Designed for Field RF Technicians

RF interference can be caused by many sources, including transmitters operating at incorrect frequencies or with excessive power, unintended emissions from electronic devices leaking RF energy due to poor shielding, multipath reflections from metal structures, and jamming devices. These sources generate unwanted signals at or near the frequencies used by your system, raising the noise floor and degrading performance.

Eliminating RF interference requires a combination of shielding sensitive equipment with metal enclosures, installing filtering circuits to suppress unwanted signals, and proper grounding techniques. Additionally, switching to a different frequency or channel can provide immediate relief from interference. Using RF spectrum-monitoring tools and analyzers helps identify interference sources, enabling targeted mitigation and ensuring optimal system performance.

Typical symptoms of wireless RF interference include dropped calls, degraded communication quality with noisy or interrupted signals, and slower internet speeds. Slower internet speeds can result in frozen video streams, long data transmission delays, and intermittent audio during video calls or streaming.

Direction of Arrival (DoA) is the generic name of techniques in signal processing used to determine the direction of a signal's source relative to a point. DoA is used in a variety of applications, including radar, sonar, wireless communication, and interference hunting. 

Angle of Arrival (AoA) is a specific technique for performing DoA where a single sensor is rotated to determine the direction of a signal source. Multiple measurements at different locations, combined with geolocation signals and mapping software, can determine the area from which the RF signal originates. Due to multipath propagation and line-of-sight challenges, at least three measurements are required to triangulate the location of the signal. More measurements can more precisely narrow the area of uncertainty.

Another method to accomplish DoA is to use the time delay between signals received at different sensors in an array to determine the angle of arrival of the signal. This method is called Time of Arrival or Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) and still requires multiple measurements and different points to turn a direction into an area where the signal source could be. The SignalHawk is not capable of performing TDoA. 

A spectrum analyzer and a signal analyzer are both electronic test instruments used in telecommunications. While both instruments have overlapping functionality, their main difference lies in their focus. Spectrum analyzers prioritize frequency-domain analysis, while signal analyzers include time-domain analysis as well.  

Spectrum analyzers measure the power magnitude vs. frequency of signals, such as RF signals. Signal analyzers perform magnitude and phase measurements vs. frequency, as well as time-domain analysis. While enhanced function spectrum analyzers can perform some demodulation analysis, signal analyzers perform more in-depth analysis, such as error vector magnitude measurements, code domain power analysis, and spectral flatness.

Some spectrum analyzers perform angle-of-arrival measurements to locate the position of a signal source, such as an interfering source. Signal analyzers do not perform this function.