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  • What Are OTA Ranges, Chambers, and Outdoor Far-Field Test Ranges?

    10/10/2019

    An essential method of testing communications and radar equipment is the use of Over-the-air (OTA) testing. OTA testing is performed on antenna, user equipment, base station equipment, satellite communication, ground station, radios, and radar for virtually all applications. Though extensive characterization testing and quality testing can be performed in a compact and automated testing rigs ..

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    RF Test Equipment Series: Noise Sources/Noise Generators

    10/03/2019

    RF designers and engineers spend a significant amount of design and effort dealing with noise in RF systems. So, it surprises some that there is a whole branch of RF test equipment that’s sole purpose is to generate noise. Noise sources are a key piece of test equipment, as well as being integral parts of ..

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    RF Test Equipment Series: Matrix Switches and Switch Matrices

    09/26/2019

    Matrix Switches, or Switch Matrices, are devices that enable the routing of RF signals through selectable paths. These devices can be as simple as single-input with two selectable outputs or as complex as having tens of inputs and outputs that can all be interested as needed. Switch Matrices are often used in test equipment setups ..

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    RF Test Equipment Series: Signal Generators

    09/19/2019

    An RF Signal Generator is another keystone piece of RF test and measurement equipment, alongside spectrum analyzers and network analyzers. The purpose of signal generators is to create RF signals at varying power levels, frequencies, and in the case of vector signal generators, with various phase and waveform characteristics. RF signal generators are used in ..

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    RF Test Equipment Series: Network Analyzers

    09/12/2019

    Network Analyzers, and Vector Network Analyzers (VNAs), are one of the cornerstone RF test instruments, and virtually every test center or lab usually employs some type of VNA. These test instruments are able to send electromagnetic energy into a component, device, antenna, assembly, etc. and accurately measure the power transmitted and reflected through the device-under-test ..

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    Introduction to RF & Microwave Substrates & Base Materials

    09/05/2019

    The term “substrate” can be somewhat confusing the context of RF/Microwave devices, components, and applications. A substrate can generally be anything from the insulative material used to develop a semiconductor or film (thick-film or thin-film circuits or components), or the structural material of printed circuit boards (PCBs). These electrically insulating materials are the backbone of ..

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    Roundup of RF Transistor Types, Semiconductors, and Configurations

    08/29/2019

    The growing number of RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave applications has led to a growth in the number of RF transistor types, semiconductors, and configurations being used today. As more devices use RF/wireless technology to communicate and sense, there will be an even greater diversity of RF transistor technologies. RF Amplifiers and RF Mixers are a ..

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    What are Metamaterials and How Do They Relate to Antennas?

    08/22/2019

    Metamaterials are an increasingly researched topic, especially where it pertains to modern antenna structures. However, there is a lot of confusion of exactly what metamaterials are and how they are involved in the development of antennas. To put it simply, metamaterials are material and structure combinations that exhibit properties that are otherwise unknown to occur ..

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    Note on GaN HEMT Amplifier Soft Compression

    08/15/2019

    Class III-V semiconductors, such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium nitride (GaN) have become commonplace solid state technologies for low noise amplifiers and high power amplifiers from frequencies ranging from several hundred megahertz to over 100 GHz. For high power applications, GaN high electron mobility devices (HEMTs) are supplanting GaAs metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MESFET) amplifiers, ..

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    RF Transformer Tidbits

    08/08/2019

    RF Transformers are two, or more, port passive devices with a wide range of uses for many RF applications. One of the most common uses of an RF transformer is the Balun, which provides efficient coupling between unbalanced transmission circuits and balanced circuits. Other common uses are for impedance matching between circuits of different impedances. ..

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