Microwave Laboratory Components

Microwave Laboratory Components
REPORT

Amit Singh Bisht
M Tech (1
st
Year)
RF and Micowave Engg.
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee

SUBMITTED TO
Dr. N P Pathak
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPT. OF ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER ENGG.
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee

1

A Report on Microwave Components used in the Laboratory

Table of Contents
Table of contents...............................................................................................2

Microwaves An Overview............................................................................... 3

Standard Radar Frequency Letter-Band Nomenclature (IEEE Standard 521-
1984) ......... 3

Microwave Systems ........................................................................................... 3

Reflex klystron..................................................................................................... 4

Klystron Power Supply.........................................................................................6

Waveguide .......................................................................................................... 7

Microwave Hybrid Circuits .................................................................................. 9

Waveguide Bends ............................................................................................... 9

Waveguide Twists.....................................................................................11

Waveguide Tees..................................................................................................12

HORN Antenna...14

Directional Couplers ............................................................................................15

Circulator .............................................................................................................17

Isolators.............................................................................................................. 18

Attenuators..........................................................................................................19

Cavity Frequency Meter ......................................................................................20

Slotted Line Waveguide Section..........................................................................21

Phase Shifter.......................................................................................................22

VSWR meter....................................................................................................... 23

References.......................................................................................................... 25

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Microwave Frequencies

The term microwave frequencies are generally used for those wavelengths measured in
centimeters, roughly from 30cm to 1mm (1 to 300 GHz). However, microwave really
indicates wavelengths in the microns range. This means microwave frequencies are up to
infrared and visible light regions.In 1984, the IEEE agreed on the standard letter-band
designations shown in the table below:
Standard Radar Frequency Letter-Band Nomenclature (IEEE Standard 521-1984) Band
Designator

Band Frequency (GHz) Wavelength in Free
Space (centimeters)
L band 1 to 2 30.0 to 15.0
S band 2 to 4 4 15 to 7.5
C band 4 to 8 8 7.5 to 3.8
X band 8 to 12 3.8 to 2.5
Ku band 12 to 18 2.5 to 1.7
K band 18 to 27 1.7 to 1.1
Ka band 27 to 40 1.1 to 0.75
V band 40 to 75 0.75 to 0.40
W band 75 to 110 0.40 to 0.27

Microwave Systems

A microwave system normally consists of a transmitter subsystem and a receiver
subsystem. A laboratory set up of a transmitter subsystem comprises of a microwave
oscillator, waveguides, and a transmitting antenna whereas a receiver subsystem includes
a receiving antenna, transmission line or waveguide, a microwave amplifier.
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The other components used In a microwave Laboratory are Waveguide Bends,
Waveguide flanges, Waveguide Tees, Directional Couplers, Circulator, Isolators,
Attenuators , Reflex Klystron as an oscillator, Klystron power supply,Cavity Frequency
Meter,phase shifters VSWR meter and ammeter.The report gives a brief description of
the abovesaid components.

REFLEX KLYSTRON

Klystrons are used as an oscillator or amplifier at microwave and radio frequencies to
produce both low power reference signals for superheterodyne radar receivers and to
produce high-power carrier waves for communications and the driving force for linear
accelerators. It has the advantage (over the magnetron) of coherently amplifying a
reference signal and so its output may be precisely controlled in amplitude, frequency and
phase. Many klystrons have a waveguide for coupling microwave energy into and out of
the device, although it is also quite common for lower power and lower frequency
In the reflex klystron, the electron beam passes through a single resonant cavity. The
electrons are fired into one end of the tube by an electron gun. After passing through the
resonant cavity they are reflected by a negatively charged reflector electrode for another
pass through the cavity, where they are then collected. The electron beam is velocity
modulated when it first passes through the cavity. The formation of electron bunches
takes place in the drift space between the reflector and the cavity. The voltage on the
reflector must be adjusted so that the bunching is at a maximum as the electron beam
reenters the resonant cavity, thus ensuring a maximum of energy is transferred from the
electron beam to the RF oscillations in the cavity. The reflector voltage may be varied
slightly from the optimum value, which results in some loss of output power, but also in a
variation in frequency. This effect is used to good advantage for automatic frequency
control in receivers, and in frequency modulation for transmitters. The level of
modulation applied for transmission is small enough so that the power output essentially
remains constant. At regions far from the optimum voltage, no oscillations are obtained at
all.There are often several regions of reflector voltage where the reflex klystron will
oscillate; these are referred to as modes. The electronic tuning range of the reflex klystron
is usually referred to as the variation in frequency between half power pointsthe points
in the oscillating mode where the power output is half the maximum output in the mode.
The above mentioned procedure takes place if the transit time in the reflecting field is
(n+3/4) cycles (where n is integer) of resonant ,period of cavity ,and if the loading is
correct ,microwave power will be generated and delivered to the output load .The
frequency of operation can changed in two ways ,a.)Mechanical rotation of the screw
which varies the position of physical diaphragm. Position of diaphragm changes the
dimension of resonant cavity and so the frequency changes.(b.)By changing the reflector
voltage.The large change in reflector voltage shifts klystron into different modes of
operation.
The following figures represent the working of the reflex klystron.

