Method and apparatus for measuring frequency pulling in oscillators

A test apparatus for performing a frequency pulling measurement on an oscillator comprising:

• a) a power splitter having a first, second and third terminal;
• b) an oscillator having a tuning voltage terminal, an RF output terminal and a supply voltage terminal, the RF output terminal connected to the first terminal,
• c) a voltage controlled oscillator and phase locked loop analyzer having a control voltage terminal, an RF input terminal and a power terminal, the control voltage terminal connected to the tuning voltage terminal, the power terminal connected to the supply voltage terminal and the RF input terminal connected to the second terminal;
• and
• d) a synthesized signal generator connected to the third terminal.

A method of performing a frequency pulling measurement comprising:

• a) providing a bias tee connected to a first power supply and a spectrum analyzer, providing an oscillator connected to a second power supply and to the bias tee and providing a power splitter connected to the oscillator, a power meter and a synthesized signal generator,
• b) setting a first and second power supply voltages;
• c) measuring an RF power at the power meter;
• d) setting the synthesized signal generator power level to a first level.
• e) setting the synthesized signal generator frequency to a nominal oscillator frequency under test;
• f) setting the spectrum analyzer frequency range to a first range and sweeping the synthesized signal generator frequency from a first frequency to a second frequency;
• g) detecting a signal above a first noise level that is indicative of the oscillator under test going out of frequency lock and recording the synthesized signal generator frequency as a first pulling frequency;
• h) sweeping the synthesized signal generator frequency from a first frequency to a third frequency;
• i) detecting a signal above the first noise level that is indicative of the oscillator under test going out of frequency lock and recording the synthesized signal generator frequency as a second pulling frequency;
• and
• j) calculating the difference between the first and second pulling frequencies of the synthesized signal generator when the oscillator goes out of frequency lock, the difference being a peak to peak pulling value.

A method for performing a frequency pulling measurement on an oscillator comprising:

• a) providing a power splitter connected to a synthesized signal generator and to an oscillator, providing a voltage controlled oscillator phase locked loop analyzer connected to the power splitter and the oscillator;
• b) setting a voltage at a tuning voltage terminal and a supply voltage terminal on the voltage controlled oscillator phase locked loop analyzer;
• c) measuring the RF power on the voltage controlled oscillator phase locked loop analyzer;
• d) setting the synthesized signal generator power level to a first level;
• e) setting the synthesized signal generator frequency to a nominal oscillator frequency under test;
• f) setting the tuning voltage range to a first range;
• g) sweeping the tuning voltage through the first range;
• h) detecting a change in an oscillator tuning sensitivity toward zero,
• i) recording a tuning range at which the oscillator tuning sensitivity changes toward zero as a first tuning range;
• and
• j) multiplying an average tuning sensitivity of the free running oscillator by the first tuning range to give a peak to peak pulling value.

A method for performing a frequency pulling measurement on an oscillator comprising:

• a) injecting a normalized signal to the oscillator from a synthesized signal generator;
• b) sweeping the frequency of the synthesized signal generator down from a nominal frequency of the oscillator until the oscillator goes out of lock at a first frequency;
• c) sweeping the frequency of the synthesized signal generator up from a nominal frequency of the oscillator until the oscillator goes out of lock at a second frequency;
• and
• d) subtracting the first frequency from the second frequency to obtain a peak to peak pulling value.

A method for performing a frequency pulling measurement on an oscillator comprising:

• a) injecting a normalized signal to the oscillator from a synthesized signal generator;
• b) measuring phase noise of the oscillator;
• c) sweeping the normalized signal from the synthesized signal generator from a first frequency to a second frequency while monitoring the phase noise;
• d) recording the first and second frequencies of the synthesized signal generator where the phase noise has a large improvement;
• and
• e) subtracting the first frequency from the second frequency to obtain a peak to peak pulling value.