R F interferometer

Abstract

Abstract An RF interferometer (10) is provided comprising a power source (12) connected via first and second directional couplers (16, 30) to a load or device under test (34). The second coupler (30) is connected to a second detector (38) sampling power incident on the load (34). The first coupler (16) is connected to a first detector (18) arranged to detect power arising from vector combinations of source voltage and load-reflected voltage. The first coupler - (16) is also connected to a three position switch (20) disposed to present any one of three reflecting arrangements (44A to 60) to coupled source power. The reflecting arrangements (44A to 60) consist of a short-circuited first waveguide (44A, 46A), an open circuited second waveguide (448, 46B) and a directional coupler (50) having two ports (52, 54) remote from the switch (20) connected together by a third waveguide (56). Operation of the switch (20) furnishes three different vector combinations of source and load-reflected voltage for measurement by the first detector (18). This is equivalent to the result achieved by a six-port reflectometer, but with reduced dependence on the frequency stability of components.

Inventors

• 👤 Eric James Griffin

Bibliographic Details