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5


REFLEX KLYSTRON

Klystron Power Supply
Three power sources are required for reflex klystron operation: (1) filament
power, (2)positive resonator voltage (often referred to as beam voltage) used to
accelerate the electrons through the grid gap of the resonant cavity, and (3)
negative repeller voltage used to turn the electron beam around. The electrons
are focused into a beam by the electrostatic fields set up by the resonator
potential (B+) in the body of the tube. Note in figure that the resonator potential is
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common to the resonator cavity, the accelerating grid, and the entire body of the
tube.

Typical specs:
Beam Supply :
Voltage : 250 to 300 Volts
Current : 50 mA(maximum)
Regulation : better than 0.1% for 10% mains variation
(line)
Ripple : less than 5.0 mv rms
Reflector Supply :
Voltage : 15 to 300 Volts negative wrt cathode
Current : 10 uA(maximum)
(line)

Filament Supply :
Voltage : 6.3 Volts d.c + 0.5 volts negative wrt cathode
Current : 10 uA(maximum)
(line)
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WAVEGUIDES
A waveguide is a special form of transmission line consisting of a hollow, metal tube.
The tube wall provides distributed inductance, while the empty space between the tube
walls provide distributed capacitance:

Wave guides conduct microwave energy at lower loss than coaxial cables.
Waveguides are practical only for signals of extremely high frequency, where the
wavelength approaches the cross-sectional dimensions of the waveguide. Below such
frequencies, waveguides are useless as electrical transmission lines. Waveguides may be
thought of as conduits for electromagnetic energy, the waveguide itself acting as nothing
more than a director of the energy rather than as a signal conductor in the normal sense
of the word. However, because waveguides are single-conductor elements, the
propagation of electrical energy down a waveguide is of a very different nature than the
propagation of electrical energy down a two-conductor transmission line. All
electromagnetic waves consist of electric and magnetic fields propagating in the same
direction of travel, but perpendicular to each other. Along the length of a normal
transmission line, both electric and magnetic fields are perpendicular (transverse) to the
direction of wave travel. This is known as the principal mode, or TEM (Transverse
Electric and Magnetic) mode. This mode of wave propagation can exist only where there
are two conductors, and it is the dominant mode of wave propagation where the cross-
sectional dimensions of the transmission line are small compared to the wavelength of the
signal. At microwave signal frequencies (between 100 MHz and 300 GHz), two-
conductor transmission lines of any substantial length operating in standard TEM mode
become impractical. Lines small enough in cross-sectional dimension to maintain TEM
mode signal propagation for microwave signals tend to have low voltage ratings, and
suffer from large, parasitic power losses due to conductor skin and dielectric effects.
Fortunately, though, at these short wavelengths there exist other modes of propagation
that are not as lossy, if a conductive tube is used rather than two parallel conductors. It
is at these high frequencies that waveguides become practical. 8

