Quick and Dirty Device Characterization Using Random Noise

Measurements are a vital verification technique that go hand-in-hand with theory and design. Getting theory to align with measurements is far better than either alone. In this video we show a quick and dirty scheme for measuring the frequency response of an analog notch filter using random noise as the excitation and a spectrum analyzer in Simulink. Instead of making a proper two-channel transfer function measurement on a network analyzer, we’ll employ a sub-optimal approach where we’ll infer the frequency response from a single channel measurement on a spectrum analyzer. We will see how far we can get with this simplified approach and what signal processing limitations we’ll encounter. The overarching goal of this video is to reinforce theoretical signal processing concepts using measurements in a virtual testbench environment. Keep on the lookout for other videos with the theme of transfer function measurements including the proper two-channel cross-spectrum based approach. - You can download this example on GitHub here: https://github.com/kschutz68/qnd_random