Chapter 4:

Mobile Radio Propagation - Small-

Scale Fading and Multipath
Goals of the Chapter

 In cellular system, calls are occasionally disconnected

 Possible cause: Rapid fluctuation of radio signal’s amplitude over a
short time period or travel distance

 Reasons for wireless channels to become selective and

dispersive, both in frequency and time
 Sources of signal fluctuation: Multipath propagation and mobility

 How is path loss propagation model modified?

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

2
Small-Scale Fading
Overview
 Small-scale fading
 Factors influencing fading
 Doppler shift
 Impulse response model
 Small-scale measurements
 Fading parameters
 Types of fading
 Fading distribution

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

3
Small-Scale Fading
 Small scale fading-Multipath
 At the receiver, radio waves generated from the same
transmitted signal may come
 From different directions
 With different propagations delays(random)
 With different amplitude (random)
 With different phase and angle of arrival(random)
 These multipath components combine Vectorially at the
receiver antenna and cause the total signal
 To fade and distort
Mobility in context of fading
• When the receiver is mobile
◦ Other objects like reflectors and scatterers may be mobile or
stationary
• If the objects are stationary
◦ motion is only due to mobile receiver
◦ fading is purely spatial phenomenon (occur only when the
mobile receiver moves) which result in temporary fading
Small-scale Fading – Mobility

 Effects of multipath
 Time dispersion (echoes) caused by multipath propagation delays
 Frequency selectivity nature of the wireless channel as a result of
time dispersion

 Another source of fading is mobility

 Random frequency dispersion (modulation) resulting from Doppler
shifts on different multipath signals (Doppler shift is b/c of mobility)
 As a result of mobility, the channel becomes time varying

 Fading depends on
 Relative propagation time of the signals
 Bandwidth of the transmitted signal (and data rate)
 Speed of receiver and surrounding object
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
6
Small-Scale Fading
Factors influencing Small-scale Fading
1. Multipath propagation
 Presence of reflecting objects and scatterers causes
 Multiple version of the signal to arrive at the receiver with different
amplitude and time delays
 Relevant terms: Delay spread and coherence bandwidth

2. Speed of mobile
 Causes Doppler shift (“+” or “-”) at each multipath component
 Results in random frequency modulation
3. Speed of surrounding objects
 A receiver moving at high speed can pass through several fades in
small period of time
 Causes time-varying Doppler shift on the multipath components
 If the surrounding objects move at a greater rate than the mobile,
then this effect dominates the small-scale fading and vice versa
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
7
Small-Scale Fading
Factors influencing Small-scale Fading
 The term coherence time determines how “static” the channel is
(and depends on the Doppler shift), e.g., room environment ,
outdoor, urban, …

4. Bandwidth of the signal

 The channel bandwidth can be quantified by the term coherence
bandwidth, Bc
 Coherence bandwidth measures the maximum frequency difference
for which signals are still strongly correlated in amplitude

 If BW of the signal is greater than the coherence bandwidth, the

received signal will be distorted (filtered)
 However, the signal strength will not fade much over a local area (i.e.,
small-scale fading will not be significant)
 If the transmitted signal has a narrow bandwidth as compared to
the channel, signal will not be distorted in frequency

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

8
Small-Scale Fading
 Factors influencing Small-scale Fading
5. The transmission BW of the signal
• The transmitted radio signal BW and BW of the multipath channel
decide two things.
◦ To what extent does the amplitude fluctuate
◦ To what extent does the signal distort
• The channel BW can be quantified by the term called coherence
BW
• coherence BW is the a measure of the maximum frequency
difference for which the signals are still strongly correlated in
amplitude
• If BW of transmitted signal is larger than CBW then effect of fading is
less or negligible.
Doppler Shift – Illustration
 Phase change in the received
signal due to path difference
2πΔl 2πvΔt
Δ   cosθ
λ λ
 The apparent change in frequency
1  v
fD    cosθ
2 t λ
 Relates the Doppler shift to the
mobile velocity
 Shift can be “+” or “-” depending
direction of motion

 Doppler spreading =>increasing

the signal bandwidth
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
10
Small-Scale Fading
Doppler Shift – Illustration
 When a wave source (transmitter) and/or a receiver is/are
moving, the frequency of the received signal will not be the
same as that of the transmitted signal
 When they are moving towards each other, the frequency of the
received signal is higher than the source
 When they are opposing each other, the frequency decreases

 Thus, the frequency of the received signal is

f R  fC  f D

 Where f C is the frequency of the source carrier

f D is the Doppler shift in frequency

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

11
Small-Scale Fading
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
SEM. I, 2014/15 12
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response Model
 Small-scale variations of a signal is related to the impulse
response of the mobile radio channel
 The impulse response is
 A wideband channel characterization
 Contains all information necessary to simulate or analyze any type
of channel

 A wireless channel can be modeled as a linear time

varying (LTV) filter
 The time variation is due to receiver motion in space
 We use discrete-time impulse response model

 Filtering is caused by the summation of amplitudes and

delays of the multipath signals at any instant of time

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

13
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response of Multipath channel

 Multipath fading is characterized by the channel impulse

response, which includes the information of
 Relative time
 Signal power and
 Signal phase when the delayed signals arrive at the
receiver, as compared to the direct wave.
 If there is a mobile reception, then the relative lengths and
attenuations of the various reception paths will change with
time, that is the channel is time varying

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

14
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response Model …
 Consider the transmission of a band-pass signal sb(t)

 where s(t) = x(t) + jy(t) is the complex envelop or complex

baseband signal
 X(t): In-phase component x(t)
 Y(t): Quadrature component

 Advantage of baseband representation

 It allows signal manipulation via s(t) irrespective of the carrier
frequency fc

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

15
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response Model …
 The received signal rb(t) will have a similar form

 Both rb(t) and r(t) depend on the channel’s behavior

 In multipath channel, the received signal is the sum of

 Line-of-sight path
 All resolvable multipath components

 Associated with each path is

 A propagation delay k(t)
 An attenuation factor k(t)
 Dk : Doppler phase shift associated with kth multipath component
 Propagation delay, attenuation factor, and Doppler shift are
time-variant as a result of time-varying nature of the channel
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
16
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response Model …
 Thus, the received bandpass signal may be expressed as

 Then substituting for sb(t), the received signal will be

 where
 N(t): the number of resolvable multipath components
 k(t): attenuation of the kth multipath component
 k(t): delay of the kth multipath component
 Dk : Doppler phase shift associated with kth multipath component

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

17
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response Model …
 The received low-pass equivalent signals is simplified as

Number of Overall phase shift

resolvable paths Attenuation Delay
(Doppler and delay)

 Where the overall phase shift is given as

 Lowpass equivalent impulse response of the channel,
written as a linear time-variant filter, takes the form

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

18
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response Model …
 Resolvable components
 Two multipath components, having delays 1 and 2, are resolvable if
the delay difference exceeds symbol duration Ts, i.e., 1 - 2 >> Ts

 Non-resolvable components
 Combined into a single multipath component with delay   1  2
 Cannot be separated at the receiver, since s(t - 1)  s(t - 2)

 The kth non-resolvable multipath component corresponds to

 The path associated with a single reflector or
 With multiple reflectors clustered together that generate multipath
components with similar delays

 Given lk(t) as the kth path length

 The delay of this path: k(t)= lk(t)/c
 The phase change associated with delay k(t):

