Did you make sure to select the external reference when creating the UHD
device?

On Tue, Jun 4, 2019, 7:11 AM Erik Heinz via USRP-users <
[email protected]> wrote:

> Thank you for the explanation.
>
> I tried using an external reference clock (HP 58503A). Unexpectedly, this
> made no difference at all. The noise is still exactly the same.
>
>
> Erik Heinz
>
>
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> ------------------------------
> *Von:* Torell, Kent L <[email protected]>
> *Gesendet:* Montag, 3. Juni 2019 17:10
> *An:* Erik Heinz
> *Cc:* [email protected]
> *Betreff:* RE: B210: 1/f noise and LO offset
>
>
> The phase noise comes from the B210 LO (RF synthesizer), and is present
> regardess of the frequency offset…you are misled by the log axis of the
> plot.
>
>
>
> The close-in noise can be improved by using a high quality external 10 MHz
> source.  The control loop action of the synthesizer translates the
> reference phase noise to the LO phase noise.  You may have a lab standard
> available; or you could purchase a GPSDO version for the B210 (Ettus part
> 783454-01).
>
>
>
> If this doesn’t meet your needs, you will need to shift the signal lower
> in frequency with an external mixer and a high quality microwave
> synthesizer (e.g. $20K Rhode/Keysight/etc.) that has the phase noise you
> require.   The B210 uses an Analog Devices AD9361 chip, which generates the
> RF local oscillator signal with a high frequency phase locked loop, then
> divides it down to the requested frequency.  5 GHz is at the upper end of
> it’s range, so the division is small and the phase noise will be at it’s
> highest.   Moving down several octaves will improve the phase noise,
> dropping 6 dB for every octave (e.g. 500 MHz would have 20 dB lower phase
> noise than 5 GHz).
>
>
>
> Kent Torell
>
>
>
> *From:* USRP-users <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Erik
> Heinz via USRP-users
> *Sent:* Monday, June 3, 2019 3:06 AM
> *To:* [email protected]
> *Subject:* [USRP-users] B210: 1/f noise and LO offset
>
>
>
> Hello everyone,
>
>
>
> preliminary remark: I am an physicist - so please excuse some possible
> knowledge gaps in radio engineering :-).
>
>
>
> I would like to use a B210 to measure the IQ response of superconducting
> resonators at about 5 GHz. This is done by feeding the resonators a signal
> from the transmitter with a frequency near the resonance, amplifying by
> LNAs, coupling to the receiver, demodulating to base band, and recording
> the resulting IQ signal. The signal bandwidth of interest will be small, in
> the kHz range.
>
>
>
> Since noise of the resonators has to be measured as well, I first had a
> look at  the noise of the B210 output without an external signal. The
> result is plotted in figure 1 (vertical axis is scaled to the output range
> of the ADC). It seems, below 100kHz the B210 receiver has strong 1/f
> noise. I would guess this is hardware noise from the mixer. Anyone knows if
> this assumption is correct?
>
>
>
> So I thought it would be a good idea to demodulate not directly to base
> band, but to an IF of may be 100 kHz and do the rest in software. I
> did a quick test using gnu radio, feeding the output of the USRP source and
> a 100 kHz signal to a multiplier. This indeed has the
> desired effect (figure 2, blue curve vs. red curve).
>
> If I understand the concept of the B210 local oscillators correctly, the
> same should be possible directly on the B210, using an LO offset of 100
> kHz. The result, however, is completely different (figure 2, green curve).
>
>
>
> Any ideas why? Thank you.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Erik
>
>
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