Secondary standard for PM and AM noise at 5, 10, and 100 MHz

Abstract

A practical implementation of a portable secondary standard for phase modulation (PM) and amplitude modulation (AM) noise at 5, 10, and 100 MHz is described. The accuracy of the standard for both PM and AM noise is +or-0.14 dB, and the temperature coefficient is less than 0.02 dB/K. The noise floor of the standard for PM noise measurements is less than -190 dBC rel to 1 rad/sup 2//Hz at 5, 10, and 100 MHz. The noise floor for AM measurements depends on the configuration. A calibrated level of PM and AM noise of approximately-130+or-0.2 dB rel to 1 rad/sup 2//Hz is used to evaluate the accuracy versus Fourier frequency. This standard can also be used as an alternative to the normal method of the PM/AM detector for PM/AM measurements. >