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

19
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response Model - LTV Filters
 In the LTV model h(,t)
 The t represents the time variations due to motion
 The  represents the channel multipath delay for a fixed value of t

 Impulse response of a LTV filter h(,t) is the channel output

at t when the channel input is an impulse applied at t - 

 h(,t) is a function of two time variables

1. The instant when the impulse is applied to its input (initial time)
2. The instant of observing the output (final time)
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
20
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response Model - LTV Filters

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

21
Small-Scale Fading
Impulse Response Model - LTV Filters
 Example of time varying discrete-time impulse response
model for a multipath radio channel
 0 represents the first arriving signal at the receiver & equal to zero
  = 1 - 0 is the time delay

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

23
Small-Scale Fading
 Bandwidth and Received Power Relation
 In actual wireless
communication systems,
the impulse response of a
multipath channel is
measured in the field using
channel sounding
techniques(read!)
 Direct RF pulse system
 Spread spectrum sliding
correlator
• Frequency domain
channel sounding

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

24
Small-Scale Fading
25
Fading Parameters

 Power Delay Profile

 Delay Spread
 Time Dispersion
 Coherence Bandwidth
 Doppler Spread
 Coherence Time
 Power Delay Profile
 Many multipath channel parameters are derived from the
power delay profile (PDP)
 PDP is found by averaging instantaneous power delay profile
measurements over a local area

 PDPs are represented as plots of relative received power

as a function of excess delay with respect to a fixed time
delay reference

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

26
Small-Scale Fading
Measure Multipath Power Delay Profile (PDP)
The signal from The signal from
intermediate far away
reflectors reflectors

From a 900 MHz cellular system in

San Francisco
The signal from
close by reflectors Inside a grocery store at 4 GHz

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

27
Small-Scale Fading
Power Delay Profile – Discrete Model

From a 900 MHz cellular system in

San Francisco

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

28
Small-Scale Fading
Delay Spread
 Each multipath signal travels different path length, so that
the time of arrival for each path is different
 A single transmitted pulse will be time spread (dispersion)
when it reaches the receiver
 This effect, which spreads out the signal, is called delay
spread
 Delay spread is a property of the communication channel
that may cause inter-symbol interference (ISI)
 inter-symbol interference happens
 Require channel equalizers, pulse shaping filters, rake receivers
(read)

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

29
Small-Scale Fading
Time Dispersion Parameters
 Mean excess delay: First moment of the PDP & defined as
 2
k k  P(  ) k k
  k
 k

 2
k  P(  ) k
k k

 RMS delay spread: The square root of the second central

moment of the PDP
   2    2

 where   2
k
2
k  P(  ) k
2
k
 2
 k
 k

 2
k  P(  ) k
k k

 Maximum excess delay: The time delay during which

multipath energy falls to X dB below the maximum
 These delays are measured relative to the first detectable
signal arriving at the receiver at 0=0
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
30
Small-Scale Fading
Example: Indoor Power Delay Profile

Also called the

excess delay
spread

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

31
Small-Scale Fading
Typical Measured Values of RMS Delay Spread
Outdoor: Order of  sec.

Indoor: Order of n sec.

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
32
Small-Scale Fading
Coherence Bandwidth, B C

 Characterizes the channel in the frequency domain

 Analog to the delay spread parameter in the time domain

 Coherence bandwidth measures range of frequencies over

which the channel is considered to be “flat”
 Flat: A channel which passes all spectral components with
approximately equal gain and linear phases
 Is a statistical measure

 Or, coherence bandwidth defines frequency ranges in

which two freq components have a strong amplitude
correlation
 Two sinusoids with frequency separation greater than BC are
affected differently by the channel

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

33
Small-Scale Fading
Coherence Bandwidth …
 The rms delay spread and coherence bandwidth, BC, are
inversely proportional to each other
1. For frequency correlation function  0.9, then
1
BC 
5 0 
2. If the frequency correlation is relaxed to 0.5, then
1
BC 
5 
 Note: An exact relationship between BC and  does not
exist

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

34
Small-Scale Fading
Coherence Bandwidth – Example
 Consider the multipath power delay profile given in the
following figure
1. Calculate the mean excess delay and rms delay spread
2. Estimate the 50% coherence bandwidth of the channel
3. Would this channel be suitable for AMPS or GSM service without
the use of an equalizer?

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

35
Small-Scale Fading
Coherence Bandwidth – Solution

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

36
Small-Scale Fading
Doppler Spread
 Doppler spread and coherence time describe the time
varying nature of the wireless channel due to mobility
 Delay spread and coherence bandwidth describe the frequency
dispersive nature of the channel in a local area

 Mobility: Relative motion is either between MS and BS or

movement of objects in the channel
 Doppler spread, BD
 Measures the spectral broadening caused by the time rate of
change of the mobile radio channel
 Defined as the range of frequencies over which the received
Doppler spectrum is essentially non-zero

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

37
Small-Scale Fading
Doppler Spread …
 Let a sinusoidal tone of frequency fc is transmitted
 The received signal range spectrum, called the Doppler
spectrum, will have components in the range fc-fd to fc+fd,
where fd is the Doppler shift
 Doppler shift is a function of
 Relative velocity of the MS
 Frequency of the signal
 Angle  between the direction of motion of the MS and
direction of arrival of the scattered wave

 If the baseband signal bandwidth is much greater than BD,

the effects of Doppler Spread are negligible

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

38
Small-Scale Fading
Coherence Time
 Coherence Time, Tc: The time domain dual of BD
1
TC 
fm
 where: fm is the maximum Doppler Shift given by fm  v 

 Coherence time
 Measures the time duration over which the channel
impulse response is invariant
 A statistical measure that quantifies the similarity
(correlation) of the channel at different times

 Two signals arriving with a time separation greater than Tc

are affected differently by the channel

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

39
Small-Scale Fading
Coherence Time …
 For time correlation function above 0.5, then
9
TC 
16f m
 A popular rule of thumb is to define the coherence time as
the geometric mean of the above two equations, i.e.,
9 0.423
TC  
16f m2 fm
 E.g., for a vehicle traveling at 60 mph (26.8mps) using 900 MHz
carrier, a conservative value of TC is shown to be 2.22 ms
 If a digital system that transmits at symbol rate > 1/TC = 454bps, the
channel will not cause distortion due to motion
 However, distortion could result from multipath time delay spread,
depending on the channel impulse response

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

40
Small-Scale Fading
Coherence Time …
 Example: Determine the proper spatial sampling interval
required to make small-scale propagation measurements
which assume that consecutive samples are highly
correlated in time.
 How many samples will be required over 10 m travel
distance if fc = 1900 MHz and v=50m/s.
 How long would it take to make these measurements,
assuming they could be made in real time from a moving
vehicle?
 What is the Doppler spread BD for the channel?

