Compact and low‐cost reflectometer using a LH‐NLTL frequency translator. Issue 4 (April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Park, Soonwoo; Kim, Jingyu; Kim, Hongjoon
• Is Part Of: Microwave and optical technology letters. Volume 59:Issue 4(2017:Apr.)
• Page Start: 873
• Page End: 876
• Publication Date: 2017-04
• Subjects: reflectometer -- microwave imaging -- LH‐NLTL -- frequency translator -- resistive coupler; Microwaves -- Periodicals; Optics -- Periodicals; 621
• DOI: 10.1002/mop.30419
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0895-2477

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this study, we fabricated a low‐cost, miniaturized reflectometry system using a left‐handed nonlinear transmission line (LH‐NLTL) and compared its performance with that of a commercial vector network analyzer (VNA). In the system, we used the LH‐NLTL as a frequency translator to replace a bulky and expensive frequency synthesizer. In addition, instead of using a bulky broadband coupler, we used a compact resistive coupler to minimize the size of the overall system. To improve system accuracy, we employed a four‐port network calibration equation. The resulting system exhibits highly similar performance compared to a commercial VNA. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:873–876, 2017