Measuring $I/Q$ Impairments in WiMAX Transmitters

This paper presents a new method for measuring the
I
/
Q
impairments affecting the worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) transmitters through the analysis of the signal acquired through a general-purpose
I
/
Q
receiver. Based on a model of the effects of the
I
/
Q
impairments on the output signal that is suitable for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems like WiMax, the method is designed to correctly take into account the peculiarities of systems compliant with the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard, such as the potentially noxious effects of the impairments on signal normalization and threshold decisions. The results of the experiments carried out on the standard-compliant signals are given.