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

41
Small-Scale Fading
Coherence Time – Solution

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

42
Small-Scale Fading
Types of Small-scale Fading
Small-scale Fading
(Based on Multipath Time Delay Spread)

Flat Fading Frequency Selective Fading

1. BW Signal < BW of Channel 1. BW Signal > BW of Channel
2. Delay Spread < Symbol Period 2. Delay Spread > Symbol Period

Small-scale Fading
(Based on Doppler Spread)

Fast Fading Slow Fading

1. High Doppler Spread

1. Low Doppler Spread
2. Coherence Time < Symbol Period 2. Coherence Time > Symbol Period
3. Channel variations faster than baseband 3. Channel variations smaller than baseband
signal variations signal variations

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

43
Small-Scale Fading
Flat Fading
 The channel has a constant gain and linear phase
response over a BW > the BW of the transmitted signal
 The spectral characteristics of the transmitted signal are preserved
at the receiver
 Most common type of fading described in the literature
 However, the strength of the received signal change with
time, due to fluctuations in the gain of the channel caused
by the multipath
 Typically, flat fading channels cause deep fades, and may require
20 or 30 dB more transmitter power to achieve low bit error rates
 To summarize, a signal undergoes flat if

and

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

44
Small-Scale Fading
Flat Fading – Channel Characteristics
 The most common amplitude distribution is the Rayleigh
distribution

 The spectrum of the signal is preserved even if the

amplitude changes over time
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
45
Small-Scale Fading
Frequency Selective Fading
 Due to time dispersion of the transmitted symbols within
the channel
 It may introduce an intersymbol interference (ISI)

 Viewed in the frequency domain, certain frequency

components in the received signal spectrum have greater
gains than others
 A signal undergoes frequency selective fading if

and

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

46
Small-Scale Fading
Frequency Selective Fading –
Channel Characteristics

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

47
Small-Scale Fading
Fading Due to Doppler- Fast Fading & Slow Fading
 Fast fading
 The channel impulse response changes rapidly within the symbol
duration, i.e.,
Bs< BD and Ts>Tc
 This causes frequency dispersion (also called time selective
fading) due to Doppler Spreading, which leads to signal distortion

 Slow fading
 The channel impulse response changes at a rate much slower
than the transmitted baseband signal
Ts<<Tc and Bs>>BD

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

48
Small-Scale Fading
Fading Channels
 Matrix illustrating type
of fading experienced
by a signal as a
function of
a) Symbol period
b) Baseband signal
bandwidth

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

49
Small-Scale Fading
Rayleigh Distribution
 If all the multipath components have
approximately the same amplitude (that is, when
MS is far from BS), the envelop of the received
signal is Rayleigh distributed
No dominant signal components such as LOS
component
Rayleigh Distribution
 Rayleigh distribution: Describes statistical time varying
nature of
 The received envelope of a flat fading signal or
 The envelop of an individual multipath component
 The envelop of the
sum of two
quadrature Gaussian
noise signals is
Rayleigh distribution
 A typical Rayleigh
fading envelop at
900 MHz is shown in
the figure
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
51
Small-Scale Fading
Rayleigh Distribution …
 Rayleigh distribution
has a pdf given by
r  r2 
 2 exp   (0  r  )
p(r)    2 
2

0 (r  0)

 Note that
  is the rms value of
the received signal
 2 is the time-
average power of
the received signal

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

52
Small-Scale Fading
Rayleigh Distribution – Outage Probability
 Outage probability: The probability that the envelop of the
received signal does not exceed a specified value R is give
by the corresponding cumulative distribution function
(CDF) R
 R2 
P(R)  Pr(r  R)   p(r)dr  1 exp  2 
0  2 

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

53
Small-Scale Fading
Ricean Distribution
 When there is a
dominant stationary
(non-fading) signal
component present,
such as a LOS
propagation path,
the small-scale
fading envelope
distribution is Ricean

Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –

54
Small-Scale Fading
Summary
 Small-scale fading composed of multipath & Doppler spread
 Multipath delay spread leads to time dispersion and frequency
selective fading
 Doppler spread leads to frequency dispersion and time selective
fading (the channel becomes time varying)
 The two fading mechanism are independent of one another
 Small-scale is modeled as a LTV filter and, accordingly,
channels are categorized as
 Flat, frequency selective, fast, and slow fading
 Fading parameters
 Delay spread, coherence bandwidth, Doppler spectrum, and
coherence time
 Various statistical fading models exist for hardware and
software simulation
Wireless Communications - Ch. 4 –
55
Small-Scale Fading
 CHAPTER FOUR
PASSIVE MICROWAVE COMPONENTS AND NETWORKS
4.1 Waveguide junctions
 Waveguide junctions are used in microwave technologies when power in a waveguide
needs to be split or some extracted.
 There are a number of different types of waveguide junction that can be used.
 Each type having different properties - the different types of waveguide junction affect the
energy contained within the waveguide in different ways.
 Types of Waveguide Junctions
 There are a number of different types of waveguide junction. The types are listed below:
1) E-plane Tee 2) H-plane Tee 3) Magic (Hybrid ) Tee
1
4) Corners 5) Bends 6) Twists
 4.2 Three-port (Tee junction)
 In microwave circuits a waveguide or coaxial-line junction with three independent ports
is commonly referred to as a Tee junction.

 Tee junction is a three-port network with two inputs and one output and vice versa.

 It can be used for power division or power combining.

 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, six of which should be independent.
𝒔𝟏𝟏 𝒔𝟏𝟐 𝒔𝟏𝟑
𝒔 = 𝒔𝟐𝟏 𝒔𝟐𝟐 𝒔𝟐𝟑
𝒔𝟑𝟏 𝒔𝟑𝟐 𝒔𝟑𝟑 2
 4.2 Three-port Tee junction…
 The characteristics of a three-port junction can be explained by three theorems of the
Tee junction.
 These theorems are derived from the equivalent-circuit representation of the Tee junction.
1. A short circuit may always be placed in one of the arms of a three-port junction in such
a way that no power can be transferred through the other two arms.

2. If the junction is symmetric about one of its arms, a short circuit can always be placed
in that arm. So that no reflections occur in power transmission between the other two
arms. (That is, the arms present matched impedances.)

3. It is impossible for a general three-port junction of arbitrary symmetry to present

3
matched impedances at all three arms.
 4.2.1 E-plane Tee (series Tee)
 An E-plane Tee is a waveguide Tee in which the axis of its side arm is parallel to the E
field of the main guide.

 The basic construction of the waveguide junction shows the three port waveguide device.

 One input port and two output ports,

 Actually any port can be used as the input,

 The other two being outputs.

 It is characterized by the fact that the outputs of this form of waveguide junction are 180°
4

out of phase with each other.

 4.2.1 E-plane Tee (series Tee)
 If the collinear arms are symmetric about the side arm, there are two different Txn
characteristics.
 If the E-plane tee is perfectly matched with the aid of screw tuners at the junction , the
diagonal components of the scattering matrix are zero because there will be no reflection.

 When the waves are fed into side arm, the waves appearing at port 1 and port 2 of the
collinear arm will be in opposite phase and in same magnitude.

5
 4.2.1 E-plane Tee (series Tee)…Working
 It can be seen from the electric field that when it approaches the T junction itself, the
electric field lines become distorted and bend.

 They split, so that the “negative" end of the line

remains with the top side of the right hand
section in the diagram.

 But the “positive“ end of the field lines remain with the top side of the left hand section.

 In this way the signals appearing at either section of the "T" are out of phase.

 These phase relationships are preserved if signals enter from either of the other ports.

 When the waves are fed into the side arm (port 3), the waves appearing at port 1 and port 2
6

of the collinear arm will be in opposite phase and in the same magnitude (𝒔𝟏𝟑 = −𝒔𝟐𝟑 ).
 4.2.2 H-plane Tee (shunt Tee)
 An H-plane Tee is a waveguide Tee in which the axis of its side arm is “shunting”, the E
field or parallel to the H field of the main guide.
 If two input waves are fed into 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 the same magnitude.
 Therefore the S matrix of the H-plane Tee is similar to E-plane Tee (𝑠 = 𝑠 ).

