Development of Experimental Test Benches based on an RF System-on-Chip Board

This thesis presents the development and experimental validation of an FPGA-based RF measurement platform implemented on a Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC (ZCU111). The objective is to verify correct operation, observability, and repeatability of an integrated transmit-receive signal chain for controlled RF waveform generation and acquisition under practical laboratory conditions. To reduce complexity and avoid multi-channel synchronization ambiguities, a single DAC--ADC path is configured and tested. Digitally defined excitation signals, including single-tone and multi-tone waveforms, are generated at a 256\,MHz baseband rate, interpolated to a 2048\,MS/s DAC rate, and frequency-translated using the RFSoC integrated mixers, including intentional second-Nyquist-zone operation. Two acquisition strategies are evaluated: external oscilloscope capture and coherent on-board RFSoC ADC acquisition. Experimental results in both the time and frequency domains confirm stable signal generation, correct frequency placement, and consistent acquisition behavior. Practical non-idealities such as clock-related leakage, capture-length constraints, and residual spectral artifacts are identified and discussed. Static nonlinear behavior is demonstrated through AM--AM and AM--PM characteristics, and a memory-polynomial model is applied as a consistency check. Quantitative figures of merit, including NMSE, EVM, and ACPR, are reported to complement the qualitative analysis. Overall, the implemented platform provides a stable and extensible foundation for measurement-driven RF modeling and future expansion toward multi-channel and MIMO RF test benches.