrich, C., Ihlow, A., Bauer, J., Beuster, N., & Del Galdo, G. (2018). High-Precision Measurement of Sine and Pulse Reference Signals Using Software-Defined Radio. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 67(5), 1132-1141. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2018.2794940
MLA:
Andrich, Carsten, et al. "High-Precision Measurement of Sine and Pulse Reference Signals Using Software-Defined Radio." IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement 67.5 (2018): 1132-1141.
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