When an electromagnetic wave propagates down a hollow tube, only one of the fields --
either electric or magnetic -- will actually be transverse to the wave's direction of travel.
The other field will loop longitudinally to the direction of travel, but still be
perpendicular to the other field. Whichever field remains transverse to the direction of
travel determines whether the wave propagates in TE mode (Transverse Electric) or TM
(Transverse Magnetic) mode. (Figure below)

Waveguide (TE) transverse electric and (TM) transverse magnetic modes.
Microwave Hybrid Circuits

A microwave circuit ordinarily consists of several microwave devices connected in some
way to achieve the desired transmission of a microwave signal. The interconnection of
two or more microwave devices may be regarded as a microwave junction. Commonly
used microwave junctions include such waveguide tees as the E- plane tee, H- plane tee,
magic tee, hybrid ring, directional coupler and the circulator.
Types of waveguide bend
There are several ways in which waveguide bends can be accomplished. They may be
used according to the applications and the requirements.
Waveguide E bend
Waveguide H bend
Waveguide sharp E bend
Waveguide sharp H bend
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Each type of bend is achieved in a way that enables the signal to propagate correctly and
with the minimum of disruption to the fields and hence to the overall signal.Ideally the
waveguide should be bent very gradually, but this is normally not viable and therefore
specific waveguide bends are used.Most proprietary waveguide bends are common
angles - 90 waveguide bends are the most common by far.
Waveguide E bend
This form of waveguide bend is called an E bend because it distorts or changes the
electric field to enable the waveguide to be bent in the required direction.

Waveguide E bend
To prevent reflections this waveguide bend must have a radius greater than two
wavelengths.
Waveguide H bend
This form of waveguide bend is very similar to the E bend, except that it distorts the H or
magnetic field. It creates the bend around the thinner side of the waveguide.

Waveguide H bend
As with the E bend, this form of waveguide bend must also have a radius greater than 2
wavelengths to prevent undue reflections and disturbance of the field.

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In some circumstances a much shorter or sharper bend may be required. This can be
accomplished in a slightly different manner. The techniques is to use a 45 bend in the
waveguide. Effectively the signal is reflected, and using a 45 surface the reflections
occur in such a way that the fields are left undisturbed, although the phase is inverted and
in some applications this may need accounting for or correcting.

Waveguide sharp H bend
This for of waveguide bend is the same as the sharp E bend, except that the waveguide
bend affects the H field rather than the E field.

Waveguide sharp H bend E-Plane and H-Plane bends
Waveguide twists
There are also instances where the waveguide may require twisting. This too, can be
accomplished. A gradual twist in the waveguide is used to turn the polarisation of the
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waveguide and hence the waveform.In order to prevent undue distortion on the waveform
a 90 twist should be undertaken over a distance greater than two wavelengths of the
frequency in use. If a complete inversion is required, e.g. for phasing requirements, the
overall inversion or 180 twist should be undertaken over a four wavelength
distance.Waveguide bends and waveguide twists are very useful items to have when
building a waveguide system. Using waveguide E bends and waveguide H bends and
their srap bend counterparts allows the waveguide to be turned through the required angle
to meet the mechanical constraints of the overall waveguide system. Waveguide twists
are also useful in many applications to ensure the polarisation is correct.
Waveguide Tees
RF Waveguide Tees Information
RF waveguide tees are components that allow one signal or line to branch into two or
more lines. They are made of aluminum, brass, bronze, copper, or silver and have
circular, elliptical, or rectangular cross sections. There are several basic types of products.
E-plane tees or series tees are used to change the direction of electric field (E-field) lines.
They provide a smooth change in direction, allowing the waveguide axis to remain
parallel to the direction of the transverse E-field polarization. H-plane tees or shunt tees
are RF waveguide tees that change the direction of magnetic field (H-field) lines. Like E-
plane tees, H-plane tees provide a smooth change of direction, allowing the waveguide
axis to remain parallel to the direction of the transverse polarization. Hybrid tees are RF
waveguide tees that combine the features of E-plane tees and H-plane tees.
RF waveguide tees use flanges to connect waveguide sections or terminate waveguide
components. Most flanges are square, circular, or rectangular in shape and plated with
cadmium, nickel, rhodium, silver, or tin.
As noted waveguide tees may consist of the E-plane tee, H-plane tee, magic tee,
corners,bends twists.Tee Junctions. In microwave circuits a waveguide or coaxial line
junction with three independent ports is commonly referred to as a tee junction. From the
S-parameter theory of a microwave junction it is evident that a tee junction should be
characterized by a matrix of third order containing nine elements.Below are some
pictures of some waveguide splitters found in the lab. Note that basic network theory says
that you can't make a three-port splitter that is lossless and matched at all three ports, so if
you want to split a signal, your best bet is the magic tee, just feed the sum port, terminate
the delta port and the outputs are the co-linear ports.

