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Long period, low-amplitude noise burst in receive during active TDMA operation (B200mini)

SK
Steven Knudsen
Mon, Sep 26, 2016 8:30 PM

Hi All,

I have built a TDMA system that uses the B200mini. In doing a simple test to look at processing load for transceiver operation (B200mini transmits when it is told, otherwise is receiving), I noticed an interesting effect.

When the transmit and receive carrier frequencies are the same (below, 100 MHz), every 5 seconds or so (but periodic) a slow-amplitude burst signal appears on the receive channel. The is no active transmission for that channel. Indeed, when contigured with transmit on TRX and receive on RX2, there isn’t even an antenna on the RX2.

I first noticed the “noise” on a time sink, but the waterfall makes it easy to see the periodicity.

Packets are transmitted at 100 packets/second and are ~1300 us in duration (fixed).

I include some images below for consideration. The “Packets” display is the transmitted signal. The received noise burst amplitude is proportional to the transmit gain, and it quite low, but not insignificant.

Anyone seen this?

To anticipate one question, no, I have not used a different B200mini to see if it’s hardware, but the fact that I don’t see it at 900 MHz receive makes me think it is not.

Figure 1 B200mini Tx and Rx using TRX port only, fTX = fRX = 100 MHz

Figure 2 B200mini Tx using TRX port, Rx using Rx2 port, fTX = fRX = 100 MHz

Figure 3 B200mini Tx using TRX port, Rx using Rx2 port, fTX = 100 MHz fRX = 900 MHz

Steven Knudsen, Ph.D., P.Eng.
www. techconficio.ca http://techconficio.ca/
www.linkedin.com/in/knudstevenknudsen http://www.linkedin.com/in/knudstevenknudsen

So fest wie die Hand den Stein hält. Sie hält ihn aber fest, nur um ihn desto weiter zu verwerfen. Aber auch in jene Weite führt der Weg. - Franz Kafka

Hi All, I have built a TDMA system that uses the B200mini. In doing a simple test to look at processing load for transceiver operation (B200mini transmits when it is told, otherwise is receiving), I noticed an interesting effect. When the transmit and receive carrier frequencies are the same (below, 100 MHz), every 5 seconds or so (but periodic) a slow-amplitude burst signal appears on the receive channel. The is no active transmission for that channel. Indeed, when contigured with transmit on TRX and receive on RX2, there isn’t even an antenna on the RX2. I first noticed the “noise” on a time sink, but the waterfall makes it easy to see the periodicity. Packets are transmitted at 100 packets/second and are ~1300 us in duration (fixed). I include some images below for consideration. The “Packets” display is the transmitted signal. The received noise burst amplitude is proportional to the transmit gain, and it quite low, but not insignificant. Anyone seen this? To anticipate one question, no, I have not used a different B200mini to see if it’s hardware, but the fact that I don’t see it at 900 MHz receive makes me think it is not. Figure 1 B200mini Tx and Rx using TRX port only, fTX = fRX = 100 MHz Figure 2 B200mini Tx using TRX port, Rx using Rx2 port, fTX = fRX = 100 MHz Figure 3 B200mini Tx using TRX port, Rx using Rx2 port, fTX = 100 MHz fRX = 900 MHz Steven Knudsen, Ph.D., P.Eng. www. techconficio.ca <http://techconficio.ca/> www.linkedin.com/in/knudstevenknudsen <http://www.linkedin.com/in/knudstevenknudsen> So fest wie die Hand den Stein hält. Sie hält ihn aber fest, nur um ihn desto weiter zu verwerfen. Aber auch in jene Weite führt der Weg. - Franz Kafka