What's New in this Revision

This help describes version V1.90 of the ZVA firmware. Compared to the previous version V1.86, the new firmware provides numerous extensions and improvements. The major new features and bug fixes are listed below.

• Extensions to the TOSM calibration type: unknown through.

• New Imbalance parameter for balanced port configurations.

• Automatic identification of the port assignment between the analyzer and the calibration unit. The numbers of the connected ports must no longer match.

• Several calibration units may be USB-connected simultaneously. See also remote control commands SYSTem:COMMunicate:RDEVice:AKAL:ADDRess...

• Extended diagram scaling functions: Max and Min.

• Max Hold function for the active trace.

• Global Limit Check returns the result of a composite limit check (on several traces).

• In the Presets tab of the System Configuration dialog, it is possible to specify a user-defined preset configuration.

• In the remote screen, it is possible to define user-defined softkeys and assign the functionality of function softkeys to them.

• A single menu command All S-Params displays all S-parameters.

• Improved calibration wizard for calibrations using a sliding match.

• Port frequencies for ports with a common synthesizer are no longer coupled unless the ports are used as permanent signal sources.

• New remote control features

  The new features are also available via remote control; the SCPI commands are reported in the relevant reference sections. Besides the following remote-control features have been added:

  • Export of marker values to an ASCII file (MMEMory:MARKer<Mk>:STORe)

  • Optional port restriction parameters in the [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:CKIT:<std_type> command

  • New parameter MDATa for CALCulate:DATA to read unformatted data after evaluation of the trace mathematics

  • A trace generated with CALCulate<Ch>:PARameter:SDEFine automatically becomes the active trace

  • The new command [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:COLLect:AUTO:PORTs:CONNection? queries the port assignment between the analyzer and a calibration unit.

  • SYSTem:KLOCk locks or unlocks the local controls of the analyzer.

  • New command[SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:COLLect:SCONnection<port_no> selects the connector type of the ports using a string variable.

  • New command [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:FACTory[:STATe] enables or disables the factory calibration

  • New commandCONFigure:CHANnel<Ch>:NAME:ID? '<Ch_name>'returns the channel number for a named channel.

  • New commandSYSTem:USER:DISPlay:TITLe changes the title of the remote display.

  • Refined calibration unit settings:SYSTem:COMMunicate:AKAL:CONNection, SYSTem:COMMunicate:AKAL:MMEMory[:STATe], MMEMory:AKAL:FACTory:CONVersion, [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:COLLect:AUTO:CKIT

  • New commands for calibration:[SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:DATE?, [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:DATA:PARameter?,
    [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:SSTate?

  • New commands DISPlay:MENU:KEY:EXECute and DISPlay:MENU:KEY:SELect combine remote and manual control.

  • New command[SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:CKIT:SELect '<conn_type>', '<ckit_name>' selects a calibration kit for a connector type with arbitrary name.

To check your ZVA firmware version, click Help – About Nwa...

New Features in Firmware V1.86 (Compared to V1.84 and V1.85)

• Systematic protection of the analyzer's RF amplifiers against excess input levels. An update to firmware version V1.86 is highly recommended to eliminate any possibility of damaging the instrument hardware.

Improvements in Firmware V1.84 (Compared to V1.83)

• The system error correction data is acquired at a constant IF gain. During the calibration sweep, the IF Gain b in the Receiver section of the Port Configuration menu is set to Low Distortion. A possible AGC (Auto) setting is suspended.

New Features in Firmware V1.83 (Compared to V1.80/V1.82)

• Support of calibration unit R&S ZV-Z52 (models 72 and 30 for frequencies up to 18 GHz and 24 GHz, respectively).

• Improvement of the power calibration process with active Automatic Level Control (ALC).

• Power calibration data acquired in Power sweep mode can be re-used for Time and CW Mode sweeps (for frequency sweeps this feature was already implemented in firmware V1.80).

• The sweep average (Average On, Average Factor) and the Trigger settings are also valid for calibration sweeps.

New Features in Firmware V1.80 (Compared to V1.78)

• New measurement mode: Frequency Conversion (option R&S ZVA-K4, including Harmonic Distortion measurements and Mixer Mode)

• New calibration type: Power calibration

• Support for external test devices: External generators and power meters can be controlled via USB, LAN, GPIB bus, or other interface types

• Adaptive Gain Control (AGC) of the receiver

• Automatic Level Control (ALC) of the source

• Low Phase Noise mode

• Extended bandfilter search mode: Bandpass Search Ref to Marker

• Improved access to the time domain and frequency domain stimulus values in the Transform – Time Domain Stimulus Axis menu.

• Frequency Step Size is a setting parameter for frequency sweeps

• Marker values can be exported to an ASCII file.

• New remote control command [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:COLLect:METHod? returns a list of all calibration types for channel <Ch>.

• New remote control commands [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:CONNection and [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:CONNection:DELete configure and delete user-defined connector types.

• New remote control command [SENSe<Ch>:]CORRection:CKIT:<std_type> defines the parameters of arbitrary connector types.

• New remote control commands SYSTem:SOUNd:ALARm[:STATe] and SYSTem:SOUNd:ALARm[:STATe] switch alarm and status sounds on or off.

Fixed Issues

• Trace mathematics can distinguish between voltages and dimensionless quantities (Result is Wave Quantity).  

• Zero Delay at Marker can now be used for all ports, the arithmetic problems have been solved.