Mixed analog-digital instrumentation for software-defined-radio characterization

This paper presents a new type of analog-digital mixed-domain instrument that is specially tailored for software-defined-radio characterization. The instrument allows the utilization of analog instruments such as vector signal analyzers and network analyzers to characterize components based in the digital domain, such as analog-to-digital converters or field-programmable gate arrays. In this paper a study of the implementation of the mixed-domain instrument is also given.