Microwave measurements

What to measure?, and why, and how.

Frequency Measurement.
Counters and pre-scalers for direct frequency measurement in terms of a quartz crystal reference
oscillator are often used at lower frequencies, but they give up currently at frequencies above about
10GHz !n alternative is to measure the wavelength of microwaves and calculate the frequency from
the relationship "frequency# times "wavelength# $ wave velocity %f course, the direct frequency
counter will give a far more accurate indication of frequency &or many purposes the 1' accuracy of a
wavelength measurement suffices ! resonant cavity made from waveguide with a sliding short can be
used to measure frequency to a precision and potential accuracy of 1() of the cavity, where ) is the
quality factor often in the range 1000-10,000 for practical cavities
"Precision" and "accuracy".
*recision is governed by the fineness of graduations on a scale, or the +tolerance+ with which a
reading can be made &or e,ample, on an ordinary plastic ruler the graduations may be 1(-mm at their
finest, and this represents the limiting precision
!ccuracy is governed by whether the graduations on the scale have been correctly drawn with respect
to the original standard &or e,ample, our plastic ruler may have been put into boiling water and
stretched by 1 part in -0 .he measurements on this ruler may be precise to 1(-mm, but in a 10 cm
measurement they will be inaccurate by 10(-0 cm or /mm, ten times as much
0n a cavity wave-meter, the precision is set by the cavity ) factor which sets the width of the
resonance .he accuracy depends on the calibration, or even how the scale has been forced by
previous users winding down the micrometer against the end stop
Wavelength measurement.
1avelength is measured by means of signal strength sampling probes which are moved in the
direction of wave propagation by means of a sliding carriage and vernier distance scale .he signal
strength varies because of interference between forward and bac2ward propagating waves3 this gives
rise to a standing wave pattern with minima spaced 1(- wavelength
!t a frequency of 10 GHz the wavelength in free space is 4 cm Half a wavelength is 1/mm and a
vernier scale may measure this to a precision of 1(-0mm .he e,pected precision of measurement is
therefore 1 part in 400 or about 044'
.he location of a ma,imum is less precise than the location of a minimum3 the indicating signal
strength meter can be set to have a gain such that the null is very sharply determined 0n practice one
would average the position of two points of equal signal strength either side of the null3 and one would
also average the readings ta2en with the carriage moving in positive and negative directions to
eliminate bac2lash errors
1
5ultiple readings with error averaging can reduce the random errors by a further factor of 4 for a run
of 10 measurements
Signal strength measurement
.he 10 GHz microwave signal in the waveguide is +chopped+ by the *06 modulator at a frequency of
12Hz "audio# and the square wave which does this is provided by the bench power supply
.he detector diodes in the mounts on the wavemeter and slotted line rectify and filter this 10GHz !5
signal and return a 12Hz square wave which you can observe directly on the oscilloscope .hey are
actually being used as +envelope detectors+ as is the detector diode in your !5 radio
.he 7819 indicator is a 12Hz tuned audio amplifier with :0d; dynamic range at least, and a
calibrated attenuator sets its gain .he meter measures the size of the audio signal at 12Hz
An X!and slotted line
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Another e"am#le o$ an X!and slotted line.
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SW% tuned am#li$ier meter and indicator
8ince the detectors are +square law+ their output voltage is proportional to the square of the microwave
signal voltage 9egarded as a linear meter then, the 7819 indicator gives a deflection proportional to
the *%1<9 of the microwave signal "7=7(>o# .hat is the reason for the curious calibration on the
7819 scales
Half scale deflection on the 7819 meter therefore represents a microwave voltage of 1(sqrt"-# or
0:0: of that corresponding to full scale deflection
5oreover, the 7819 meter is calibrated +bac2wards+ in that one sets the voltage ma,imum at full
scale deflection, then reads the 7819 from the voltage minimum .hus the calibration point at half
scale deflection is actually 1(0:0: or 1?1? 7819 Chec2 this !t 1(10 of full scale deflection the
7819 calibration point is sqrt"10# or 41@ !t this point one increases the gain by a factor of 10 with
the main attenuator adAustment, and reads the 7819 scale from 41@ to 10 on the other half of the
7819 scale Get a demonstrator to show you how if this isnBt yet clear
6ote that the gain d; scales and the attenuator on the 7819 indicator correspond to *%1<9 of the
microwave signal, not to *%1<9 of the 12Hz audio input
Measurements o$ im#edance and re$lection coe$$icient.