E-plane tee (series tee)

An E-plane tee is a waveguide in which the axis of the side arm is parallel to the E- field
of the main guide. If the collinear arms are symmetric about the side arm, there are two
different transmission characteristics

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E-plane tee (WR-28)
H-plane tee (shunt tee)
An H-plane tee is a waveguide tee in which the axis of the side arm is shunting the E-
field or parallel to the H field of the main guide. It can be seen that if the two input waves
are fed in port 1 and port 2 of the collinear arm, the output wave at port 3 will be in phase
and additive. On the other hand, if the input is fed into port 3, the wave will split equally
into port 1 and port 2 in phase and in same magnitude.

H-plane tee (WR-28)
Magic Tees (Hybrid tees)-
A magic tee is a combination of the E-plane tee and H-plane tee. The magic tee has
several characteristics. 13
1. If the two ports of equal magnitude and the same phase are fed into port 1 and
port 2, the output will be zero at port 3 and additive at port 4.
2. If a wave is fed into port 4 (H arm), it will be divided equally between port 1 and port2
of the collinear arms and will not appear in port 3.
3. If a wave is fed into port 3 (E arm), it will produce an output of equal magnitude and
opposite phase at port 1 and port 2. The output at port 4 is zero.
4. If a wave is fed into one of the collinear arms at port 1 or port 2, it will not appear in
the other collinear arm at port 2 or port 1 because the E- arm causes a phase delay while
the H- arm causes a phase advance.

Magic tee (WR-62) 10
HORN ANTENNAS
A prototype for the horn antenna is a section of rectangular waveguide, open at one end
and terminated in a large ground plane.
Horn Antennas are extremely powerful microwave antennas above about 1 Ghz.These
provide high gain,low VSWR,relatively wide Beamwidth,low weight ,and they are easy
to construct.
The three different types of horn antennas encountered in practice are (a)H-plane sectoral
Horn (b.) E-plane sectoral Horn (c.) Pyramidal Horn shown in fig below

14

These horns are fed by the rectangular waveguide which is oriented with its broad wall
horizontal. If the horn serves to flare the broad wall dimension and leave the narrow wall
of waveguide unchanged it is called H-plane sectoral Horn. If the horn serves to flare the
narrow wall dimension it is called E-plane sectoral Horn and if the horn serves to flare
both waveguide dimensions, it is refered as Pyramaidal Horn Antenna.
The conial horn is similar to the pyramidal horn except that it utilizes circular
waveguide.If the flares are not linear but are exponential the horn are called known as
exponentially tapered pyramidal or conical horn.
Radiation charactertics such as beam width,gain,sidelobe level, input impedance etc.
depend on flare angle,type of flare,aperature dimensions length of taper,etc.These
properties can be shaped by placing obstacles such as dielectric materials ,ridges or small
metal lenses.The general horn give moderate directivity and high gain compared with
more elaborate types of radiating elements.The power gain and directivity are a function
of frequency but do not vary within markedly over a bandwidth of the order of 10
percent.The lowest frequency of operation of horn is fixed by the cut-off frequency of the
waveguide and by the throat dimension.The highest frequency of operation of horn is
limited by the appearance of higher order modes and the resulting deterioration in the
radiation pattern.
Directional Couplers
A directional coupler is a four-port waveguide junction. It consists of a primary
waveguide and a secondary waveguide.The characterstics of directional coupler
can be expressed in terms of its coupling factor and its directivity.Assuming that
the wave is propagating from port 1 to port 2 the coupling factor and directivity
Coupling : C = l0*log (P1/ P3) dB.
Directivity : D = 10*log (P3/P4) dB
Isolation : I = 10*log (P1/P4) dB
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are defined as follows :-

