Revision History Submitter Date Version DescriptionRon Harding 11/12/200

81.0 Initial release

Description:

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3G UMA Programmable Attenuator Controller User’s Manual

By Ron Harding

November 12, 2008

This application is used to provide simultaneous control of 2 programmable attenuators for RF signal attenuation. See Figure 1 below for a screen shot of the application.

Figure 1 - 3G Attenuation Control Application

Detail: (from top to bottom)

Help Messages – This text is used to provide instruction as to which action(s) needs to be performed.

Attenuator 1 COM and Attenuator 2 COM – these are Serial COM port controls used to establish connection to the attenuator controllers. Each controller is a USB device that has a unique COM port assigned to it.

a. OPEN button - After selecting the appropriate COM port, the associated OPEN button shall become available to open a connection to that port.

b. Attenuator 1RF, and Attenuator 2 RF – in the text box, enter a 4 letter (or less) abbreviation that best represents the RF connection that is being attenuated (i.e. UMA, UMA1, BLUE, BLTH, UMTS, ect). This abbreviation shall then appear in each prompt for the designated attenuator.

c. INITIALIZE button – After a serial connection has been established to the attenuator, this sets the associated attenuation output to 0 dB.

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Calibrate Attenuator 1, Calibrate Attenuator 2 – Select one or both of these simultaneously to calibrate RF Attenuation levels for attenuators 1 and 2. A window pops open with user selectable fader controllers. See figure 2 below;

Figure 2 - Manual Attenuation Fader controls

i. Use the text box below each fader to both read the current selected dB value AND to enter a new dB value.

ii. To Enter a new dB value, type a value 0 to 63 then press <<ENTER>>.iii. To close and end the fader calibration, ‘uncheck’ the calibrate

attenuator checkbox. Test run Controls –

a. NOTE: The user CAN start the test session with BOTH attenuators automated, OR 1 attenuator automated and 1 manual. In the latter case, as the manual threshold is being adjusted, its current value in dB is being recorded in the log file.

b. START button –AFTER the user has set up UMA attenuator 1 control and UMA attenuator 2 control configurations, the START button is pressed to sync. Start both attenuator 1 and 2 test sessions.

c. CURRENT LOG button – this button is pressed any time AFTER pressing the START button to display the current log of the test session in Windows Notepad.

Attenuator 1 Progress and Attenuator 2 Progress – These both show the test progression time in Hours, minutes, and seconds and progress bar shows a count of how many ‘Half Cycles’ are left to execute in the current test. One Half Cycle is defined as being one of two things;

a. Rising from a user selected start dB to a user selected stop dB value. USB Attenuator 1 Control, USB Attenuator 2 Control – There are two modes provided

for on each of these controls;a. Manual Mode – dual faders open up. Only the one that you accessed will be

active. b. Automatic Mode – (default) – configuration of each attenuator for the test session

duration. Attenuator 1, attenuator 2 configuration - Independent configuration controls are

provided for each attenuator. These consist of the following; a. Time Step (in seconds) – the duration of each step in seconds b. Step Size (in dB) – the size of each step in dBc. Start Value (in dB) – attenuation start thresholdd. Stop Value (in dB) - attenuation stop thresholde. Half Cycle count – the # of rising and falling attenuation rampsf. Half Cycle delay – at the peak/valley introduces a fixed time delay

Checkbox ‘default’ – (non functional at this time)a. Checked = current selections will be saved on power cycle. b. Not checked = dialog box opens up and prompts user to make selections for

attenuator 1 and attenuator 2. If this file is saved, then the configurations will be loaded by user on subsequent test sessions.

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Figure 3: