Pasternack Blog

RF attenuators are fundamental components of RF and Microwave circuits and systems. Often found in virtually every RF application, attenuators play a vital role in receivers, transmitters, test and measurement systems etc. The main purpose of attenuators is to reduce the signal strength, such as prior to the signal reaching a sensitive circuit element. Attenuators ..

The input and output power characteristics of an RF amplifier are dominant characteristics, as increasing signal strength is the primary purpose of an amplifier. An RF amplifier will be specified with a maximum and nominal range for input and output power based on certain conditions. These specifications will further extend to a maximum and nominal ..

RF filters are some of the most important components in receivers. The main functions of the filters are to reject undesirable signals outside the filter pass band and to separate signals according to their frequency. RF filters modify the amplitudes and phases of sinusoidal waveforms that pass through them or, more simply, RF filters remove unwanted ..

The quality of the construction and materials used can have a large impact on the performance of a waveguide system, especially in microwave frequencies and high power applications. This can become difficult to manufacture and evaluate, as the waveguide tolerances are extremely small at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies. For instance, with millimeter-wave components and interconnects, ..

Coaxial cables are commonly known for being a broadband, relatively low-loss and high isolation transmission line technology. A coaxial cable is comprised of two concentric conductive cylinders separated by a dielectric spacer. The capacitance and inductance distributed along the coaxial line creates distributed impedance throughout the structure, known as characteristic impedance. The distributed resistive losses ..

What is antenna gain and directivity? Antennas, in essence, channel electrical power into electromagnetic signals. The shape, size, and connectorization all affect the antenna radiation pattern. Two key parameters in assessing the performance of an antenna are directivity and gain―directivity is a measurement of the concentration radiation in a direction while gain represents the power ..

Directional couplers are four port passive devices that employ an input port, output port, a port for the coupled signal and a port that is terminated internally. Directional couplers are used to couple a specific proportion of the power traveling in one transmission line out through another connection or port. Directional couplers are used in ..

Though a detailed explanation of jitter can be highly complex mathematically, simply put, jitter is the deviation of a signal from its ideal periodic behavior in terms of frequency, signal amplitude, or phase. There are many contributors to jitter in a signal, from the source itself to outside interferers. Additionally, jitter can be described similarly ..

Though no single 5G requirement is yet set in stone, there has been some consensus from various industrial partnerships, standards bodies, and regulatory agencies on a vision for 5G. Some aspects of this vision are debated as to when they may be realized, but a common timeframe is to have a full 5G definition with ..

RF attenuators are used to reduce the level of a signal. Some reasons why you might want to reduce the signal level would be to protect a circuit stage from receiving a signal that is too high or in applications where a signal level needs to be controlled. Attenuators typically consist of a resistive network ..