where P1= power input to port 1
P3= power output from port 3(Coupled Port)
P4= power output from port 4
The directivity of a directional coupler is a measure of the coupler's ability to separate
forward and reverse wave components, so applications of directional couplers often
require high (35 dB or greater) directivity. Poor directivity will limit the accuracy of a
reflectometer, and can cause variations in the coupled power level from a coupler when
there is even a small mismatch on the through line. The directivity of a coupler generally
cannot be measured directly because it involves a low-level signal that can be masked by
coupled power from a reflected wave on the through arm.
The coupling factor indicates the fraction of the input power that is coupled to the output
port. The directivity is a measure of the coupler's ability to isolate forward and backward
waves, as is the isolation. These quantities are then related as
I = D + C dB .
Several types of directional coupler exist,such as two-hole directional coupler,four- -hole
directional coupler,reverse coupling directional coupler,and Bethe-hole directional
coupler.

(a) two-hole directional coupler (b) four-hole directional coupler
(c)reverse coupling directional coupler (d) Bethe-hole directional coupler 16
Here's a broad-wall coupler, a
better type of waveguide coupler than the cross-guide. It has much more directivity than
the ones above, but it is a lot bigger.
Circulator
A circulator is a ferrite device (ferrite is a class of materials with strange magnetic
properties) with usually three ports. The beautiful thing about circulators is that they are
non-reciprocal. That is, energy into port 1 predominantly exits port 2, energy into port 2
exits port 3, and energy into port 3 exits port 1. In a reciprocal device the same fraction of
energy that flows from port 1 to port 2 would occur to energy flowing the opposite
direction, from port 2 to port 1.The selection of ports is arbitrary, and circulators can be
made to "circulate" either clockwise (CW) or counterclockwise (CCW).A circulator is
sometimes called a "duplexer", meaning that is duplexes two signals into one channel
(e.g. transmit and receive into an antenna). This is not to be confused with the term
"diplexer" which is refers to a filter arrangement where two frequency bands are
separated into two channels from a single three-terminal device. A lot of people mix up
these terms. You can remember the correct definitions because "filter" and "diplexer"
both have an "i" in them, and "circulator" and "duplexer" both have a "u". What are
circulators good for? The make a great antenna interface for a transmit/receivesystem.
Energy can be made to flow from the transmitter (port 1) to the antenna (port 2) during
transmit, and from the antenna (port 2) to the receiver (port 3) during receive.Circulators
have low electrical losses and can be made to handle huge powers, well into kilowatts.
They usually operate over no more than an octave bandwidth, and are purely an RF
component (they don't work at DC).A circulator's isolation is roughly equal to its return
loss, and should always be specified to the same requirement. A circulator with 20 dB
isolation will need to have a return loss of 20 dB. Think about it, if you terminate the
third arm in a perfect 50 ohms, the clockwise isolation you will measure in a CCW
circulator won't be better than the stray signal that is bouncing off the loaded port due to
the reflected signal due to its mismatch to 50 ohms.
Symbollic Expression for Circulator 17
ISOLATORS
By terminating one port, a circulator becomes an isolator, which has the property that
energy flows on one direction only. This is an extremely useful device for "isolating"
components in a chain, so that bad VSWRs don't contribute to gain ripple.An isolator is a
nonreciprocal transmission device that is used to isolate one component from reflections
of other components in the transmission line. An ideal isolator completely absorbs the
power for propagation in one direction and provides lossless transmission in the opposite
direction. Thus the isolator is usually called uniline. Isolators are generally used to
improve the frequency stability of microwave generators such as klystrons and
magnetrons in which the reflection from the load affects the generating frequency. In
such cases the isolator is placed between the generator and load to prevent the reflected
power from the unmatched load from returning to the generator. As a result the isolator
maintains the frequency stability of the generator.Circulators and isolators can be made
from 100's of MHz to through W-band (110 GHz).They can be packaged as planar
microstrip components, coaxial components or as waveguide components. Waveguide
circulators and isolators have by far the best electrical characteristics.
Isolators can be constructed in many ways .They can be made by terminating ports 3 and
4 of a 4-port circulator with matched loads. On the other hand isolators can be made by
inserting a ferrite rod along the axis of a rectangular waveguide.

