Error Vector Magnitude as a Performance Standard for Antennas in the Millimeter-Wave Era: Part 2: Modeling, simulation, and measurement methods

The error vector magnitude (EVM) is a comprehensive measure of the amplitude and phase distortion of digitally modulated signals and a potential tool for characterizing the performance of active beamforming arrays, especially at millimeter-wave frequencies, because of the high level of integration and limited spacing between the radiating elements. A review of the EVM measurement process and fundamental principles for time-domain demodulation with a vector signal analyzer (VSA) and spectral correlation with a vector network analyzer (VNA) was presented in [1] . This article demonstrates how researchers have modeled and measured impairments from antenna and phased array signal transmission to characterize their influence on the EVM of single and multicarrier digital signals. It presents examples of simulation models and measurements of the distortion from ultrawideband (UWB) passive antenna transmission, power amplifier (PA) nonlinearities, and phased array beam squint and beam scan intersymbol interference (ISI). A brief survey of over-the-air (OTA) test ranges for EVM analysis is also provided. This overview of state-of-the-art EVM simulation and measurement methods is intended to help interested readers understand and enhance the EVM performance analysis methods applied to antennas and phased arrays in this new era of millimeter-wave communications.