Using RF recording techniques to resolve interference problems

The user environment for wireless devices is complex and includes many sources of interference, from the multitude of devices in the wireless landscape or other non-communications-based RF sources. As the RF power is spread over wider bandwidths to improve range resolution, increase data rates, and decrease probability of detections, RF devices encounter a wider bandwidth of interference. As designers look to create robust solutions that can perform in such environments it becomes more important to create those conditions in the lab, or model those environments. This paper discusses the problems of RF Interference associated with the modern wireless channel, and the RF recording techniques that can be used to capture the minutes or hours of data needed to solve interference issues in today's complex RF environments. For the “gapless” recording described in this paper a specific implementation of a dual channel Vector Signal Analyzer is discussed.