The isolator is based on principle of faradays rotation.The input resitive card is in
phase with the applied signal and the output resistive card is displaced 45 w.r.t. input
resistive card.The incident wave arrives at the output without any attenuation but the
reflected wave get a total phase shift of 90 and thus gets maximum attenuation.
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ATTENUATORS
A waveguide attenuator
Attenuators are passive resistive elements that do the opposite of amplifiers, they kill
gain. The microwave generator operating characteristics described above relating to
output frequency and waveform ripple are due to varying the output power. Their
detrimental effects on the heating process can be overcome by allowing the generator to
remain in a steady state operating condition at a fixed output power level and varying the
level of microwave power delivered to the process using a variable attenuator.An
attenuator can be somewhat loosely defined as any 2-port device that reduces the level of
transmitted microwave power allowed to pass through by either reflecting or absorbing
the power. Impedance matching devices (e.g. stub tuners) can be used as a reflective
variable attenuator by varying the amount
of reflected power in a controlled manner. While such devices are capable of high power
operation, their use as attenuators may not provide stable operation as they can interact
unpredictably with other impedance matching devices used for load impedance matching.
For this reason, variable attenuators which absorb rather than reflect microwave power
are preferred. In order to maximize the range of attenuation (ideally 0-100%), variable
attenuators must be capable of absorbing all of the input power.

Resistive Film Attenuators

The most common type of waveguide variable attenuator is the rotary vane attenuator
used for precision measurement applications. Rotary vane attenuators consist of a section
of circular waveguide between two rectangular to circular waveguide transitions (Figure
a below). Within each section is a thin film of resistive material which crosses
diametrically and, in the transition sections, perpendicular to the e-field. When all three
resistive films are coplanar there is no induced electric current through them and thus no
attenuation of the propagating field. Rotating the center section increases the induced
electric current through its resistive film, thereby increasing attenuation. Maximum
attenuation is reached when the angular displacement (F ) is 90
o
.Another common type of
absorptive attenuator uses a similar resistive material constructed as a blade and
positioned to penetrate into the waveguide parallel to the electric fields (Figure b).
Attenuation is adjusted by varying the depth that the blade protrudes into the waveguide.
As with rotary vane attenuators, heat dissipation from the lossy blade material is limited,
thus making such devices unsuitable for high power applications.

19


Resistive film type variable waveguide attenuators: (a) rotary vane (b) protruding blade

CAVITY FREQUENCY METER

A cylindrical cavity resonator can be constructed from a section of circular waveguide
shorted at both ends, similar to rectangular cavities. Since the dominant circular
waveguide mode is the TE11 mode, the dominant cylindrical cavity mode is the TE111
mode.
Circular cavities are often used for microwave frequency meters. The cavity is
constructed with a movable top wall to allow mechanical tuning of the resonant
frequency, and the cavity is loosely coupled to a waveguide with a small aperfure. In
operation, power will be absorbed by the cavity as it is tuned to the operating frequency
of the system; this absorption caa be monitored with a power meter elsewhere in the
system. The tuning dial is usually directly calibrated in frequency. Since frequency
resolution is determined by the Q of the resonator, the TE611 mode is often used for
frequency meters because its 0 is much higher than the Q of the dominant circular cavity
mode. This is also the reason for a loose coupling to the cavity.

