Maybe the best thing is, to just read both documents. Problem solved. No discussions anymore.
Both Wuerstchenhund Ltd. and All The Others Company are happy 
Yep, maybe we should simply redress the balance and allow me to highlight a few limitations wrt the R&S book and let the reader decide if it 'deeply' covers everything they might want to know about spectrum analysers. (as per the title of the thread)
So having skimmed through the R&S book I'll say this:
If you want to understand the history and architecture of spectrum analysers throughout the last 50 years right up to today then the R&S book is very weak on this.
If you JUST want to see how a modern vector signal analyser works (these are the spectrum analysers and SDRs of TODAY) then don't read the R&S book. (you can try but you won't find anything but have a look at AN150-15 from HP instead)
http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5989-1121EN.pdfIf you want to read up on how to use a classic swept spectrum analyser to demodulate and display real world signals then the R&S book is the wrong book to use because it doesn't cover these topics in any detail. It doesn't even cover how to display or understand AM and FM signals. Try reading the relevant AN150-1a doc as a start.
If you want to read up on how the latest generation of vector analysers (or SDRs?) can demodulate analogue or digital signals in DSP then the R&S book is the wrong book to read. You can try but you won't find anything as it barely scratches the surface. But try reading the relevant (second) chapter of AN150-15 to see if it helps.
http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5989-1121EN.pdfIf you want to study spectrum analysers/analysis 'deeply' then the book from R&S is the wrong book because you can't cover this subject 'deeply' in just 200 pages using large fonts and big pictures and the presentation style of a typical degree thesis.
If you are just an average hobbyist with an average education and you are a novice wrt spectrum analysers then I think you will find the first 20 pages of the R&S book will shove a lot of equations and waveforms at you that you may find a bit daunting. The lack of pictures of what a spectrum analyser looks like, what basic things it can measure in these first few pages may surprise you.
The brief bit that covers FFT looks like something an inexperienced graduate would write. It's OK but it doesn't really deliver to the reader IMO. Contrast this to the wonderful writing style (and depth of content) in AN150-15 for example.
The section that does attempt to describe the basic block diagram of a spectrum analyser is poorly presented and lacks detail and it doesn't flow well. Not enough pages, not enough background info compared to something like AN150.
The IF processing section is good with some useful stuff but the section on analogue/digital/FFT filters is quite basic/short. It's good stuff but it isn't 'deep' stuff.
The section on the various detector types is very short when compared to AN150 or other Agilent app notes. Again, not enough diagrams, not enough quality (or experience?) delivered from the text. It still would be OK for a lot of users but Wuerstchenhund promised us 'deep stuff' compared to an HP application note.
The section on 'overloading' and how to prevent it is useful basic stuff and it's good to see it in the book. It's hard to describe this stuff adequately in text and pictures anyway. I would have preferred to see a two tone test used here though because it would show third order distortion effects at IF overload.
The phase noise section is fine/OK. The section on distortion is also OK and so is the section on dynamic range. None of it is special or deep though. The diagrams often look like they were created in a hurry and this lets down the presentation IMO.
The section on spurious levels is OK if a little short/basic but it simply doesn't have enough diagrams. This stuff was produced with a strict time budget IMO.
There's a detailed section on measurement uncertainty and you can tell that the author (finally) put some background effort into writing this. This section gives worked examples and it appears to be pretty good. I'd argue that it's out of balance with the rest of the book in this respect. However, the uncertainty analysis doesn't cover advanced material that you would find in a freebie product app note for a modern Agilent analyser.
The section on pulsed signals is quite good and quite well presented. Again, it seems out of balance with the rest of the book in this respect.
This book is still a good book overall but it isn't the panacea that Wuerstchenhund paints it out to be. Large parts of it are presented like a typical degree thesis with only moderate chunks of text and just a few (or no) hastily prepared diagrams for each section. The section on 'detectors' is a good example of this.
The worst thing is that is doesn't deal with common modulation types and it doesn't describe or cover what can be done using today's vector signal/spectrum analysers or modern SDRs.
Put it another way... If I'd gone out and paid good money for this fairly brief book (decent technical books are not cheap) then I think I would be disappointed because this book is NOT a 'deep' book about spectrum analysis. It really does come across to me in a degree thesis style rather than any kind of reference book or font of knowledge/experience.
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