7
 4.2.3 Magic Tees (Hybrid Tees)
 A magic Tee is a combination of the E-plane & H-plane Tee.

 It is a four port device.

 So the order of s-matrix is 4 X 4.

 Operation of magic Tee

1. If two waves of equal magnitude and the same phase are fed into port 1 & port 2, the
output will be zero at port 3 and additive at port 4.

2. If a wave is fed into port 4 (the H arm, Σ (sum) or the parallel-port ), it will be divided
equally between port 1 and port 2 of the collinear arms and will not appear at 8

port 3 (the E arm).

 4.2.3 Magic Tees (Hybrid Tees)…
3. If a wave is fed into port 3 (the E arm, Δ (difference) or series-port), it will produce an
output of equal magnitude and opposite phase at port 1 and port 2.

The output at port 4 is zero. That is, 𝑠 =𝑠 = 0.

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.

That is, 𝑠 =𝑠 = 0 . Therefore the S matrix of a magic Tee can be expressed as.

 Applications of Magic Tees

 Mixing, Duplexing and 9

Impedance measurements
 4.2.4 Hybrid Rings (Rat-Race Circuits)
 A hybrid ring consists of an annular line of proper electrical length (circular ring ) to
sustain standing waves, to which four arms are connected at proper intervals by means of
series or parallel junctions.

 If signal enters one port, it does not appear at all the others.

 It is constructed from a circular ring of rectangular waveguide

10
 4.2.4 Hybrid Rings (Rat-Race Circuits)…
 The rat race can be used as a combiner
 If two waves of equal magnitude and the same phase are fed into port 2 and port 4, the
output will be zero at port 3 and additive at port 1.
 If a wave is fed into one of the collinear arms at port 2 or port 4, it will not appear in the
other collinear arm at port 2 or port 4 because the E arm causes a phase delay while the H
arm causes a phase advance. That is, 𝒔𝟐𝟒 = 𝒔𝟒𝟐 = 𝟎.

 The rat race can be used as a splitter

11
 4.2.4 Hybrid Rings (Rat-Race Circuits)….
 If a wave is fed into port 1 (the H arm), it will be divided equally between port 2 and port
4 of the collinear arms and will not appear at port 3 (the E arm).
 If a wave is fed into port 3 (the E arm), it will produce an output of equal magnitude and
opposite phase at port 2 and port 4. The output at port 1 is zero. That is, 𝒔𝟏𝟑 = 𝒔𝟑𝟏 = 𝟎
 Therefore the S matrix of a magic Tee can be expressed as

 It should be noted that the phase cancellation occurs only at a designated frequency for an
ideal hybrid ring.
 In actual hybrid rings there are small leakage couplings, and therefore the zero elements12in
the matrix are not equal to zero.
 4.3 Waveguide Corners, Bends, and Twists
 The waveguide corner, bend, and twist are normally used to change the direction of the guide
through an arbitrary angle.

 In order to minimize reflections from the discontinuities, it is desirable to have the mean length L
between continuities equal to an odd number of quarter-wavelengths.
𝝀𝒈
That is, 𝐋 = 𝟐𝒏 + 𝟏 where n = 0, 1, 2, 3, . . .,and 𝜆 is the wavelength in the waveguide.
𝟒
 If the mean length L is an odd number of quarter wavelengths, the reflected waves from both ends
of the waveguide section are completely canceled.

13
 4.3 Waveguide Corners, Bends, and Twists….
 Bends are called E-plane or H-Plane bends depending on the direction of bending.

 For the waveguide bend, the minimum radius of curvature for a small reflection is given
by,

14

 where a and b are the dimensions of the waveguide bend

 4.4 Power Dividers and Combiners
 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.
 Power dividers and directional couplers are passive microwave components used for
power division or power combining.

 In power division, an input signal is divided into two or more output signals of lesser
power.
 While a power combiner accepts two or more input signals & combines them at an output
port.
15
 The coupler or divider may have three ports or more, and may be (ideally) lossless.
 4.4 Power Dividers and Combiners…
 Three-port networks take the form of T-junctions and other power dividers, while four-port
networks take the form of directional couplers and hybrids.

 Power dividers usually provide in-phase output signals with an equal power division ratio
(3 dB), but unequal power division ratios are also possible.

 Directional couplers can be designed for arbitrary power division, while hybrid junctions
usually have equal power division.
 Hybrid junctions have either a 90◦ or a 180◦ phase shift between the output ports.

16
 4.4 Directional Coupler
 It is a four-port waveguide junction.
 Port 1: Input Port, where power is applied.

 Port 2: Through (transmitted) port, where the power from port 1 is outputted

 Port 3: Isolated Port, A portion of the power applied to port 2 will be coupled to port 3.

 Port 4: Coupled Port, where a portion of the power applied to port 1 appears.

 The term main line (primary waveguide) refers to the section between ports 1 and 2.

 Auxiliary line (secondary waveguide) refers to the section between ports 3 and 4.

17
 4.4 Directional Coupler…
 When all ports are terminated in their characteristic impedances, there is free transmission
of power, without reflection, between port 1 and 2.
 There is no transmission of power between port 1 and 3 or between port 2 and 4 because
no coupling exists between these two pairs of ports.

 The characteristic of a directional coupler is expressed in terms of its coupling

factor, Isolation factor , losses and directivity.
 The coupling factor is the measure of ratio of power levels in primary and secondary
lines.
 Directivity is the measure of how well the forward travelling wave in the primary
waveguide couples only to a specific port of the secondary waveguide.
 In ideal case, directivity is infinite i.e. power at port-3 = 0 18

 Because port-2 and port-4 are perfectly matched.

 4.4 Directional Coupler…
 Let wave propagates from port-1 to port-2 in primary line then:
𝑷𝟏 𝑷𝟒
 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝑩 = 𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 = −𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎
𝑷𝟒 𝑷𝟏
𝑷𝟒
 𝑫𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒅𝑩 = 𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 .
𝑷𝟑
 Where 𝑃1, 𝑃2, 𝑃3 & 𝑃4 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 its corresponding port.
𝑷𝟒
 Isolation factor 𝒅𝑩 = −𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 . Wrong direction of power
𝑷𝟐
𝑷𝟑
 Isolation factor 𝒅𝑩 = −𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 . If there is mismatch b/n input & output port.
𝑷𝟏
 LOSSES: main losses [insertion losses and coupling losses].
 Main line loss indicates the power loss as the signal travels from Input port to Through Port.
𝑷𝟐
 M𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝒅𝑩 = −𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 .
𝑷𝟏
𝑷𝟒
 C𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝒅𝑩 = −𝟏𝟎 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 𝟏 − . 19
𝑷𝟏
 Insertion (dB)=Main losses -coupling losses
 4.4 Directional Coupler…
 Several types of directional couplers exist, such as

 A two-hole,

 Four hole and

 Reverse-coupling directional coupler (schwinger coupler).

 So, 𝑆 =𝑆 =𝑆 =𝑆 = 0.

 There is no coupling between port 1 and port 3 and between port 2 and port 4.

 Thus, 𝑆 =𝑆 =𝑆 =𝑆 = 0.

 So, the S matrix of a directional coupler becomes,

20
 4.5 Circulators and Isolators
 Both microwave circulators and isolators are non-reciprocal transmission devices that use
Faraday rotation in the ferrite material.

 A non reciprocal phase shifter consists of thin slab of ferrite placed in a rectangular
waveguide at a point where the dc magnetic field of the incident wave mode is circularly
polarized.

