1 Introduction
This article describes the release versions 3.8.3 of the ThinkRF C language Application Programming Interface (API) for command, control and data acquisition using ThinkRF Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA) products. See the “Change Log.txt” included in the release package for the record of the current and past releases.
This product is distributed as a single file archive in .zip format containing Microsoft Windows library file (.a and .lib) in 32- and 64-bit, interface (.h) files, and example files.
This version is compatible with the following RTSA products with the associated models 408, 408P, 418, 427:
- R5500 / R5550 / R5700 / R5750
- Legacy products WSA5000
2 Fixed Defects
The following issues have been fixed in this version:
- Sweep-device's data output for RTSAs with flattening vectors is corrected for spectral inversion (this was affected when inversion was handled in time-domain instead of frequency -domain).
3 New Features
The following new features and capabilities were added:
- None
4 Other Changes
The following other changes were made:
- Significant changes to sweep-device, including:
- spectral data output of wsa_capture_power_spectrum() now matched that of user's requested stop frequency, adjusted to the tuning resolution.
- the fstop_actual (as always done with fstart_actual) is adjusted to the tuning resolution of the RTSA, hence it might be different than that of the user's.
- simplified and improved sweep points and stitching including handling data in DD range, which now has a usable range of 100kHz to 50 MHz.
- improved precision of frequency mapping accuracy (spectral data points mapping). e) removed unneeded FFT shift for I-only data.
- Improved the peak frequency result of psd_peak_find().
- Changed the REFLEVEL_OFFSET from -15 to -16 (actual value is -15.7678) to improve the dBm level.
- Created “Change Log.txt” to record the notes of past and new changes in one file.
5 Known Issues and Limitations
The following are known limitations or other issues present in this version.
- Usage of some sweep-device's RBWs (such as 2kHz) for wsa_capture_power_spectrum() could result in a slow sweep (when compared to 1kHz) due to the FFT function usage that is not optimized for non-power of 2 FFT length. Hence, when RBW values that give raise to FFT length at or closer to power of 2, the sweep data processing will be more optimal.
- The message logging capability implemented in wsa_debug.* is suspected to cause intermittent problems after hours of intense sweeping activity. To avoid potential issues, disable message logging using “DEBUGLEVEL DNO” in wsa_debug.h.
- The source code has only been partially documented using Doxygen.