! visit to your favourite microwave boo2 shows that a measurement of the standing wave ratio alone
is sufficient to determine the magnitude, or modulus, of the comple, reflection coefficient 0n turn this
gives the return loss from a load directly .he standing wave ratio may be measured directly using a
travelling signal strength probe in a slotted line .he slot in waveguide is cut so that it does not cut any
of the current flow in the inside surface of the guide wall 0t therefore does not disturb the field pattern
and does not radiate and contribute to the loss 0n the C band waveguide slotted lines in our lab, there
is a ferrite fringing collar which additionally confines the energy to the guide
.o determine the phase of the reflection coefficient we need to find out the position of a standing
wave minimum with respect to a +reference plane+ .he procedure is as followsD-
&irst, measure the guide wavelength, and record it with its associated accuracy estimate
8econd, find the position of a standing wave minimum for the load being measured, in terms of the
arbitrary scale graduations of the vernier scale
.hird, replace the load with a short to establish a reference plane at the load position, and measure the
closest minimum "which will be a deep null# in terms of the arbitrary scale graduations of the vernier
scale <,press the distance between the measurement for the load and the short as a fraction of a guide
wavelength, and note if the short measurement has moved +towards the generator+ or +towards the
load+ .he distance will always be less than 1(? guide wavelength towards the nearest minimum
&ourth, locate the r E 1 line on the 850.H chart and set your dividers so that they are on the centre of
the chart at one end, and on the measured 7819 at the other along the r E 1 line ".hat is, if 7819 $
1:, find the value r $ 1:#
&ifth, locate the short circuit point on the 850.H chart at which r $ 0, and , $ 0, and count round
towards the generator or load the fraction of a guide wavelength determined by the position of the
minimum
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1ell done 0f you plot the point out from the centre of the 850.H chart a distance +7819+ and round
as indicated you will be able to read off the normalised load impedance in terms of the line or guide
characteristic impedance .he fraction of distance out from centre to rim of the 850.H chart
represents the modulus of the reflection coefficient Fmod"gamma#G and the angle round from the rE1
line in degrees represents the phase angle of the reflection coefficient Farg"gamma#G
Microwave waveguide !enches.
.hese demonstration benches introduce the novice student to the essentials of the behaviour of
microwaves in the laboratory .he wavelength is convenient at the operating frequency in C band "H-
1- GHz appro,# .he waveguide used is 1GI0, so called because the principal waveguide dimension
is 0I00 inches, I00 +thou+ or +mils+ depending on whether you are using ;ritish or !merican
parlance .he guide wavelength at 10 GHz in 1GI0 is notionally 4IH cm "the free space wavelength
is 4 cm# so the standing wave pattern repeats at a distance of about - cm
An X!and waveguide !ench.
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Another X!and waveguide !ench, used $or transmitting.
.he benches include an attenuator, and an isolator ;oth of these help to stop the reflected power from
reaching the oscillator and pulling the frequency of the cavity and Gunn diode off tune when the load
impedance is varied
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An isolator, made $rom a magnet and $erriteloaded waveguide.
.here is a dual directional coupler, arranged as a pair of crossed waveguides, which samples some of
the forward wave power and couples it to a calibrated cavity wavemeter for measuring the oscillator
frequency .a2en together with a measurement of guide wavelength, we have then two independent
chec2s on the oscillator frequency .here is also a *06 modulator which chops the 10GHz signal at a
frequency of 1JHz square wave
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&he P'( modulator, directional cou#ler, and #art o$ the wavemeter scale.
.he guide wavelength is an important property to be measured, and should not be changed during the
course of a series of measurements ! half guide wavelength "about - cm# represents a plot of once
round the 850.H chart !s remar2ed, we can determine the position of a minimum to about 1(-0mm
precision, or about 1 degree of angle around the chart .hat represents 0001-/ lambda error in the
phase plot on the 850.H chart
(etwor) Analy*ers.
! networ2 analyzer ma2es measurements of comple, reflection coefficients on --port microwave
networ2s 0n addition, it can ma2e measurements of the comple, amplitude ratio between the outgoing
wave on one port and the incoming wave on the other .here are thus four possible comple, amplitude
ratios which can be measured 0f we designate the two ports 1 and - respectively, these ratios may be
written s11 s1- s-1 s-- .hese are the four +s-parameters+ or +scattering parameters+ for the networ2
.ogether they may be assembled into a matri, called the +s-matri,+ or +scattering matri,+
.he networ2 analyzer wor2s on a different principle to the slotted line 0t forms sums and differences
of the port currents and voltages, by using a cunning bridge arrangement .he phase angles are found
by using synchronous detection having in-phase and quadrature components &rom the measured
voltage and currents it determines the incoming and outgoing wave amplitudes !s we recall from
elsewhere in the notes, 7K $ "7 K >o0#(- and 7- $ "7 - >o0#(-
H
6etwor2 analysers can be automated and controlled by computer, and ma2e measurements at a series
of different frequencies derived from a computer controlled master oscillator .hey then plot the s-
parameters against frequency, either on a 850.H chart or directly
.he important e,perimental technique to the use of a networ2 analyser lies in the calibration
procedure 0t is usual to present the analyser with 2nown scattering events, from matched terminations
and short circuits at 2nown places 0t can then adAust its presentation of s-parameters for imperfections
in the transmission lines connecting the analyser to the networ2, so that the user never has to consider
the errors directly providing he(she can trust the calibration procedure 0t is even possible to calibrate
out the effects of intervening transmission components, such as chip pac2ages, and measure the +bare+
s-parameters of a chip at reference planes on-chip
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