View Release Notes
Download ThinkRF S240 Real-Time Spectrum Analysis Software v5.0.0
1 Introduction
This document describes the first release of the S240v5 Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer (RTSA) software, version 5.0.0. It supersedes the S240 (v4.x.x or earlier).
This software is distributed as a single Microsoft Windows binary file S240v5_RTSA_v5.0.0_Installer.exe. It supports all the currently RTSA R5500, R5550, R5700, & R5750, but not the EOL obsoleted WSA products. Those EOL products are still supported by S240.
2 Fixed Defects
This S240v5 version includes fixes in a future release of PyRF designated PyRF3. PyRF3 is a Python 3 release of PyRF (basing off Python 2). Hence, S240v5 is also a Python 3 application.
The S240v5 addresses or obsoletes the majority of known issues associated with the S240 application. The Release Notes, however, will not list those fixes here. The document will concentrate on features (section 3) and differences between S240v5 and S240 (section 4) as well as a small number of known issues (section 5).
3 New Features
The following new features and capabilities appear in this release version.
1. A simplified user interface that offers better performance with fewer clicks. Examples include:
- automation of Instantaneous BW options (receiver’s RFE modes) based on requested span and frequencies;
• permanent display of Device Location on the main panel;
• automated down sampling to maintain fast sweep times with lower resolution bandwidths; among many others.
2. RBW (Resolution BandWidth) can drop as low as to 1 Hz when Span is at or below 100 kHz (i.e. switched to 100 kHz baseband HDR (High Dynamic Range RFE) mode).
3. In FREQUENCY SETTINGS, S240’s “Center/Span <--> Start/Stop” switch & Full Span are removed. In their place, coupled mode for Center, Span, Start and Stop is created. Each frequency parameter operates such that a key related parameter is protected until limits are reached, at which point the span may shrink until minimum bandwidth is reached; or either one end may shift along with the Center frequency to grow the desired Span while the other end is at a limit. See the “S240v5 User Guide” for a detailed explanation of the coupled mode.
4. Save and Load Settings are used in conjunction with Save Data (which saves the settings into a config file as well as the Comma Separated Value data file) such that the application state is fully restored when a recording is played back.
5. Playback (through Load Data) recreates the original timing up to approximately 1.5s between samples. Longer times are shortened in order to provide a reasonable pace for playback. Variable times (such as recordings made with a trigger enabled) will playback at an average of the first 6 samples’ times, again unless the time is very long, which results in a more palatable rate being chosen.
6. Default folders are now created for settings and recordings during the installation. All related data can therefore easily be kept together in a well-defined location. These may be overridden for individual save and load operations.
7. The Device menu now contains the following entries:
◦ Connect... – opens the discovery dialog showing all visible devices.
◦ Connected Device Info – opens a floating dialog with device info and location, which is especially useful when the plot window is shown full screen, hiding the device location. This dialog window can be kept open to monitor to keep track of the geolocation for R57x0 for instance.
◦ Internal Digitizer and External Digitizer – These are checkbox items that denote which digitizer path is in use. Clicking either toggles the mode.
◦ Restart Connected Device – attempts to restart the currently connected device.
8. Pause Capture button has been introduced to clarify the capture options. The application starts in Continuous Capture mode and the Pause button is high lighted at that time. Single Capture is available only when paused capture.
9. Save Data offers a Filename Suffix field to annotate the file name to identify a specific file’s purpose allowing for faster searching or identifying of specific recordings.
10. Reference Level starts at the default saturation level to better align the plot with the device’s limits.
11. Trigger Type is enabled when Span is above 100 kHz & 40 MHz or lower. If Level Trigger is selected, FREQUENCY SETTINGS section will be unavailable to prevent the application from hanging due to changing frequencies while trigger takes place.
Please see release notes for more detail with the list of changes between S240 vs S240v5.
View Release Notes
Download ThinkRF S240 Real-Time Spectrum Analysis Software v5.0.0