 When a piece of ferrite is affected by a dc magnetic

field the ferrite exhibits Faraday rotation.

 It does, so because the ferrite is nonlinear material

and its permeability is an asymmetric tensor.

21
 4.5 Circulators and Isolators…Circulator
 A microwave circulator is a multiport waveguide junction in which the wave can flow
only in one direction i.e. from the nth port to the (n+1) th port.
 It has no restriction on the number of ports. 4-port microwave circulator is most common.
 One of its types is a combination of two 3-dB side hole directional couplers and a
rectangular waveguide with two non reciprocal phase shifters.

22
 4.5 Circulators and Isolators…Circulator
 Each of the two 3dB couplers introduce phase shift of 90 degrees.

 Each of the two phase shifters produce a fixed phase change in a certain direction.

 Wave incident to port-1 splits into 2 components by coupler-1.

 The wave in primary guide arrives at port-2 with 180 degrees phase shift.

 The second wave propagates through two couplers and secondary guide and arrives at
port-2 with a relative phase shift of 180 degrees.

 But at port-4 the wave travelling through primary guide phase shifter and coupler-2
arrives with 270 degrees phase change.

 Wave from coupler-1 and secondary guide arrives at port-4 with phase shift of 90 23

degrees.
 4.5 Circulators and Isolators… Isolator
 A non reciprocal transmission device used to isolate one component from reflections of
other components in the transmission line.

 Ideally complete absorption of power takes place in one direction and lossless transmission
is provided in the opposite direction

 Also called UNILINE, it is used to improve the frequency stability of microwave

generators like klystrons and magnetrons in which reflections from the load affects the
generated frequency.

 It can be made by terminating ports 3 and 4 of a 4-port circulator with matched loads.

 Additionally it can be made by inserting a ferrite rod along the axis of a rectangular
24
waveguide.
 4.6 Microwave Tubes
 Microwave tubes are electron guns for generating linear beam tubes.
 A microwave tube generates and amplifies higher frequencies in the microwave range of
frequency spectrum.
 When a microwave tube is energized, the electrons are emitted from the cathode and are
focused on the control grid.
 The conventional vacuum tubes, such as triodes, tetrodes, and pentodes, are still used as
signal sources of low output power at low microwave frequencies.
 But, because of their limitations, these are less useful signal sources for frequencies above
1 GHz and are completely replaced by Linear beam tubes (O type).
 Limitations of conventional vacuum tubes are;

 Lead-inductance, Inter-electrode-capacitance effects, Transit-time effects, 25

 Gain-bandwidth product, Skin effect and dielectric loss.

4.6 Microwave Tubes…Limitations of conventional vacuum tubes
1. Inter electrode Capacitance & Lead Inductance Effect
 The inter electrode capacitances and lead inductances are the order of 1 to 2 pF and 15 to
20 mH respectively.

 The shunt impedances due to inter electrode becomes very low.

 Series impedances due to lead inductance become very high at the microwave frequency
which makes these tube unstable.

26
 4.6 Microwave Tubes…Limitations of conventional vacuum tubes
2. Transit Time Effect

 In a conventional tube electrons emitted by the cathode take a finite (non-zero) time in reaching
the anode.

 This interval, called the transit time, depends on the cathode anode spacing and the static voltage
between the anode.
 The Transit time 𝜏 =

 where τ is the transit time, d is the cathode anode spacing and 𝑉𝑜 is the velocity of electrons.

 At low frequency, the transit time is very negligible.

 But, at higher frequencies, transit time becomes an appreciable portion of a signal cycle which
27
results in decrease in efficiency of device.
 4.6 Microwave Tubes…Limitations of conventional vacuum tubes
3. Gain bandwidth product

 In ordinary vacuum tubes the maximum gain (A max) is generally achieved by resonating
the output tunes circuit.

Gain-bandwidth product = Amax BW = gm/ C .

 Where gm is the trans-conductance and C capacitance.
 It is important to note that the gain-bandwidth product is independent of frequency.

 As gm and C are fixed for a particular tube or circuit, higher gain can be achieved only at
the applicable to resonant circuit.

 In microwave device either re-entrant cavities or slow-wave structures are used to obtain
28

a possible overall high gain over a broad bandwidth.

 4.6 Microwave Tubes…Limitations of conventional vacuum tubes
5. Skin effect: This effect is introduced at higher frequencies.
 Due to it, the current flows from the small sectional area to the surface of the device.
 Also at higher frequencies, resistance of conductor increases due to it , there are losses.

𝑹 = 𝝆𝒍√𝒇
6. Dielectric loss: At the microwave frequency various insulating materials like glass
envelope, silicon and plastic encapsulations are used.
 The losses occur due to dielectric materials is known as dielectric loss.
 Generally the relationship between the power loss in dielectric and frequency is given by
𝑃𝐿 ∝ 𝑓 So, if frequency increases then power loss will also increases.
 The effect of dielectric loss can reduced eliminating the tube base and reducing the 29

surface area of the dielectric material.

 4.6 Microwave Tubes…Types of Microwave Tubes:
 Microwave tubes are a type of vacuum tube that generate and amplify high frequency
microwave signals from 300 MHz to 300 GHz.

 They can generate high output power levels from a few 100 watts to more than 10 MW.

 Microwave tubes are commonly used in military radar, electronic warfare, civilian radar-
like weather detection, highway collision avoidance.

 There are two basic type of Microwave tubes;

 Linear beam tubes (O-type):- Dc magnetic field is in parallel with the dc electric field.

 Crossed-field tubes (M-type):- Dc electric field and the dc magnetic field are
perpendicular to each other.
30
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… Linear Beam Tubes (O-types)
 The limitations of conventional vacuum tubes made them to be replaced by present day
microwave tubes called as Linear-beam tubes (Original tube-type or O-type).

 Microwave tubes used for high power/high frequency combination.

 Tubes generate and amplify high levels of microwave power more cheaply than solid state
devices.

 In a linear-beam tube a magnetic field whose axis coincides with that of the electron beam
is used to hold the beam together as it travels the length of the tube.

 In these tubes electrons receive potential energy from the dc beam voltage before they
arrive in the microwave interaction region.
31

 This energy is converted into their kinetic energy.

4.6 Microwave Tubes… Linear Beam Tubes (O-types)

32
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… Klystron
 A klystron is a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube, which is used as an amplifier for

high radio frequencies (from UHF up into the microwave range).

 Low-power klystrons are used as oscillators, while high-power klystrons are used as

output tubes in UHF television transmitters, satellite communication, & radar transmitters.

 Generally, Klystron is the simplest vacuum tube that can be used for amplification or

generation (as an oscillator) of microwave signal.

 The operation of klystron depends upon velocity modulation which leads to density
modulation of electrons.
 Klystron may be classified as gives below: 33

1. Two cavity klystron amplifier 2. Multi cavity klystron and 3.Reflex klystron.
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 1.Two Cavity Klystron Amplifier
 One of the earlier form of velocity modulation device is the two cavity klystron

amplifier.

 A high velocity electron beam is formed, focused and sent down along a glass tube to a

collector electrode, which is at a high positive potential with respect to the cathode.

 A two cavity klystron amplifier consists of;

 A cathode, focusing electrodes,

 Two buncher grids separated by a very small distance forming a gap A (Input cavity or

buncher cavity),
34

 Two catcher grids with a small gap B (output or catcher cavity) followed by a collector.
4.6 Microwave Tubes… 1.Two Cavity Klystron Amplifier

35
4.6 Microwave Tubes… 1. Operation of Two Cavity Klystron Amplifier
 The input and output are taken from the tube is via resonant cavity with the help of

coupling loops.

