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0.4 where y, and 'Y2 are the values of y needed to give quasi-
2Lexp(-X)2 X(4-erf X)/ peak voltages equal to 0.74o and o- respectively. Thus
0.2-
0.2- ffi1r with such direct relations, the variable resistance might
be calibrated to indicate the values of these coefficients
o- J 1L directly and individually.
Q 30.2 3
CONCLUSIONS
References in the past to the quasi-peak detector have
04 viewed the device as a weighted circuit chosen for its
ability to reflect the subjective effect of certain kinds of
f (X) interference on specific communication systems. Un-
0°2- certainty as to what electrical quantities are being
- N measured has led to differing views on the merit of the
o 1 1
1.2device.
._0.3 This work was aimed at establishing more firmly the
connection between the reading of such a device with
the probability density function being measured; that
is, showing its objective side. On the assumption that a
half-wave linear diode can be realized, it was shown that,
0.8- > f141X) by some variation in the circuit used in the past, the pdf
can be determined from its readings.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author wishes to thank Professor F. Haber for
fruitful discussions and advice, and Dr. R. M. Showers
Fig. 3-Components of -jx vs normalized voltage, x. who suggested the work.
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1959 Weinschel, et al.: VHF/UHF Signal Generator Attenuator Calibration 25
PHASE S01JSiTIVE - iP00 CP5 MULL
~~~~~PHASE
l \ / i
^s IQDlCA'TOP FOP FIRQUEAECY C0MPARPlM
1EMSITIVITY : 10 (-c/ I DlVSlONI
. ~~~~~~~~~~~~DISCPUMISJATOR _y-
EQUIPMEMT } . \,00 CPS
~~~~~~~~~~TUS)ED.
UNDE.R TEST 'COMPAWA50t LNlTER AMPLIFIER, *flJ spO CPS
l l~~~~~~~~~~~~M)
HF-AD |c AMI
Mr|3 AGEScu |v PmSTIIY
l C00 PLIFIF-T 0E.TOCT0I
$IC-JSAL 0
._.l BDAIFFEREN CE /a o
mm
__ PAD TO RODUCE MAX
LEA/ELTO-15DESA
IOTG-
I I 0.0 P DIFFERECE I Z
PHDIVI SIONS i
MAETER 4100oDBL - A X G
IMDEXO1i (A 0 DBV STEPS
} . .
1 2 DIRECT
.B 0FFE0I CALIBRATLO N .01 OB DFVV5I0
ISTUBL 0E
TQETIEAPLFE TOaS =1
EPQDEJUT
1TOCEADE)TEST EQUIPMWtT
PAD TO OCT
AX ON RE. TEST FREK,
The basic idea of the instrument was encountered in of this modulation, the sense of the inequality can be
England during the survey phase of the development determined-hence, the use of phase sensitive detectors.
[1], [2]. The frequency discriminator and its phase sensitive
detector are provided to insure that the mixer output
DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM is adjusted to exactly the frequency of the standard 30-
A block diagramn of the system is shown in Fig. 1. mc source so that no 1000-c modulation can be intro-
The signal from the generator being calibrated is con- duced due to a slope in the IF amplifier characteristic.
verted to 30 mc in a linear mixer. By a linear mixer, we A photograph of the complete equipment is shown in
mean one in which the amplitude of the output voltage Fig. 2.
at the intermediate frequency is linearly related to the It will be noted that the IF amplifier and everything
amplitude of the input signal. The output of the piston following it are not critical as regards linearity and sta-
attenuator, which is fed from a standard 30 mc source, bility; they serve the purpose of a null detector. The
is equated to the muixer oultput. The amount of change mixer and piston attenuator, however, have very rigid
in attenuation of the piston attenuator required to requirements if high accuracies are to be obtained. Be-
maintain this equality gives the change in signal gener- cause of their critical nature, these two elements are to
ator output. The IF amplifier, detector, 1000-c tuned be considered in detail.
