Dynamic Calibration (patent pending)

Optimize Frequency Set for Required Number of Coordinated Frequencies

Dynamic Calibration is a powerful feature unique to IntermodExplorer -- it allows you to specify *in advance* the size of the IMD-free frequency set that will be generated. It does this by automatically adjusting IM stringency settings and performing millions of combinatorial computations until the size of the resultant frequency set meets the required number of transmitters that you specify. This saves precious setup time and takes the guesswork out of frequency coordination.

Popular software like Shure Wireless Workbench (WWB6) and Sennheiser Wireless Systems Manager (WSM) can't do this -- you import a spectrum trace and they output a set of frequencies that, to a degree of probability, are free of intermodulation distortion. Nuts About Nets' ClearWaves software is a bit different in that it repeatedly acquires spectrum trace data from an RF Explorer instrument and repeatedly performs near real-time intermodulation analysis. ClearWaves exposes stringency settings, but the burden is on the user to set them accordingly. In all cases (i.e. WWB6, WSM, ClearWaves) the resultant frequency set is not guaranteed to be free of interference from intermod products -- rather, the probability is high it will be IMD-free.

The degree of probability depends on how stringent the settings are when the intermodulation computations are performed. And, just as in real-life, everything comes down to trade-offs. The higher the stringency of the settings then the higher the degree of probability the resultant frequnecy set will be IMD-free -- but the downside is the size of the frequency set will be smaller. If the resultant frequency set is too small to accommodate all your audio transmitters then you'll need to relax the settings used by the IM computation. As discussed elsewhere on this web site (), certain settings are applied which affect the stringency -- e.g. frequency range, fundamental frequencies, near-hit settings, step-size, ignore certain intermod products, and signal bandwidth).

Question: What values should be used for the stringency settings?
Answer: It depends -- and what if you are not familiar with the affect each setting has on the computation?

In the end most IM software applies default settings and you have no control over the size of the resultant frequency set. If you need to coordinate 17 transmitters but the size of the resultant frequency set is 12 well, then, you can only coordinate 12 of the 17 transmitters, which really isn't a solution. But let's say that you could fiddle with the stringency settings -- then, which settings and what values? No one knows...

IntermodExplorer's Dynamic Calibration feature prioritizes the stringency settings and continuously adjusts them and repeats the IM computation until the resultant frequency set is the size you specified. The smaller the size then the higher the probability the frequency set will be IMD-free, and the larger the size then the lower the probability the frequency set will be IMD-free. This is the nature of the beast -- intermodulation analysis generates a frequency set with a certain *probability* of being free of intermodulation distortion.