Methods and apparatuses for measuring the distance to a passive intermodulation source

Abstract

According to methods of performing measurements to determine a distance to a passive-intermodulation ('PIM') source, a first RF signal comprising a first frequency and a second RF signal comprising a second frequency may be applied to a device under test. A reference signal comprising a higher-order intermodulation-product of the first frequency and the second frequency may also be generated. An output signal from the device under test and the reference signal may be digitized and a calibration measurement may be applied. A phase difference between the device under test output and the reference signal may be determined. A plurality of phase differences may be determined for multiple first frequencies, and from the plurality of phase differences, a delay may be calculated, which may be multiplied by the velocity of propagation on the medium connecting the device under test to the test equipment to determine a distance to the PIM source.