Production Testing of RF and SOC Devices for Wireless Communications
Course 166
| San Jose, CA | Dec 06-Dec 10, 2010 |
| Course 166-4317 | Presented by Keith Schaub |
Register by 11/1/2010 and pay $1995, otherwise pay $2195  | |
Summary:
A merger of RF and mixed-signal test is upon us with the increasing number of integrated wireless devices being developed with System-On-a-Chip (SOC) technology. Test engineering is becoming an engineering class unto itself. It no longer suffices to be an RF test engineer, or mixed signal engineer or digital engineer. A new breed of engineer, the SOC test engineer, is becoming a necessity. This highly sought after skill set is what is demanded by wireless chip manufactures (Bluetooth, WLAN, 2G, 2.5G, 3G, UWB). This course is the first of its kind to help train the already talented test engineers with the necessary SOC skill sets required for the next generation devices.Learning Objectives:
Upon completing the course, the participant will be able to:• Describe RF, mixed signal and basic digital circuit parameters and terminology.
• Perform COT (cost of test) analysis and make recommendations based upon economic criteria
• Break down the classical radio (super-heterodyne) and newest radio (ZIF (Zero IF)) block diagrams into their constituent parts (amplifiers, modulators, mixers, phase locked loops (PLLs), filters, DACs (Digital-to-Analog Converters) and ADCs. (Analog-to-Digital Converters)
• Understand traditional measurements like gain, power compression, TOI (third-order intercept), harmonics, noise figure, phase noise, ACPR (Adjacent Channel Power Ratio) and their continued importance in testing the building blocks of today’s SOCs.
• Examine modern system level tests like BER and EVM (Error Vector Magnitude) and develop and understanding of how they are used in conjunction with traditional tests to architect a wireless device’s test list
• Perform an in-depth analysis of Bluetooth testing requirements and how to implement the multiple BER (bit error rate) techniques currently used in industry today
• Understand the basics of noise figure and phase noise in relation to SOC devices in a production environment.
Target Audience:
The course is designed for new and practicing test/product engineers who are involved with the production, test, and development of RF/Wireless SOC solutions in the DC to 8 GHz frequency range. It is equally useful to engineers wishing to expand their existing skill set to cover the broad technology range requirements as well as the in-depth discipline range requirements of wireless SOC devices.Engineering degree or at least three years applicable practical experience is recommended.
Outline:
Day One
Introduction to Production Device (DUT) Testing• Test systems vs. rack & stack • Moving from bench to production testing • COT associated with testing discrete devices • Test houses, test cells • Peripherals : handlers, probers, contactors, load boards • devices : LNA, PA, oscillator, mixer, IQ modulator, filter, VGA, ADC/DACs
Day Two
Measurement Overviews for All Discrete Devices• S-parameters • power • modulated power • gain • power compression • TOI (Third Order Intercept) • harmonics • LO leakage • image suppression • carrier suppression • noise figure • phase noise • adjacent channel power • SNR (signal to noise ratio) • SFDR (spurious free dynamic range) • MDS (minimum detectable signal) • noise floor • accuracy
Day Three
Introduction to Mixed Signal Testing• Time domain vs. frequency domain • FFTs • Digitizers and AWGs (test system hardware)
Today's SOC Radios: Hardware & Measurement Requirements
• Traditional super-heterodyne : Source and receive measurements • Newer homodyne transceivers (ZIF - Zero IF) : IP2 vs. IP3 • Translating RF/mixed signal measurement theory : RF-to-analog base band architectures, Translating RF to mixed signal, RF-to-digital bits architectures, RF-to-digital IQ - Base band implications; IQ, differential, DC offsets, power servo
Day Four
Bluetooth Radio• Origins of Bluetooth • Frequency hopping • Bluetooth Modulation • Bluetooth data rates and data packets • Adaptive power control • The parts of a Bluetooth radio
Bluetooth Radio Transmitter Tests
• Synthesizer settling time - power vs. time & frequency vs. time • transmit output spectrum • modulation characteristics • ICFT (Initial Carrier Frequency Tolerance) • carrier frequency drift • VCO drift • frequency pulling & pushing
Bluetooth Receiver Tests
• Bit Error Rate : XOR method, FPGA, digital pin, digitizer • BER receiver measurements : sensitivity, Carrier to Interference, Adjacent Channel Interference, In-band & out-of-band blocking, intermodulation interference, maximum input power level
Production test times and their relative COT implications
Analyze the WLAN radio and its production testing requirements
• 802.11b • 802.11a • 802.11g • Turbo modes impact on base band hardware • Digital I&Q architectures on DSP offerings
Analyze the CDMA radio and its production testing requirements
• Review of CDMA technology • Wide bandwidth considerations : ACPR, ACLR, Dynamic range
Day Five
Moving Beyond Production Testing• Today's COT model : Fixed cost, recurring cost, lifetime, utilization, yield, accuracy, multi-site testing, parallel testing, test engineering skill • RF BIST (Built-In-Self-Test) • RF DFT (Design for Testability) : RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator), Internal BER testing • Parallel testing : True parallel testing, Pseudo parallel testing, Alternative parallel testing techniques • Emerging production testing methods : Interleaving, DSP threading, Concurrent testing
Attendee-specific requested special topic focus or recap
• Focus on a specific area or recap a specific topic based on particular attendees’ interest
Subject Areas Covered
RF and Wireless MeasurementsSOC (System on Chip) Issues
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