R&S®EFA60/63 Test Receiver (DVB-C)
All measurement functions for DVB-C digital CATV standard
EFA for production of modulators
The EFA's analysis capabilities permit indepth testing of the cable modulator's performance thanks to the outstanding MER/EVM dynamic range, amplitude distribution measurement and spectrum analysis. Another feature is the Equalizer ON/FREEZE/OFF function, which is mandatory during the alignment phase of modulators. Finally, the high accuracy and repeatability of the measurements makes the EFA ideally suited for the production of QAM modulators.
Cable headend monitoring
The capability of the EFA to handle multichannel reception with the spectrum measurement and the history functions (graphical measurement representation versus time) permits the unit to monitor cable headends. In addition, an alarm is triggered if one of the selected parameters exceeds the set threshold (all thresholds can be individually configured). Incident level, QAM synchronization, MER (modulation error ratio), EVM (error vector magnitude), BER before Reed-Solomon decoder and MPEG2 TS data error can be checked in realtime independently of other measurements and decoding. If an error occurs, a 1000-line register is available for recording the date, time and description of the event.
EFA in research and development laboratories
Thanks to the highquality frontend design, the dynamic range of the modulation error ratio measurement (MER dynamic range better than 41 dB) allows the unit to be used as a reference demodulator in research and development laboratories.
EFA as a multistandard digital and analog platform
Since the analog standards B/G, D/K and I are still used in cable networks, and cable operators need a future-proof solution for their short- and long-term investment, the digital DVB-C demodulator option can be implemented in the analog units. It covers all application areas from R&D to cable headend measurements. Furthermore, to protect your investment, the unit can be updated by means of options to demodulate and analyze the ITU-T J.83/B cable and ATSC/8VSB digital terrestrial standards. These unique features make the new EFA family members THE measurement devices for the present and the future.
Summary of measurements required for the various DVB-C applications