amplifier, discriminator, and synchronous detectors are
provided to indicate equality of the voltages. RF MIXER
This is accomplished by modulating both the local It is necessary that the mixer be used only over that
oscillator and the standard 30-inc source at a 1000-cps portion of its characteristic where the intermediate-
rate. The modulation is done with square waves in such frequency output amplitude is linearly related to the
a manner that the oscillators are switched completely signal input amplitude.
on and off in counterphase so that they are on during The maximum input signal that can be handled by
alternate half cycles of the modulating signal. Thus the the mnixer without going outside the linear range is de-
IF amplifier and the following circuits see first one and termined by the local oscillator level, which in turn is
then the other of the signals being compared. If they determined by crystal characteristics, noise, etc. The
are unequal, the signal in the IF amplifier appears to be circuit was first analyzed theoretically, and then the
modulated at a 1000-c rate and by observing the phase theory was verified experimentally.
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24 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION March
A( W5-o)t - ore
-r~~ ~ ~~~~w
If two high-frequency signlals are comllbinledaby simpl-e al =- C.2 o + -r2 Eos coswot2cw,td
addition, the resultant will be another high-frequenlcy Fai Jis ±oon - a, the cos td( fud)
signal that will, on first inspection, appear to be ampli- Es(1 i t2)s/2 rl t
tude modulated at a frequency equal to the difference al = -____b- Jo[1 ± A coswrti2 cosiretd(.rt) (2)
in frequency between the two original signals. On closer h
inspection, however, is seen that the modulation
it en- 2r
velope contains harmonics of this difference frequency, .1 =-
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1959 Weinschel, et al.: VHFIUHF Signal Generator Attenuator Calibration 25
2Es 1 3A2 7 15A4 33- 105AI
a, = __+ ~~ + + +p AUD/t
(1 + r2) / 2 64 265 24 1024-384 GENERATfA i IN 215
2E,
a, = l (0.5 + .04687A2 + .0171A4 + .0088A6 ._
L
GP
+1 r)
r( T TE,','UA TO .T gTEMATOR ct e * t2
A
e2
+ .0054AI + .0036A 0 + ). I * AT-E_/URTOR
,
TABLE I
_ EXCO 1 s~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A-5
r Yl (5so0 cns5)
0.05 0.04998 Fig. 4-Block diagram of the setup used for mixer
0.1 0.09987 linearity measurements.
0.15 0.14957
0.2 0.19889
0.25 0.24801 coupling of 20:1. The intermediate-frequency load im-
0.3 0.29656
0.35 0.34394 pedance is 2000 ohms, as represented by the input to the
0.4 0.39171 Weinschel Engineering Model BA-5 Attenuation Cali-
brator, which is used as an intermediate-frequency
If the system were perfectly linear the amplitude of I amplifier.withThethe mixer
parallel
input of about 1000 ohms, in
local oscillator impedance of 5000 ohms
the fundamental would be directly proportional to r. and the 2000 ohms across the output of the signal at-
The ratio of r to a1, therefore,
' . g gives . of.
. a .measure
the
~~tenuators, presents a load of approximately 600 ohms to
departure from linearity. These ratios, given in decibels these attenuators. Since the impedance of different
and indicated as AX db, are shown in Table II. crystals varies quite a bit, at least 20 db of attenuation
is always left in the signal attenuators to mask the
TABLE II effects of any mismatch that niight exist.
r A db =20 log r/al The local oscillator and signal frequencies were 5500
0.05--035
0
and 4500 cps respectively with a resultant intermediate
0.1 0.0113 frequency of 1000 c. The intermediate-frequency ampli-
0.15 0.0252 fier and indicator is a Weinschel Engineering Co. BA-5
0.25 0.0442 Attenuation Calibrator which consists of a precision
0.3 0.1002 audio attenuator followed by a high-gain-tuned 1000-
0.35 0. 1515
0.43 0.1822 cps amplifier and indicator. The local oscillator voltage
was adjusted to 1 volt across the crystal with the signal
level reduced to a negligible value. The signal attenuator
The above data are plotted in Fig. 5. was adjusted to apply a signal voltage of about 3 Av to
The relationship between the intermediate-frequency the mixer which is well within its linear range. The gain
output voltage and signal input voltage is independent and attenuator setting of the BA-5 is adjusted to pro-
of frequency (local oscillator frequency, signal frequency duce a full scale indication on the BA-5 output meter.
