Hi Ken,
It is possible I am misusing the terms as I do not have an RF simulator, so let me rephrase it somewhat.
Suppose I do two runs:
Run#1:
I run an ordinary PSS analysis. In this analysis I have one large signal, say 1GHz at 0 dBm applied to the LO port of a mixer and one small amplitude signal (say .5GHz at -30dBm) applied to the RF port. A Fourier analysis yields the value of the signal at the IF port and I record its dBm value at the mixer conversion frequency (1-.5 = .5Ghz). I then increment the magnitude of the RF signal by +2dBm and repeat until I reach PRF=0 dbM. I take the results and I plot the dBm value of the IF signal vs the dBm value of the RF signal. I get a straight line with a slope of roughly 1.0, at least until compression sets in.
Run #2:
I run another PSS with only the large signal applied and then a PAC analysis. I plot the signal at the conversion frequency vs the RF power.
My question is: Shouldn’t I expect the curves from the two runs to be similar? Isn’t this what PAC does so efficiently?
One final question. I assume PAC is not really AC at all, but a type of transient analysis run in which the circuit equations are somehow linearized about the “periodic operating point” of the necessary PSS run. If this is so, what difference does the PAC amplitude make except to scale the results?
Are there any papers you can recommend on the theoretical basis of PSS and especially on PAC?
Thanks
Andy T