Waveguide Frequency Meter
CAVITY FREQUENCY METER consists of a cylindrical tunable cavity mounted on
with its axis perpendicular to the main guide and is coupled to main guide with a small
hole or iris.The frequency of the cavity is varied by varying position of the plunger in the
20


cavity.To prevent resonances in the back cavity back of the plunger coated with
microwave absorbing material.In order to achieve high accuracy of measurement Q of the
cavity is made very high of the order of 1000.The output of main line waveguide
decreases at resonance since cavity absorbs a part of main line power at resonance.At
frequency far from resonance the cavity presents an effective short circuit to the main
guide.
The cylindrical cavity forms a resonator that produces a suck-out in the frequency
response of the unit. This you would turn the knob until a dip in the response is observed.
The graduations will tell you what frequency you are at.
Here is a view of the above wavemeter taken apart. You can see the hole in the E-plane
that couples out to the cavity. At the bottom of the cavity is the piston that changes the
resonant frequency.

Wavemeters are affected by temperature changes, which slightly change the
dimensions of the cavity.

SLOTTED LINE WAVEGUIDE SECTION

This section mainly comprise of mainly two parts : one of them is waveguide to coaxial
adapter and a waveguide detector mount.
The first part uses a low-loss dielectric sheath to transform waveguide impedance into
coaxial cable impedance.The outer conductor of waveguide is attached to the broad wall
of waveguide and the inner conductor extended into the guide in form of a probe.The
transition can be matched by varied diameter ,depth of penetration of the probe or ,the
distance to the end plate or short circuit and the distance from the centre line of the
waveguide.These adapters provide a convenient coupling between waveguide and co-
axial line.
Waveguide detector mount consist of section of the waveguide in which a detector diode
is mounted which is non-linear and non-reciprocal device for rectifying the signal and
produces a current proportional to the input power.Since power is proportional to the
square of the voltage applied the crystal is referred to as the square law detector.This
square law characterstic is obeyed for low power signals.At higher power levels, the
21

characterstic is changed to linear response.In a reverse direction, the detector shows a
high impedance.
PHASE SHIFTERS
PHASE SHIFTERS are non reciprocal devices made up of ferrite materials. Phase
shifters are two port components that provide variable phase shift by changing the bias
field ofthe ferrite.(Microwave diodes and FETs can also be used to implement phase
shifters)Phases shifters find application in test and measurements systems, but the most
significant use is in phased array antennas where the antenna beam can be steered in
space by electronically controlled phase shifters. Because of this demand, many different
types of phase shifters have been developed, both reciprocal (same phase shift in either
direction) and nonreciprocal. One of the most useful designs is the latching (or remanent)
nonreciprocal phase shifter using a ferrite toroid in a rectangular waveguide; we can
analyze this geometry with a reasonable degree of approximation using the double ferrite
slab geometry. Nonreciprocal latching Phase Shifter The geometry of a latching phase
shifter is shown in Figure below; it consists of a toroidal ferrite core symmetrically
located in the waveguide with a bias wire passing through its center. When the ferrite is
magnetized, the magnetization of the sidewalls of the toroid will be oppositely directed
and perpendicular to the plane of circular polarization of the RF fields.

Nonreciprocal latching Phase Shifter The geometry of a latching phase shifter is shown in
Figure 9.15; it consists of a toroidal ferrite core symmetrically located in the waveguide
with a bias wire passing through its center. When the ferrite is magnetized, the
magnetization of the sidewalls of the toroid will be oppositely directed and perpendicular
to the plane of circular polarization of the RF fields.
Since the sense of circular polarization is also opposite on opposite sides of the
waveguide,a strong interaction between the RF fields and the ferrite can be obtained. Of
course, the presence of the ferrite perturbs the waveguide fields (the fields tend to
22