and intermediate frequency), as long as the crystal char- The signal level is increased a known amount by re-
acteristics do not change with frequency [4]. This al- moving attenuation from the signal source, and the at-
lows the experimental verification of the foregoing tenuation in the BA-5 is increased to return the indi-
theory to be made at audio frequencies where more ac- cator to full scale. The difference between the two at-
curate measurements are possible. tenuator settings is the nonlinearity. The theoretical
and experimental data are compared in Fig. 5. The
Experimental Veritfication of Miixer Linearity at Audio agreement is quite close.
Frequencies
The crystal should be provided with a low resistance Lev2el of Mixer
return circuit to prevent a large back bias being built In view of the above results the local oscillator level
up. This resistance should be kept below 200 ohms, and was adjusted to about 0.2 volts rms across the crystal,
at the same time a high-input impedance at the local which is equivalent to 1.2 milliwatts into the crystal.
Oscillator and signal frequencies should be maintained. This level was monitored by measuring the rectified
The output filter should pass only the intermediate fre- crystal current. 1.2 milliwatts corresponds to about 0.6
quency on to the circuits following the mixer. The ar- ma dc.
rangement used to make these measurements is shown Using this local oscillator level, one can estimate the
in Fig. 4. The oscillator is decoupled from the mixer by deviation from linearity as a function of RF signal level.
mneans of the 5000)-ohm resistor which results in a de- A SO-mv signal should produce a deviation of .07
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26 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION March
-26 ia t~~~-~- -~
-A rEA5URED
-
VALIE -ACTUAL VALU
1N34 j ____________
~~~~PlEAS.URED
.18 _
E 1 Vl.v3
I_ (I500/ps) /.
MA X E, -46 Vr" (500cp5)
.16
1F /000 Cps / V-rEORETICAL
.12
.08 .7-
.06
~~~~~7IP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ELECTRICAI-
D_ ------/ -1AGNE T1C
o.d a. 0.3 0.- 0 Fig. 6-Magnetic and electric field lines of the TE11 mode
in a circular waveguide.
Fig. 5 Measured deviation from the mixer linearity
vs the ratio Esig/Elo.
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1959 Weinschel, et al.: VHF/UHF Signal Generator Attenuator Calibration 27
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28 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION March
EI~~~~~~~ #~~~~C2 ~
(a) _
i _
(W#Ij7
Fig. 12-Equivalent circuit of piston attenuator with
associated circuits.
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1959 Weinschel, et al.: VHF/UHF Signal Generator Attenuator Calibration 29
Fs/o-~~v'3H IIIII I I 11 SW 4F R1 '
r -- -- e'- i-- C I
JO
A~~~~~~"
OACR C L-b C
RI c
or I5L S c >< 0t
C~~~~~~~~~~C m
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30 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION March
so II l1
MMUENCY 480 MWAWCACY?C r.1
o &bmn V1,W
V
0 ' E-4 4 W 0
b
90~~~~~~-o4h-
d
4D
O
30-o
tlzU o t -egbetvm d
- 0 - - - - - -optimum condition. Curve b represents results obtained
- - - - -t with the sending circuit tuned with the coils as far apart
t l tl 1 las
F XW
10-- T l l l possible, and curve c with the coils as close together
as possible.
7_ EASURED CURVES OF ATTENIUATION
V5. DI3PLACMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL
PI/TON ATTENUATOR WITH CS
C, ACCURACY
PARAMIETER
o .I 6 1 ,
0 -L_-ILJLLLL.L
I
2/ 2+ 27 30
-L I Overall accuracy of the instrument was evaluated
using a well calibrated attenuator with a VSWR of 1.01
1.5PLACEMENr and an attenuation of 10.02 db in a 50-ohm system at
Fig. 16-Measured curves of attenuation vs displacement of 480 mc. A large number of measurements were made
experimental piston attenuator with C1 as parameter. at different power levels fronm which the accuracy of the
instrument can be evaluated. The results are shown in
and R4=800 ohms. Variations in mixer output imped- Fig. 17. They can be summarized as follows:
ance, however, make it necessary to maintain a resist- 40 mV to 20 mV (-14 dbm to -20 dbm) 0.1 db/10 db
ance between th.e piston attenuator and the mixer of at 20 mV to 20 AV (-20 dbm to -82 dbm) 0.02 db/10 db
least 350 ohms. With the resistance values given, the 20 AV to 10 AV (-82 dbm to -88 dbm) 0.1 db/10 db
load resistance into which the piston attenuator works
is 220 ohms. The reproducibility of the measurement is in the order
The maximum nonlinearity must not exceed 0.2 per of 0.01 db over the entire range.
