A related application is application Ser. No. 11/107,556, filed concurrently herewith for “Wideband Temperature Variable Attenuator,” the disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a voltage controlled attenuator (VCA) for RF (radio frequency) and microwave applications that is free of intermodulation distortion. More particularly, the present invention relates to an attenuator that is controlled based upon temperature and does not include active devices.
VCAs are a fairly common element of almost any RF or microwave circuit. Their function is to change the amplitude of a signal based on some external signal, usually a voltage or current. A common use is the leveling of a signal so that both strong and weak signals can be adjusted in amplitude to provide a constant level signal to the next stage of the circuit. Another use is the balancing of multiple signal paths so they all have the same gain. A third use would be to use a VCA to control the gain of an amplifier over temperature by varying the control voltage based on a measurement of the ambient temperature. This last use is to counter undesired changes to the gain of the amplifier when the ambient temperature changes.
The vast majority of presently available VCAs include either diodes, transistors, or FETs (field effect transistors). These active devices have non-linear transfer characteristics which result in distortion to RF and microwave input signals. This causes additional and unwanted signals to be generated which are not present in the original signal. For example, suppose two people are transmitting a signal (from a cell phone, for instance) on two different frequencies at the same time. If the two signals were applied to a non-linear device, several additional signals would be generated that would be on frequencies that are different from the original two frequencies. This is known as intermodulation distortion. These additional signals have the potential of causing interference to other services, like police or fire departments that use the same frequencies as the additional signals.
VCAs are designed to reduce intermodulation distortion to the smallest possible value, but due to the non-linear characteristics of the control devices used, there is no way to eliminate intermodulation distortion entirely. Therefore, there exists a real and present need for a VCA that can control the amplitude of an RF or microwave signal without generating any distortion products which result in intermodulation distortion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,981, issued to Joseph B. Mazzochette, et al., issued Jul. 26, 1994, entitled “Temperature Variable Attenuator,” which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an attenuator that includes temperature variable resistors (thermistors) in the attenuating path. As shown in
In the temperature variable attenuator of the '981 patent, the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of at least one resistor is different such that the attenuation of the attenuator changes at a controlled rate with changes in temperature while the impedance of the attenuator remains substantially constant. Thus, this device changes its attenuation based on the ambient temperature, but because it is constructed entirely of passive components it does not generate any intermodulation distortion. However, the attenuation of this device cannot be set to a predetermined value based upon a constant external voltage or current.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,064, issued to Robert Blacka, et al., issued Dec. 7, 1999, entitled “Heated Temperature Variable Attenuator,” which is also incorporated by reference, provides a heater in a temperature variable attenuator. The heater allows an external voltage or current to heat the thermistors that are part of the attenuating circuit to affect their resistance, and thus, the attenuation of the device. However, there are a number of limitations with this device which reduces its usefulness as a VCA.
The present invention is a VCA for RF and microwave applications that is free of intermodulation distortion. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention has at least first and second thermistors, arranged into a classical Tee, Pi, or Bridged Tee attenuator design, a heating element, a temperature sensor, and a control circuit. The thermistors have different temperature coefficients of resistance and are in close proximity to the heating element and the temperature sensor. The control circuit receives a voltage signal from the temperature sensor, compares that signal with a voltage signal specifying a desired temperature, and applies electrical energy to the heating element until receiving a signal from the temperature sensor that the temperature of the thermistors matches the desired temperature. As a result, the attenuation of the attenuator can be changed at a controlled rate by varying the temperature of the thermistors, while the impedance of the attenuator remains within acceptable levels.
In one embodiment, the temperature coefficient of resistance of one thermistor is zero. In another embodiment, the temperature sensor is also a thermistor. In yet another embodiment, the temperature sensor is a resistance temperature detector.
In a particular embodiment, the attenuator is constructed using thick-film or thin-film resistors that vary their resistance over temperature. In yet another embodiment, the thick-film or thin-film resistors are deposited onto a substrate of aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, beryllium oxide, CVD diamond, or epoxy-glass laminate.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description in which:
A physical embodiment of the attenuator of
Temperature sensor 202 and thermistors 204 and 206 are realized in the implementation of
The attenuating characteristics of attenuator 300 as a function of temperature can be determined simply by measuring them over the operating range of the attenuator. For example, in an illustrative embodiment of the inventory, the variation of attenuation with temperature might be determined to be that shown in the graph of
Circuit 700 comprises an operational amplifier 710 having an inverting input connected to the node between an input resister R1 and a feedback resistor R2 and a noninverting input connected to the node between resistors R3 and R4 in a voltage divider network 720. The resistances of R1 and R3 are equal and the resistances of R2 and R4 are equal. Input resistor R1 is connected to a node in a temperature sensing circuit 730 comprising temperature sensor 202/316 and resistor R5. The voltage at this node is V1. The voltage applied to voltage divider 720 is V2. As a result, operational amplifier 710 functions as a differential amplifier that receives at its inverting and non-inverting terminals, respectively, signals proportional to V1 and V2 and produces an output signal
The output of operational amplifier is applied to a transistor 740 in a heating circuit 750 comprising transistor 740 and heating element 208/408.
For the circuit shown in
Alternatively, circuit 700 would function in the same way if the positions of sensor 202/316 and resistor R5 in the temperature sensing circuit were interchanged and if sensor 202/316 had a positive TCR.
The underside of the ceramic substrate is first metallized as shown in
Gold contact areas 311, 314, 318, 319 and 322 are then printed in
As shown in
The attenuators of the present invention are suitable for numerous applications including amplifier gain calibration, the balance of multiple channels and automatic gain control. They can be used to maintain oscillator output constant over frequency or reduce the output of a transmitter if the standing wave ratio is too high. They have an extremely wide frequency operating range being operable from DC to 20 GHz or higher. Since their components are completely passive, they are free of any distortion.
Typical specifications for the attenuators of the present invention are:
The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific examples to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the invention is not limited to these examples. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Thus, the foregoing disclosure is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings.
While the invention was described for the example of a Tee attenuator, the invention may also be practiced using other attenuators such as a Pi attenuator or a bridged Tee attenuator in which a thermistor is connected in parallel to the pair of series resistors of the Tee attenuator. Of particular note, it should be observed that a wide range of attenuations can be achieved by appropriate selection of the TCRs of the various thermistors and whether the TCRs are positive or negative. In some cases, it is not necessary for every resistive element on the attenuator to have a resistance that varies with temperature and the invention may be practiced where one of the resistive elements has a zero TCR. As will be appreciated, the impedance that is observed over the operating frequency range and/or operating temperature range of the attenuator will not be precisely constant and the variation in impedance will depend on the amount of attenuation provided by the attenuator. At low attenuation, deviation from the desired impedance may be within +/− a few percent of the desired impedance over the operating range. At higher attenuations, deviation from the desired impedance can be expected to be higher, for example, +/−10%, +/−20%, and even +/−50% or more. In practice, considerable variation in impedance may be tolerated depending on the specific application in which the attenuator is used and the temperature and frequency range of use. As a rule of thumb, the variation in impedance of the attenuator should be such that the Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) of the RF power is no more than 2.0:1 over the operating range of the attenuator.
It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4340780 | Odlen | Jul 1982 | A |
5999064 | Blacka et al. | Dec 1999 | A |