concentrate in the ferrite), so the circular polarization point does not occur at tan kcx =kr/
beta, as it does for an empty guide.
In principle, such a geometry can be used to provide a continuously variable
(analog)phase shift by varying the bias current. But a more useful technique employs the
magnetic hysteresis of the ferrite to provide a phase shift that can be switched between
two values (digital). A typical hysteresis curve, showing the variation in magnetization,
M , with bias field, I1o. When the ferrite is initially demagnetized and the bias field is
off, both M and H are zero. As the bias field is increased, the magnetization increases
along the dashed line path until the ferrite is magnetically saturated, and M : M,. If the
bias field is now reduced to zero, the magnetization will decrease to a remnant condition
(like a permanent magnet), where M : M,. A bias field in the opposite direction will
saturate the ferrite with M = -M, whereupon the removal of the bias field will leave the
ferrite in a remanent state with M = - M, . Thus we can "latch" the ferrite magnetization
in one of two
states, where M : LM,, giving a digital phase shift. The amount of differential phase shift
between these two states is controlled by the length of the ferrite toroid. In practice,
several sections having individual bias lines and decreasing lengths are used in series to
give binary differential phase shifts of 180', 90,45 deg, etc. to as fine a resolution as
desired (or can be afforded). An important advantage of the latching mode of operation is
that the bias current does not have to be continuously applied, but only pulsed with one
polarity or the other to change the polarity of the remanent magnetization; switching
speeds can be on the order of a few microseconds. The bias wire can be oriented
perpendicular to the electric field in the guide, with a negligible perturbing effect. The top
and bottom walls of the ferrite toroid have very little magnetic interaction with the RF
fields because the magnetization is not perpendicular to the plane of circular polarization,
and the top and bottom magnetizations are oppositely directed. So these walls provide
mainly a dielectric loading effect, and the essential operating features of the remanent
phase shifters can be obtained by considering the simpler dual ferrite slab geometry .For
a given operating frequency and waveguide size, the design of a remanent dual slab phase
shifter mainly involves the determination of the slab thickness, /, the spacing
between the slabs,and the length of the slabs for the desired phase shift. This requires the
propagation constants, for the dual slab geometry,

VSWR meter

The SWR meter or VSWR meter measures the standing wave ratio in a transmission line.
This is an item of radio equipment used to check the quality of the match between the
antenna and the transmission line.The VSWR meter should be connected in the line as
close as possible to the antenna.This is because all practical transmission lines have a
certain amount of loss, causing the reflected power to be attenuated as it travels back
along the cable, and producing an artificially low VSWR reading on the meter. If the
meter is installed close to the antenna,then this problem is minimized.

23


A typical SWR meter
Referring to the above diagram, the transmitter (TX) and antenna (ANT) terminals are a
connected via an internal transmission line. This main line is electromagnetically coupled
to two smaller sense lines which are connected to resistors at one end, and diode rectifiers
at the other. The resistors are chosen to match the characteristic impedance of the sense
lines. One sense line senses the forward wave (connected to FWD), and the other the
reflected wave (connected to REV). The diodes convert these to FWD and REV DC
voltages respectively, the ratio of which is used to determine the VSWR. In a passive
meter, this is indicated on a non-linear meter scale.
To calculate the VSWR, first calculate the reflection coefficient:

= Vrev / Vfwd = (Prev / Pfwd)

Then calculate the VSWR: VSWR = (1 + ) / (1 - )

Note that an SWR meter does not measure the actual impedance of a load (ie the
resistance and reactance), but only the mismatch ratio. To measure the actual
impedance,an antenna analyzer or other similar RF measuring device is required. Note
also that for accurate readings, the SWR meter must be matched to the line impedance, ie
50 or 75 ohms as applicable. To accommodate both impedances, some SWR meters have
switches on the rear, to select the appropriate load resistance for the sense lines.If a
mismatch exists between the transmission line and load, the line will act as an impedance
transformer. In this case, the impedance seen at the input to the line will depend on its
electrical length, although (for a lossless line) the VSWR will be the same at any point
along the line. Mismatched transmission lines are often used for impedance
transformation, especially at UHF and microwave frequencies where their dimensions
can be very short. For more information on this handy technique, see smith chart. When
not actually measuring VSWR, it is best to remove the ordinary type of passive SWR
meter from the line. This is because the internal diodes of such meters can generate
harmonics when transmitting, and intermodulation products when receiving. Because
active SWR meters do not usually suffer from this effect, they can normally be left in
without causing such problems.

24
REFRENCES :
(1.) Microwaves Devices and Circuits ,Third Edition, by Samuel Y. Liao
(2.) Microwave Engineering ,Third Edition , by David M Pozar
(3.) HIGH POWER VARIABLE ATTENUATORS FOR INDUSTRIAL
MICROWAVE PROCESSING by John F. Gerling Gerling Applied
Engineering, Inc.

25

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