cent or 0.02 db. Fig. 13 shows that the optimum value APPENDIX
for C1 is 1.119 C0 and that this allows a maximum cou-
pling factor of 0.105 with an output lE2/Eo0 of 0.90.
This assumes a perfectly stable capacity which of course The circular cross section for the piston attenuator is
is nonexistent. If a change in capacity of + 1.5 per cent selected as the easiest to fabricate with the required pre-
is allowed and a mean value of 1.110 C0 is used, the two cision, and the TE11 mode (H11) is selected for propaga-
curves in Fig. 13 mnarked C1= 1.096 Co and C1= 1.124 CD tion because a high degree of mode purity is most easily
represent the extremes. Under these conditions, a maxi- obtained with this mode. For convenience, the attenua-
mum coupling of 0.05 may be used and the maximum tor is designed to give exactly 20 db per inch of travel.
output is |E2/E0I =0.30. For structural stability and resistance to corrosion,
A spacing between coils of only 0.01 inch is required stainless steel #316 was selected as the tube material. It
to achieve this coupling but the mode filter and its is used as a thin walled tubing inside a heavy wall brass
holder limit the minimum- spacing to about 0.5 inch block. This produces a thermal coefficient of expansion
which corresponds to a coupling factor of 0.017 and a equal to that of brass. Its resistivity (p) is 74 X 10-6 ohm-
minimum insertion loss of |E2/E0 _ 0.1. cm and its permeability (,u) 1.003. The frequency of
Measurements were made to verify these calculations operation of the piston attenuator is the IF frequency
and the results are shown in Fig. 16. Curve a was taken 30 mc.
with the sending circuit tuned for mlaximum output From [11] the attenuation constant is
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1959 Weinschel, et al.: VHFIUHF Signal Generator Attenuator Calibration 51
2,x / /Ac\2 1 This gives the diameter of the attenuator tube
a = (8)
D = 1.59561 inches + 0.00002 inch.
where the cut off wavelength
(0.00002 is the probable error of the calculation and not
2rr/e (9) a machining tolerance.)
9
Sr, Note that the constant term which Nas neglected in
the first approximation arises from the finite conduc-
X= 1/p conductivity tivity of the tube material. If this conductivity were
=
the wavelengthi
Xe=e the atn30am of t/3t Xnterior10
dielectric constant iri of f the
infinite,The
result.
first approximation
the correction
by
made (ro) would be the correct
conductivity
the is thus
guide e-1.000 585+.000005 [14] (Air) the difference between r and ro or 16/8,000=0.2 per
c = the velocity of light in free space 299 790.2 ± .9 cent.
km/sec. [15] Note in (10) that the radical is approximately 1. So
Smn = a numerical constant characteristic of the wave- that the attenuation a varies approximately as l/r. The
guide mode. In the present case, Smn =Sl is the 0.2 per cent error in r would therefore represent a 0.2
first root of the first derivative of the first order cent error in ae or 0.02 db per 10 db. Thus to obtain
fadiunton [13].ntimeter
1.841184 [13
Bessel Besselfuntion 1.84184 1.per the design accuracy of 0.02 db over the entire 100-db
rubstheutionradiusofthetubein
Substitution in (8) gives
centimeterange of the piston attenuator, the conductivity correc-
tion and hence the conductivity must be known to 10
per cent. We expect that the conductivity of the honed
____ ~//2irrfx \ -2 1
si= 2'/-I 7r\I - __ db/cm (10) surface does not vary from that of the bulk metal more
Ar V/f. \ slic / rV\irMfk than 10 per cent.