 The region between buncher cavity and catcher cavity is called drift space.

 The first electrode (focusing grid) controls the number of electrons in the electron beam

and serves to focus the beam.

 The velocity of electrons in the beam is determined by the beam accelerating potential.

 On leaving the region of focusing grid, the electrons passes through the grids of buncher

cavity.
36

 The space between the grids is referred to as interaction space.

4.6 Microwave Tubes… 1. Operation of Two Cavity Klystron Amplifier
 When electrons travel through this space, they are subjected to RF potential at a frequency

determined by the cavity resonant frequency which is nothing but the input frequency.

 The amplitude of this RF potential between the grids is determined by the amplitude of the

input signal in case of an amplifier or by the amplitude of feedback signal from the second

cavity if used as an oscillator.

 The working of two cavity klystron amplifier depends upon velocity modulation.

 Velocity Modulation: Consider a situation when there is no voltage across the gap.

 Electrons passing through gap A are unaffected and continue on to the collector with the
37
same constant velocities they had before approaching the gap A.
4.6 Microwave Tubes…1. Operation of Two Cavity Klystron Amplifier
 When RF signal to be amplified is used for exciting the buncher cavity thereby developing
an alternating voltage of signal frequency across the gap A.

 The theory of velocity modulation can be explain by using the diagram known as
Applegate diagram as shown in figure.

 At point B on the input RF cycle, the alternating voltage is zero and electron which passes
through gap A is unaffected by the RF signal.

 Let this electron is called reference electron eR which travels with an unchanged

velocity 𝑣 .
38

 where V is the anode to cathode voltage.

4.6 Microwave Tubes…1. Operation of Two Cavity Klystron Amplifier
 Consider another point A of the RF cycle an electron passing the gap Slightly later than

the reference electron eR, called the late electron eL, is subjected to positive RF voltage.

 So late electron eL is accelerated and hence travelling towards gap B with an increased velocity

and late electron eL tries to catch the reference electron eR.

 Similarly, at point C of RF cycle, an electron passing the gap Slightly before than the

reference electron eR, called the early electron ee, is subjected to negative RF voltage.

 So early electron ee is retarded and hence travelling towards gap B with reduced velocity and

reference electron eR catches up the early electron ee.

 So, when the electron pass through the buncher gap their velocity will be change 39

according to the input RF signal. This process is known as velocity modulation.

 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 1. Operation of Two Cavity Klystron Amplifier
 However, as explained with reference to Applegate diagram, the electrons gradually bunch together as
they travel in the drift space.

 When an electron catches up with another one, the electron will exchange energy with the slower
electron,

 Giving it some excess energy and they bunch together and move on with the average velocity of the
beam.
 This phenomena is very vital to the operation of klystron tube as an amplifier.
 The pulsating stream of electrons passes through gap B and excited oscillation in the output cavity.

 The density of electron passing the gap B varies cyclically with time.

 This mean the electron beam contains an AC current and variation in current density (often called
current modulation) enables the klystron to have a significant gain and hence drift space converts the
40

velocity modulation into current modulation.

4.6 Microwave Tubes… 1. Operation of Two Cavity Klystron Amplifier

41
4.6 Microwave Tubes… 1 Characteristics of a two-cavity klystron amplifier
1. Efficiency: about 40%.
2. Power output: average power is up to 500kW & pulsed power is up to 30 MW at 10 GHz.
3. Power gain: about 30 dB.
 Disadvantages

 If a fraction of the output power is fed back to the input cavity and if the loop gain has a

magnitude of unity with a phase shift of multiple 2Π, the klystron will oscillate.

 However, a two-cavity klystron oscillator is usually not constructed because, when the

oscillation frequency is varied, the resonant frequency of each cavity and the feedback path

phase shift must be readjusted for a positive feedback.

 Applications: 1. UHF TV transmitters 2. Troposphere scatter transmitters 42

3. Satellite communication ground station 4. Radar transmitters

 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 2. Multicavity Klystron Amplifier
 Klystron amplification, power output, and efficiency can be greatly improved by the
addition of intermediate cavities b/n the input and output cavities of the basic klystron.
 A large number of cavities may be used to increase the gain of the klystron, or to
increase the BW.
 Since all intermediate cavities in a multi cavity klystron operate in the same manner, a
representative three-cavity klystron.

 The entire drift-tube assembly, the three cavities, and the collector plate of the three-
cavity klystron are operated at ground potential for reasons of safety.
 The electron beam is formed and accelerated toward the drift tube by a large negative
pulse applied to the cathode.
 Magnetic focus coils are placed around the drift tube to keep the electrons in a tight 43

beam and away from the side walls of the tube.

 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 2. Multicavity Klystron Amplifier
 The focus of the beam is also aided by the concave shape of the cathode is high-powered
klystrons.

44
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 2. Operation of Multi cavity Klystron
 The output of any klystron (regardless of the number of cavities used) is developed by

velocity modulation of the electron beam.

 The electrons that are accelerated by the cathode pulse are acted upon by RF fields

developed across the input and middle cavities.

 Some electrons are accelerated, some are decelerated, and some are unaffected.

 Electron reaction depends on the amplitude and polarity of the fields across the cavities

when the electrons pass the cavity gaps.

 During the time the electrons are travelling through the drift space between the cavities,
45
the accelerated electrons overtake the decelerated electrons to form bunches.
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 2. Operation of Multi cavity Klystron
 As a result, bunches of electrons arrive at the output cavity at the proper instant during
each cycle of the RF field and deliver energy to the output cavity.

 Only a small degree of bunching takes place within the electron beam during the interval
of travel from the input cavity to the middle cavity.

 The amount of bunching is sufficient, however, to cause oscillations within the middle
cavity and to maintain a large oscillating voltage across the middle cavity gap.

 Most of the velocity modulation produced in the three-cavity klystron is caused by the
voltage across the input gap of the middle cavity.

 The high voltage across the gap causes the bunching process to proceed rapidly in the drift
46

space between the middle cavity and the output cavity.

 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 2. Operation of Multi cavity Klystron
 The electron bunches cross the gap of the output cavity when the gap voltage is at
maximum negative.
 Maximum energy transfer from the electron beam to the output cavity occurs under these
conditions.

 The energy given up by the electrons is the kinetic energy that was originally absorbed
from the cathode pulse.

 Klystron amplifiers have been built with as many as five intermediate cavities in addition
to the input and output cavities.

 The effect of the intermediate cavities is to improve the electron bunching process which
improves amplifier gain.
47
 The overall efficiency of the tube is also improved to a lesser extent.
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 2. Operation of Multi cavity Klystron
 Adding more cavities is roughly the same as adding more stages to a conventional
amplifier.

 The overall amplifier gain is increased and the overall bandwidth is reduced if all the
stages are tuned to the same frequency.
 The same effect occurs with multi cavity klystron tuning.
 A klystron amplifier tube will deliver high gain and a narrow bandwidth if all the cavities
are tuned to the same frequency.
 This method of tuning is called synchronous tuning.
 If the cavities are tuned to slightly different frequencies, the gain of the amplifier will be
reduced but the bandwidth will be significantly increased. 48

 This method of tuning is called staggered tuning.

 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 3. Reflex Klystron
 Reflex klystron is low power, low efficiency microwave oscillator.

