Adding noise changes both the PAR and the RMS of the combined waveform. Any additional backoff required due to multiple signals being summed together is computed and applied. Normally the combined signal is now ready to be sent out over LVDS to the RF upconverter. In rare instances, the peaks of the signal can still cause overflow errors inside the RF upconverter, due to filter overshoot that occurs there. For this reason, a final runtime scaling setting is present on the PXB IO board, to scale the waveform down even further to avoid such errors.
The waveform and its associated markers flow across the LVDS cable to the RF upconverter. The PXB needs to initiate a power search in the upconverter, so that the final RF power is correct. But power search will not succeed if the RMS value of the waveform is less than 100 mV, which it often is after fading, summing, and noise addition. The PXB recognizes this condition when it occurs, and instead of sending the true RMS of the waveform for the power search, it sends in a value of 100 mV. Once power search completes, the PXB computes an amplitude offset to compensate for the power difference between 100 mV and the true RMS of the waveform, and applies this offset to the power in the RF upconverter.
The output power is a function of both LO power and waveform RMS power. Since the output LO power can be set independently of the input LO power there is no “insertion loss” when using the PXB as an RF to RF fader. Power search optimizes the combination of waveform power, LO power, and fixes the RF gain just below the RF gain compression point when the signal peaks occur. If you change the contribution of the RMS waveform power after power calibration, the output RF power will change proportionally. If the total RMS of the waveform goes down by as much as 30 dB, there is no problem as the RF gain stage can handle this. But if the total RMS of the waveform goes up (as it will do if you increase noise power or signal power), the RF gain amplifier goes into compression and clipping, and this is reported as an error.
You might think it would be easier to use the ALC (automatic level control) rather than power search on the RF upconverter. This seldom works with the PXB because the signals almost always include fading and/or summing. The ALC cancels out the amplitude variations caused by fading; it also cancels out any output power variations caused by changes in the input power (undesirable during power control testing). Even changing SNR with ALC on will cause both the signal power and the noise power to change, which is usually undesirable as well. So ALC off is usually the best choice.