R&S MNT100  handheld RF interference locator from Rohde & Schwarz

Rohde & Schwarz MNT100 Handheld Analyzer Locates RF Interferences

The Rohde & Schwarz MNT100 interference tracker is a portable instrument with integrated receiver and processing system for detecting, analyzing and locating interference signals and RF interference sources.
 
Interference impairs the performance of a mobile communications network and ultimately impacts the quality of the subscriber experience. Interference detection is therefore a priority for mobile network operators and regulators.

The R&S MNT100 interference tracker is a portable instrument designed to detect, analyze and locate interference sources in a frequency band from 600 MHz to 6 GHz.

In particular, the instrument is capable of detecting pulsed interference signals. Thanks to its Direction Finding mode and the PC radiolocation software update, it automatically locates disturbance frequencies by using a real-time FFT receiver associated with a direction finder. It performs spectrum scanning at speeds of up to 1.6 GHz/s.

According to the German manufacturer, signals of only 20 ns are detected with a 100% interception probability (depending on the signal level) by means of real-time FFT signal processing.
 
The R&S MNT100 interference tracker offers various features:

  • Spectrum display, recording and playback.
  • Spectrogram display (in the form of a waterfall)
  • Signal listening with analogue modulation
  • Horizontal and manual scanning based on DF tone (Direction Finding)
  • Map display and triangulation
  • Busy bandwidth measurements
  • SD memory card reader for data recording

 
The RF Analyzer also incorporates various RF preselection filters for use with antennas in high-density spectral environments: 600 MHz to 1.5 GHz tuned bandpass filters, as well as a combination of high-pass and low-pass filters from 1.5 GHz to 6 GHz.

The polychrome display of the unit allows it to be distinguished from superimposed signals on the screen. This allows detection and differentiation of pulsed signals (burst) that could not be viewed with traditional scan spectrum analyzers.

As an option, Rohde & Schwarz offers the HE400CEL portable antenna with normal mixed mode or delta, which allows more precise manual determination of the direction of arrival of electromagnetic waves. The use of a direction-finding antenna, the MNT100 tracker and the R&S Mobile Locator PC software automates direction-finding operations.

The MNT100 transmits up to 600 direction finding results per minute to the MobileLocator software to eliminate misleading information from urban reflections. The radiolocation software running on a PC uses sophisticated statistical analyses to rule out irrelevant measurements.