Survey of excitation signals for FFT based signal analyzers

The properties of ten different excitation signals are studied to analyze their suitability as excitation signals for fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based signal and network analyzers. Their influence on the measurement time, accuracy, and sensitivity to nonlinear distortions is described. The flexibility to create a customized amplitude spectrum is investigated. With this information it becomes possible to select the best excitation signal for many applications.>