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Intermordulation Distortion
Intermordulation Distortion
Intermordulation Distortion
How is it measured? The common test signal is a pair of equal amplitude tones spaced 1 kHz apart. Nonlinearity in the unit causes intermodulation products between the two signals. These are found by subtracting the two tones to find the first location at 1 kHz, then subtracting the second tone from twice the first tone, and then turning around and subtracting the first tone from twice the second, and so on. Usually only the first two or three components are measured, but for the oft-seen case of 19 kHz and 20 kHz, only the 1 kHz component is measured. Required Conditions. Many variations exist for this test. Therefore, the manufacturer needs to clearly spell out the twofrequencies used, and their level. The ratio is understood to be 1:1. Correct: IMD (ITU-R) less than 0.01%, 19 kHz/20 kHz, 1:1, +4 dBu Wrong: IMD less than 0.01%
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/372416G-01/svtconcepts/lvac_imd/ Intermodulation distortion (IMD) is the measurement of distortion due to nonlinearity in the device under test (DUT). IMD measurements use a dual-tone test signal composed of a low-frequency tone at f1 and a high-frequency tone at f2. When a dual-tone signal is the input to a nonlinear device, the device output contains intermodulation components of f1and f2 given by m*f2 n*f1, where m and n are integers. You often use IMD to measure the distortion of a DUT near the high-frequency limit of the DUT or the measurement system. You also can arrange the test so that many IMD components occur within the measurement bandwidth. Several standard configurations for IMD measurements exist, and these configurations use one of two types of IMD test signals. In the first type of IMD test signal, with a low-frequency modulation tone and a high-frequency carrier tone, the intermodulation components appear as sidebands around the high-frequency carrier tone, as calculated in the following equation: f
2
n * f1
The following figure shows the sidebands around the 8 kHz carrier tone.
In the second type of IMD test signal, with two closely spaced tones near the high-frequency limit of the measurement bandwidth, the intermodulation components appear at multiples of the difference frequency calculated by the following equation: m * (f2 - f1) The following figure shows a typical IMD test spectrum.
The intermodulation components are found at multiples of 1,000 Hz, the difference frequency between the twin 11 kHz and 12 kHz tones.
http://zone.ni.com/reference/en-XX/help/372416G-01/svtconcepts/svimd/
Several standards define IMD measurements. Each of these standards has particular advantages and disadvantages when trying to reveal distortion. The following table lists two standards and their associated test signals and typical use cases. IMD Standard SMPTE/DIN Test Signal (f1, f2, ratio) (60, 7000, 4) (250, 8000, 4) others Typical Applications Excite low-frequency distortion mechanisms such as thermal distortion in power amplifiers; disk recording and film ADC and DAC slope-induced distortion
The frequencies f1 and f2 are the frequencies, in hertz, of the low- and high-frequency tones, respectively. The ratio is the ratio of the amplitude of the low-frequency tone to the amplitude of the high-frequency tone.