Design of a 0.5–18 GHz Wideband Switching Matrix Box for Electronic Support Measurement

Abstract

In this paper, we design and fabricate a broadband switching matrix box with low-noise figure, flat gain characteristics, and reliability by applying the chip-and-wire process using a bare-type MMIC device. To compensate for the mismatch among many components, the limiter, switch, amplifier, and power divider, which are suitable for sub-band frequency characteristics, are designed and applied to the matrix box. The matrix box has three submodules that are phase-matched for each frequency band and one built-in test (BIT) submodule to select the BIT path for calibration. Phase-matched RF semi-rigid cables of different lengths are used to connect to the external interface of the matrix box. The main RF line is a dielectric substrate, RT/Duroid 5880, with a relative dielectric constant of 2.2 and a dielectric thickness of 0.127 mm. The BIT path is a dielectric substrate, ceramic alumina (AI2O3), which has a relative dielectric constant of 9.8 and a dielectric thickness of 0.254 mm. In the wideband switching matrix box, the gain is from −1.71 dB to −2.69 dB at LB (input frequency, 0.5−2 GHz), with a flatness of 1.0 dB. Th e gain is from +14.8 dB to +12.4 dB at MB (input frequency, 1−6 GHz), with a flatness of 2.4 dB. The gain is from +12.6 dB to +9.4 dB at HB (input frequency, 6−18 GHz), with a flatness of 3.2 dB. The measured values of the noise figure are 2.69 dB at low band, 4.4 dB at medium band, and 5.95 dB at high band with a maximum value. The measured value of phase matching at high band is 7º with a maximum value.

Design of Front-End Receiver and Matrix for 2–18 GHz with a Searching and Tracking Function for an ELINT System

“…FET switches have very low video leakage compared to PIN diode switches. The channel is controlled by the depletion layer of the gate bias [13]. Table 2 numerically shows how low the FET switch characteristics are compared to those of the PIN diode switch.…”

Power Limiter with PIN Diode Embedded in Cavity to Minimize Parasitic Inductance

“…Radio and radar receivers can receive and process extremely small signals. Since the receivers must work well without damage even with a significantly large incident signal, they must be protected by having a power limiter in front of the low-noise amplifier [1][2][3]. A power limiter consists of DC blocking capacitors, a radio frequency (RF) choke, and a positive-intrinsicnegative (PIN) diode.…”