where A is inserted to convert from nepers per cm to db
per cm A =0.11512925
If we square both sides of (10) and attempt to solve ACKNOWLEDGMENT
for r in terms of a we have a cubic equation The authors are indebted to R. B. Stolzenbach of
r[A 2 4Ir2f2 Wright Air Development Center for his support and en-
r31 (- 2 + -r+ =0 (11) couragement. Dr. Samuel J. Raff of the Naval Ordnance
\/ruf
]V/Sll2w2J Laboratory is responsible for many of the calculations
The required value of a is 20 db per inch, and offered many helpful suggestions.
20 BIBLIOGRAPHY
__- = 787.400005 db/meter
.02540005 [1] R. A. Bailey, H. A. French and T. A. Lane, "The comparison
and calibration of power measuring equipment at wavelengths of
Substitutinlg the indicated values, (11) becomes 3 cm and 10 cm," Proc. IEE, vol. 101, Part 3, pp. 325-329; Sep-
Substituting ~~~~~~~~~~~~tember,
1954.
2425.728r3 - r + 7.8926 X 10- = 0 (12) G. F. Gainsborough,
generators and radio "A
frequency of calibratingJ.standard
methodattenuators," signal
IEE, vol. 94,
Part 3, pp. 203-210; May, 1947.
where r is in meters. [3] C. M. Allred, "Precision Piston Attenuator,"' Natl. Bur. of
Standards, Boulder, Colo., Report 3557; November 1, 1955.
Because of the smallness of the constant term, the [4] T. 0. Strutt, "Diode frequency changers," Wireless Eng., vol. 13,
equation is most readily solved by successive approxi- pp. 76-80; February, 1936.
[5] F. M. Colebrook and G. H. Aston, "Diode as frequency
mations. Neglecting the constant term, the equation is changer," Wireless Eng., vol. 20, pp. 5-14; January, 1943.
quadratic, the soltution being [61 G. F. Gainsborough, "Diode as frequency changer for measure-
1939.
ments at UHF," Nature, vol. 44, pp. 548-549; September,
ro = .020303875 inches [7 ]M. WindMicrowave
and H. Rapaport, "Handbook of Microwave Measure-
Res. Inst., Polytechnic Inst. of Brooklyn,
ments,"
.7993635 inches. Brooklyn, N.Y., pp. 3-20; 1954.
=
[81 H. H. Meinke, "Felder und Wellen in Holelleitern," ("Fields and
Waves in Wave Guides"), Ch. 1, p. 24; Oldenbourg, Munich,
This is correct for infinite conductivity. Germany; 1949.
To~~~~~~
~nex
To obaln th,etapoiainotiigtecr
te~apprx1maton
~obai cota1n1g tnecor- [9] 5.Radio,"'
RamoJ.and T. R.
Wiley Sons, New"Fields
andWhinnery, N.Y.,WVaves
York, and in Modern
2nd ed., p. 376;
rection for finite conductivity, rewrite ( 12) approxi- 1953.
[10] R. E. Grantham and T. T. Freeman, "A standard of attenuation
mately as microwave measurements,"r Tralns. A IEE, vol. 67, pp. 535-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~for
10-s
7.8926x [11] ~~537, June, 1948.
10-5
7.8926X [11] ~C. M. Allred, "Chart for the TE11 mode piston attenuator," J.
2425.728r2 - 1 + - = 0 Res. NBS, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 109-1 10; February, 1952.
r0 1121 H. M. Barlow and A. L. Cullen, "Microwave Measurements,"
1 -. 0388 Ramo and and op. London,
Co., Ltd., pp. 384-388; 1950.
Eng.,9.05.
2 1- .03872 = 4.106448 X 10-i [131 Constable Whinnery, cit., Section
DJ I ° 2425 728 *114] International
~~~~~~~~~[15] Critical Tables.
J. W. Dumond and E. R. Cohen, "Least squares adjusted valves
of the atomic constants," Phys. Rev., vol. 82, p. 555; May 15,
r = .02026437 meters = .797808 inches. 1951.'
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