 Reflex klystron is a single cavity variable frequency microwave generator.

 This is most widely used in application where variable frequency is desired like radar
receiver and microwave receivers.

 Construction: Reflex klystron consists of an electron gun similar to that of multi cavity
klystron, a filament surrounded by a cathode and a focusing electrode at the cathode.

 The reflex klystron contains a repeller which is at a high negative potential.

 The suitable formed electron beam is accelerated towards the cavity, where a high positive
voltage applied to it.
49
 This acts as anode and known as anode cavity.
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 3. Reflex Klystron
 After passing the gap in cavity electrons travel towards repeller which is at high negative
potential.
 The electrons are repelled back from midway of the repeller
space by the repeller electrode towards the anode.

 If conditions are properly adjusted, then the

returning electrons give more energy to the gap

than they took from it on forward journey,

thus leads to sustained oscillations.

50
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 3. Operation of Reflex Klystron
 The electron beam injected from the cathode is first velocity modulated by the beam
voltage.

 Some electrons are accelerated and leave the resonator at an increased velocity than those
with uncharged velocity.

 Some retarded electrons enter the repeller region with less velocity.

 Then the electrons, which are leaving the resonator, will need different time to return due
to change in velocity.

 As a result returning electrons group together in bunches.

 It is seen that earlier electrons take more time to return to the gap than later electrons and
51
so the conditions are right for bunching to take place.
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… 3. Operation of Reflex Klystron
 On their return journey the bunched electrons pass through the gap during the retarding
phase of the alternating field.

 Or as the electron bunches pass through resonator, they interact with voltage at resonator
grids.

 If the bunches pass the grid at such time that the electrons are slowed down by the
voltage, energy will be delivered to the resonator and electrons will oscillate.

 The electrons finally collected by the walls of the cavity or other grounded metal parts of
the tube.

52
4.6 Microwave Tubes… 3. Performance Characteristics of Reflex Klystron
1. Frequency: 4 – 200 GHz.
2. Power: 1 mW – 2.5 W.
3. Theoretical efficiency : 22.78 %.
4. Practical efficiency : 10 % - 20 %.
5. Tuning range : 5 GHz at 2 W – 30 GHz at 10 mW.
Applications: The reflex klystrons are used in
1. Radar receivers.
2. Local oscillator in microwave receivers.
3. Signal source in microwave generator of variable frequency.
4. Portable microwave links. 53

5. Pump oscillator in parametric amplifier.

 4.6 Microwave Tubes… Travelling Wave Tube
 The TWT is linear beam or O-type device like the klystron.
 The TWT is a high-gain, low noise, wide bandwidth microwave amplifier.

 It is capable to achieve gain greater the 40 dB with bandwidth exceeding an octave (1

octave in which the upper frequency is twice the lower frequency).
 TWT has been designed for frequencies as low as 300 MHz and high as 50 GHz.
 The wide bandwidth and low-noise characteristics makes the TWT ideal for used as an
amplifier in microwave equipment.
 Forbroadband application, such as satellite, radar transmitter, the TWT are almost
exclusively used.
 If we compare the basic operating principles of TWT and klystron,

 In TWT, the microwave circuit is non-resonant and the wave propagates with same
54
speed as the electrons in the beam.
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… Travelling Wave Tube
 The initial effect on the beam is a small amount of velocity modulation caused by the
weak electric field associated with the travelling wave.

 Just as in the klystron this velocity modulation later translates to current modulation,
which then induces on RF current in the circuit, causing amplification.

 TWTs are broad band devices in which there are no cavity resonators.

 The interaction space extends and the electron beam exchanges energy with the RF wave
over the full length of the tube.

 But it is necessary to ensure that the electron beam and the RF wave both are travelling
in the same direction with nearly the same velocity.
55
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… Travelling Wave Tube
 The electron beam travels with a velocity governed by the anode voltage.

 The RF field propagates with a velocity equal to velocity of light.

 The interaction between the RF field and electron beam will take place only when the RF
field is retarded by slow wave structures, like helix.

56
 4.6 Microwave Tubes… Travelling Wave Tube
 Advantages
 TWT has extremely wide bandwidth.
 Hence, it can be made to amplify signals from UHF to 100GHz.
 The TWT’s can be used in both continuous and pulsed modes of operation with power levels up to
several thousands watts
 Applications
1. Low noise RF amplifier in broad band microwave receivers.
2. Repeater amplifier in wide band communication links and long distance telephony.
3. Due to long tube life (50,000 hours against ¼th for other types), TWT is power output tube in
communication satellite.
4. Continuous wave high power TWT’s are used in tropospheric scatter links (due to larger power
and larger bandwidths). 57

5. Used in Air borne and ship borne pulsed high power radars.
4.7 Crossed Field Tubes (Magnetic Type)...

58
 4.7 Microwave Tubes… Cross-Field Effect
 In linear beam tubes like klystron and TWT, the dc magnetic field parallel to the dc
electric field is used to focus the electron beam.
 Crossed-field tubes the dc electric field and the dc magnetic field are perpendicular to
each other. They are also called M-type tubes.
 In all crossed-field tubes, the dc magnetic field plays a direct role in the RF interaction
process.
 In a crossed-field tube, the electrons emitted by the cathode are accelerated by the electric
field and gain velocity,
 But the greater their velocity, the more their path is bent by the magnetic field.
 If an RF field is applied to the anode circuit, those electrons entering the circuit during the
59

retarding field are decelerated and give up some of their energy to the RF field.
 4.7 Microwave Tubes… Cross-Field Effect
 Consequently, their velocity is decreased, and these slower electrons will then travel the
dc electric field far enough to regain essentially the same velocity as before.

 Because of the crossed-field interactions, only those electrons that have given up
sufficient energy to the RF field can travel all the way to the anode.

 This phenomenon would make the M-type devices relatively efficient.

 Those electrons entering the circuit during the accelerating field are accelerated by means
of receiving enough energy from the RF field and are returned back toward the cathode.

 This back-bombardment of the cathode produces heat in the cathode and decreases the
operational efficiency.
60
 4.7 Microwave Tubes… Magnetron Oscillator
 The magnetron is a high powered vacuum tube that generates microwaves using the
interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field.

 All magnetrons consist of some form of anode and cathode operated in a dc magnetic field
normal to a dc electric field between the cathode and anode.

 Because of the crossed field between the cathode and anode, the electrons emitted from
the cathode are influenced by the crossed field to move in curved paths.

 If the dc magnetic field is strong enough, the electrons will not arrive in the anode but
return instead to the cathode.

 consequently, the anode current is cut off.

61
 4.7 Microwave Tubes… Three Types of Magnetron
1. Negative resistance Magnetrons or Split-anode magnetron: This type of magnetron
uses a static negative resistance between two anode segments.
 Low efficiency and are useful only at low frequencies(<500 MHz)
2. Cyclotron-frequency magnetrons: This type operates under the influence of
synchronism between an alternating component of electric field and a periodic oscillation of
electrons in a direction parallel to the field.
 Useful only for frequencies greater than 100 MHz.
3. Traveling-wave magnetrons: This type depends on the interaction of electrons with a
traveling electromagnetic field of linear velocity.
 They are customarily referred to simply as magnetrons.
 Provide oscillations of very high peak power and hence are useful in RADAR 62

applications.
 4.7 Microwave Tubes… Three Types of Magnetron
 Traveling-wave magnetrons types are

 Cylindrical magnetron,

 Linear (or planar) magnetron

 Coaxial magnetron,

 Voltage-tunable magnetron,

 Inverted coaxial magnetron, and

 The frequency-agile magnetron

63
 Assignment 10% Submission Date 17/09/2014 E.C
1. Derive the equation for velocity modulation of two cavity klystron with neat diagram?

