Passive Intermodulation Fundamentals

Eduardo Aires Sales Director, EU/ME/India

Smiths Interconnect

Kaelus is a new name company within the Smiths Interconnect group We are a global company that designs and manufactures complex and technically sophisticated RF products for use in the rapidly growing wireless communications market. Kaelus is the consolidation of four leading industry brands within Wireless Telecoms: Triasx, Summitek, Allrizon and the commercial division of TRAK Microwave Ltd.

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What is Passive Intermodulation (PIM)?

What is Passive Intermodulation (PIM) ?

PIM = Noise generated by the interaction between the multiple Tx signals and passive non-linear junctions in the RF path. Desired Interference
f2-f1 4f1-3f2 2f1-f2 3f1-2f2

Interference
f1 f2 2f2-f1 3f2-2f1 4f2-3f1

2f1

f1+f2

2f2

PIM generated products will affect received band (UL) by Increasing the received Noise floor thus reducing base station sites coverage and capacity.

PIM is getting more complex with

Indoor Area 1 1800/WCDMA Ant Ant Ant Ant

900/1800 Indoor Area 2

PS PS Ant

PS

PS

Ant PS Ant

Networks evolution towards: Indoor or outdoor complex DAS systems (shared by several operators)

Triplexer

PS Indoor Area 3 PS Ant PS

Ant

PS

Ant

Ant

Outdoor area

Indoor Area 4 PS

PS

Ant PS Ant Ant Indoor Area 5 Load

RF Output ports

Site sharing with multiple transmit carriers (same RF infrastructure for multiple operators)

Combining Unit
WCDMA GSM 1800 GSM 900

OP 3 Node B

OP 2 Node B

OP 1 Node B

OP 1 BTS

OP 3 BTS

OP 2 BTS

OP 3 BTS

Multi-technology sites (GSM 900 MHz, GSM 1800 MHz, UMTS 2100 and 900 MHz, CDMA 450, ...LTE)

OP 2 BTS

OP 1 BTS

PIM Sources
Non-linear metal-to-metal contacts:

Loose RF connectors. Poorly prepared RF cable terminations Improperly mated / misaligned parts Cracked / cold solder joints Loose mechanical fasteners (screws, rivets)

Traditional sweep (RL or DTF) testing many times does not identify these problems.

Poor cable preparation

Dirt / trash

Poor cable preparation

Cable damage

Sweep testing vs. PIM testing:

Incident signals
Non-Linear Infrastructure

Transmitted signals

Reflected + interference signals

Reflections caused by changes in impedance are measured using sweep test equipment. (Efficiency of the signal propagation) Interference caused by non-linear junctions are measured by PIM test equipment (Interference created by the signal propagation)

How to test PIM?

PIM Test Equipment

TX 1 TX 2

TX 1 TX 2

TX 1 TX 2

PI M

PI M

PIM Source

PIM Test equipment transmits 2 frequencies at high power into the system under test and measures the magnitude of the interference generated at the known IM3 frequency.

The fault location is found by tapping on interconnections and components (dynamic test) during the test looking for spikes in PIM magnitude.

Dynamic Testing:

Fault locations are found by gently tapping on connections or components Tapping on a bad junction causes PIM to spike Dynamic PIM testing is very important! Finds the location of static PIM failures Stresses all connections to make sure that the feed system is robust and will not fail prematurely due to environmental exposure (Hot, Cold, wind loading, vibration, etc.)

PIM Severity
5th Order 11th Order -93 dBm 9th Order 7th Order 3rd Order -60 dBm

Outside PCS Rx band for F1 & F2 selected

Metal flake

Spectrum Analyzer Mode

Repairing IM3 reduces ALL IM products.

Possible to have Same Band intermodulation issues

GSM900

890 MHz 900 GSM Rx band

915 MHz

935 MHz 900 GSM Tx Band

960 MHz

GSM1800

3rd order

5th order
1710MHz 1800GSM Rx band 1785MHz 1805MHz 1800GSM Tx Band 1880MHz

7th order

UMTS2100

1920MHz 2100 UMTS Rx band

1980MHz

2110MHz 2100 UMTSTx Band

2170MHz

Also, Cross Band intermodulation issues involving UMTS

3rd order

DCS1800 into UMTS2100

5th order

1805MHz 1800GSM Tx band

1880MHz

1920MHz UMTS2100 Rx Band

1980MHz

And with LTE there are multiple combinations nowadays

KAELUS PPIM Solutions

PIM testing is not new!

Summitek Instruments has been producing bench top PIM test systems for more than a decade Summitek has delivered more than 800 BPIM systems worldwide These systems have been used by RF equipment manufacturers to reduce PIM in their component designs

What is relatively new is Portable PIM test equipment.

Portable PIM test equipment enables system level testing to be conducted at the cell site. On site PIM testing reveals: Installation workmanship issues Component damaged during installation Component damaged in transit

PIM test equipment: iQA Series

High Power Premium Adjustable power (2 20W) Adjustable frequencies Rugged construction Integrated transit case Panel PC with touch screen interface, on-board reporting

PIM test equipment: iQA Series:

6 5

PIM test equipment: iQA Series:

15 16 14

17 18

13 20 19

10

11

12

PIM test equipment: iQA Series:

Additional User Modes

Time Trace

Frequency Sweep

Spectrum Analyzer

iQA Series Reports:

Build final site report as you go No post processing of data required Output finished report from the iQA in .PDF format Screen shot pictures available for engineering reports

iQA RTF

iQA RTF

iQA RTF

KAELUS Case Studies

GSM 900 + WCDMA 850 Indoor DAS System

GSM 900 + WCDMA 850 Indoor DAS

A carrier operating a WCDMA850 network overlaid on a GSM900 network had an in-building distributed antenna system suffering from high Dropped Call Rates (DCR).

The DCR was logged over a period of time and plotted in. There was a significant increase when the CDMA equipment at the site was switched on.

GSM 900 + WCDMA 850 Indoor DAS

After all PIM generating connections were reworked the receiver noise floor was reduced to -112dBm.
Rx Noise floor before PIM testing

Rx Noise floor after reconstruction using PIM tester

Here a 5dB gain at the noise floor

GSM 900 + WCDMA 850 Indoor DAS

This improvement allowed the receiver to provide optimum performance without interference. The increase in the number of successful calls is evident.
Held calls before PIM testing

Increased held calls after reconstruction using PIM tester

UMTS2100 Rooftop Site

3G Rooftop Urban dense site

Surge Arrestors were the source of PIM After their replacement

Drops in Voice and Packet improved

After PIM changes

Our PIM testing heritage :

Developed factory PIM test systems for RF Equipment manufacturers in 1996. >800 Factory PIM test systems in service

Developed Portable PIM systems for wireless operators in 2004. >2000 Portable PIM test systems in service

Contact Us: Eduardo Aires Sales Director, EU/ME/India eduardo.aires@kaelus.com Mob:+351 733 03 55

2011 Kaelus Inc. All Rights Reserved

www.kaelus.com

Thank you

2011 Kaelus Inc. All Rights Reserved

www.kaelus.com