Extension units

A RF switch matrix consists of multiple RF switches, switch driver circuits, a power supply and a housing. It allows the remote-controlled routing of RF signals between multiple input and output connectors. Two types of switches are generally used: electro-mechanical and solid state or electronic switches.

Advantages of electro-mechanical switches compared to electronic switches usually arelower insertion loss, better VSWR, higher isolation specifications and higher RF frequencies.

Vice-versa electronic switches compared to electro-mechanical switches provide usually the following advantages much longer life time, higher switching speeds and higher repeatability.

A RF switch matrix in conjunction with a vector network analyzer (VNA) increases the number of measurement ports for multiport applications. It can either be used to measure a DUT with many ports or several DUTs in a row, while keeping everything connected.

A solution based on a RF switch matrix has advantages on the cost site but it faces additional attenuation, a reduced dynamic range and a slower measurement speed due to the additional switching effort. A true-multiport R&S VNA, such as R&S ZNBT, does without internal switches, but includes measurement and reference receivers per port. Such a design supports parallel capturing of data without multiplexing between ports and receivers, thus reducing test time drastically. In addition, the RF performance is not affected by switches, allowing e.g. a 24 port VNA with the RF performance of a two port VNA.

The R&S vector network analyzer (VNA) seamlessly integrates the R&S ZN-Z8x RF switch matrices. After connecting the RF switch matrix with the VNA by USB, it is recognized and the VNA provides full graphical user interface (GUI) support. For the user it looks as if only the number of native available ports has been increased. Calibration and remote control are completely supported by the VNA.

The VNA models of the family R&S ZNB and R&S ZNBT provide seamless support for the R&S ZN-Z8x RF switch matrixes.