2. Derive the expression for power efficiency of two cavity klystron by deriving the
expression for output current?

3. Derive the expression for power efficiency of Reflex klystron by deriving the expression
for output current?

4. A dc beam voltage of 280 volts is applied to the anode of a reflex klystron whose cavity
is tuned to a frequency of 9.75 GHz. The length of the repeller space is 1.2mm and is
operated under 2 3/4 mode of operation. If the resulting beam current is 1.5 mA,
determine the optimum power value of RF power and the corresponding repeller voltage
to be applied. 64
Electrical and Computer Engineering

Optics and Optical Communication Systems

Lecture - 01: Light Signal Amplifiers Circuits

Instructor : Abebe N. (MSc.)

Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

 Contents
• Introduction to Optical Amplifier
• Types of Amplifier
• Application of Amplifier
• Pumping Phenomenon
• Optical Resonator
• Pump Wavelength
 Basic Concepts
• The transmission distance of any fiber-optic communication system is eventually limited
by fiber losses.
• For long-haul systems, the loss limitation has traditionally been overcome using
optoelectronic repeaters in which the optical signal is first converted into an electric
current and then regenerated.
• Such regenerators become quite complex and expensive for wavelength-division
multiplexed (WDM) lightwave systems.
• An alternative approach to loss management makes use of optical amplifiers, which
amplify the optical signal directly without requiring its conversion to the electric domain
with no optoelectronic circuitry.
 Basic Concepts Cont……
• Most optical amplifiers amplify incident light through stimulated emission, the same
mechanism that is used by lasers.
• Its main ingredient is the optical gain realized when the amplifier is pumped (optically or
electrically) to achieve population inversion.
• The optical gain depends on the frequency (wavelength) of the incident signal and on the local
beam intensity at any point inside the amplifier.
• Optical intensity of a beam is the optical power per unit area1 that is transmitted through a
surface perpendicular to the propagation direction.
• Many optical amplifiers can be cascaded in the form of a periodic chain as long as the system
performance is not limited by the cumulative effects of fiber dispersion, fiber nonlinearity,
and amplifier noise.
• The use of optical amplifiers is particularly attractive for WDM lightwave systems as all
channels can be amplified simultaneously.
 Amplifier Applications
 The common applications:
 The most important application for long-haul systems consists of using amplifiers as in-
line amplifiers which replace electronic regenerators.
 Another way to use optical amplifiers is to increase the transmitter power by placing an
amplifier just after the transmitter, called power amplifiers or power boosters, as their main
purpose is to boost the power transmitted.
 Transmission distance can also be increased by putting an amplifier just before the receiver
to boost the received power, called optical preamplifiers and are commonly used to improve
the receiver sensitivity.
 Another application of optical amplifiers is to use them for compensating distribution
losses in local-area networks.
Amplifiers Block Diagram
 Optical Amplifiers Type Cont….
• The two main approaches to optical amplification to date have concentrated on:
 semiconductor optical amplifiers which utilize stimulated emission from injected carriers
 fiber amplifiers in which gain is provided by either stimulated Raman, Brillouin
scattering, or by rare earth dopants.
• Both amplifier types (i.e. semiconductor and fiber; specifically rare earth and Raman) have
the ability to provide high gain over wide spectral bandwidths, making them eminently
suitable for optical fiber system applications.
• Semiconductor optical amplifiers offer an advantage due to their smaller size and they can be
integrated to produce subsystems which are an essential element of current optical
communication systems and networks.
 Optical Amplifiers Gain-wavelength
• The typical gain profiles for optical amplifier types based around the 1.3 and 1.5 μm wavelength regions are illustrated in
figure below.
• It may be observed that the semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), the erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and the
Raman fiber amplifier all provide wide spectral bandwidths.
• Hence these optical amplifier types lend themselves to applications involving wavelength division multiplexing.
• By contrast, the Brillouin fiber amplifier has a very narrow spectral bandwidth, possibly around 50 MHz, and therefore
cannot be employed for wideband amplification.
• It could, however, be used for channel selection within a WDM system by allowing amplification of a particular channel
without boosting other nearby channels
 Pumping Phenomenon
• The pumping phenomenon in optical amplifiers refers to the process of injecting energy
into the amplifier to increase the number of photons in the gain medium.
• This process is achieved by using a pump source that provides energy to the gain
medium, which in turn, amplifies the input signal.
• The pump source can be either optical or electrical.
• The optical pumping process involves the use of light to excite the gain medium, while
electrical pumping involves the use of electricity.
• Optical pumping is a process in which light energy is used to excite electrons from a
lower to higher energy level.
• Optical pumping often takes place in laser action which involves absorption of photons
of light to raise the energy levels of electrons.
• These electrons remain at higher energy state until they are activated to release their
stored energy in the form of a laser beam.
 Pumping Phenomenon Cont………
• High power conversion efficiency of optically pumped lasers can be achieved upon
efficient absorption of pump light in the gain medium. The pump absorption efficiency,
in some cases can be increased by transmitting light via multiple passages in the gain
medium.
• The active laser medium (also called a gain medium or lasing medium) is the source of
optical gain within a laser.
• The gain results from the stimulated emission of photons through electronic or molecular
transitions to a lower energy state from a higher energy state previously populated by a
pump source.
• A gain medium is a material that amplifies light by means of stimulated emission.
• It is used in optical communication to amplify optical signals.
• The gain medium is the source of optical gain within a laser, which results from the
emission of molecular or electronic transitions from a higher energy state to a lower
energy state.
 Pump Wavelength
 An optical amplifier is a device that amplifies an optical signal directly, without the need to
first convert it to an electrical signal.
 An optical parametric amplifier (OPA) is a type of optical amplifier that emits light of
variable wavelengths by an optical parametric amplification process.
 The pump wavelength in an OPA is the wavelength of the input light beam that is used to
generate the output light beam.
 The optimal pump wavelength for an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) is around 980
nm and 532 nm.
 The optimal pump wavelength for Raman Amplifiers is around 1550 nm.
 Semiconductor Optical Amplifier
 SOA is based on the same technology as a Fabry-Perot Laser diode
 Such a LASER consists of an amplifying device inside a cavity(Fabry
Cavity).
 The amplification is achieved by externally pumping the energy levels of
the material.
 In order to achieve only amplification functions it is necessary to protect the
device against self oscillations generating the LASER effect.
 This is accomplished by blocking cavity reflections using an anti reflection
(AR) coating and the technique of angle cleaving the chip facets.
 Unlike EDFAs which are optically pumped SOAs are electrically pumped
by injected current.
 Optical Resonator
• An optical resonator is a part of a laser that consists of two mirrors, one highly reflective and one partly reflective, placed on
either side of a laser pump.
• The resonator is needed to build up the light energy in the beam.
• The mirrors are arranged to form a standing wave cavity resonator for light waves.
• Optical aids are devices that are used to improve visual performance in people with low vision. They can be optical or optical
and electronic.
• Optical aids are designed to magnify or enlarge the retinal image, and they include binoculars, magnifiers, spectacles, and
telescopes etc..
• The resonator allows a beam of light to circulate in a closed path, enhancing stimulated emission within the pump,
eventually being emitted through the partly reflective mirror.