Computer-Aided Measurement of Microwave Circuits

Citation

Williams, Wyman Lee (1989) Computer-Aided Measurement of Microwave Circuits. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/65XX-PQ66. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-02162007-080706

Abstract

Instruments that measure the scattering parameters of microwave circuits generally have large systematic errors due to unavoidable parasitics in the instruments. These errors can be modeled analytically, however, and removed through a calibration procedure. A personal computer is well suited to the performance of the required calculations. Combining a personal computer with a microwave network analyzer results in a flexible and accurate automatic instrument. Two such automatic network analyzers are presented here. A new type of network analyzer, known as a sampled-line network analyzer is presented. It is an extension of the six-port network analyzer concept developed at the National Bureau of Standards. It is a particularly simple implementation and shows promise for the construction of relatively low-cost microwave network analyzers. The sampled-line network analyzer is analyzed theoretically and several experimental versions of it are presented. Another personal computer-controlled network analyzer is presented in which a Pascal program automates an HP 8410 network analyzer. The result is an instrument which can measure S-parameters from 0.5 to 18 GHz with a measurement error vector ranging in magnitude from 0.01 in the low frequency range to about 0.03 at 18 GHz.

Thesis Files