22 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION March

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.

Relative Voltmeter for VHF/UHF Signal Generator

Attenuator Calibration *
B. 0. WEINSCHELt, G. U. SORGORt, AND A. L. HEDRICHt

INTRODUCTION other than the calibration of signal generators. It is

flF! HE standard signal generator has become one of basically an insertion loss test set and, as such, can be
the most useful tools in the modern electronics used to measure insertion loss over a very large range
laboratory. These generators usually consist of a with high accuracies.
stable generator, a level monitoring device and an at- A frequency range of from 100 to 1000 mc is covered
tenuator. The level into the attenuator is set, and then by the instrument as it now exists but its upper fre-
the attenuator is relied on to reduce this to the required quency limit is restricted only by the availability of the
level for the measurement being made. proper local oscillators and mixer assemblies. The volt-
The need for a means of checking and calibrating the age range (in a 50 ohm system) of from 20 my to 20 pv
output level of such generators has long been felt, and (-20 dbm to -82 dbm) is covered with an accuracy of
the equipmenlt described in this paper was developed to 0.02 d b/1O db. This range can be extended by 6 db on
fill this need. The instrument has, of course, many uses both the upper and lower ends with an accuracy of 0.1
db/10 db in the extended portions. It should be pointed
out here that this instrument is not an absolute volt-
* Manuscript received by the PGI, June 18, 1958. Presented at meter, but rather is a relative voltmeter and indicates
the IRE-URSI Spring Meeting, Washington, D.C.; April 24-26,'
1958. This work was supported by the Air Force under Contract No. voltage ratios-thus, the expression of accuracies in
AF .33(600)-25238 with Wright Air Development Center, W\right- terms of decibels. The reproducibility of a measurement
Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio.
t XVeinschel Engineering, Kensington, Md. iS in the order of 0.01 db over the entire range.

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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,

MIEXER AN LOCAL OSCALLATO TO BE A

DOUBLE DlC lI D' LECTMD FOR PROER R.F. FRQ.

Fig. 1-Blocki diagram.

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

From this point on only a1, the coefficient of the funda

Fig. 2-IF substitultionl attenFuatiogr

test set. j-O

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 =-

and that these harmoniics become an appreciable part of 1 + r2

the envelope as the ratio of the amplitudes of the two Expand (1 +-i COS Crt)112 in a binomial series.
signals approaches unity. T.et:
A constant large-amplitude signal is mixed with a
smaller-amplitude variable signal and the resultant sig- A cos sort = x2 and Wrt = 6
nal is rectified in a linear detector. It is desired to deter- X2 .4 1 . 3x6 1 3 .5x8
mine the variation of the fundamental component of the (1 + x2)1/2 1 ±- - - + - - --- *
difference frequency as a function of the ratio of the 2 2.4 2 4 6 2 4 6 8
amplitudes of the two mixed signals. A A2 A3
Fig. 3 shows the vector diagram of the three voltages: (1 + A cos 0)= 1 + 2 cos
- 0 -
86 cos2 0 + cos3
the local oscillator signal Eo, with an angular frequency, + 1!2w Eo(1
c0o; the signal voltage E., with an angular frequency, a, =
co,; and the resultant e,, with an angular frequency, wr. T O
(I + A cos 0)1/2 cos OdO -f
The instantaneous amplitude of the envelope is equal Eo(t + r9)1/2 { * r 1 27t
to the magnitude of the vector E, and has a fundamental a, = --- sin 0 +- +-sin 20
anigular frequency: 7r 2 L2 4 jo
W, W. wo- = - sin O(cos2- + 2)
From the law of cosines, the instantaneous envelope 8 3 o
amplitude can be written as: Al3 3f30 3 1
+
+ sin 0 + cs' 0 sin 0] ..
e, = [Eo02 + E2 - 2E0E8 cos Wrt]l2. (1) 112. 16 8 16 4 los
Expanding (1) in a Fourier series: It is obvious, at this point, that terms containing even
e, = ao + al cos w,t + a2 cos 2w,t + * powers of A go to zero wlheni the limits are put in.

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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
,

al is computed as a function of r with constant Eo in

Table I. AN 7L 47 -ALAT/A/ '

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.

db. Fig. 17, which shows the overall performance of the

voltmeter, indicates that at this level the measurement
error due to all causes is 0.1 db. Clearly this is prin-
cipally due to mixer nonlinearity.
THE PISTON ATTENUATOR
If an electromagnetic wave of frequency lower than
the lowest cutoff-frequency of a waveguide is launched
in such a guide, it is attenuated exponentially along the
length of the guide. A cylindrical tubing of the proper
dimensions can thus be used as an attenuator by launch-
ing a wave at one end and receiving it at a point down
the tube depending on the amount of attenuation de-
sired. The major advantage of this type of attenuator
is the fact that the attenuation can be accurately cal-
culated from the frequency and physical dimensions of
the waveguide.
If the foregoing advantages are to be realized to their Fig. 7-Arrangement of sending (and receiving) coil in
fullest extent, it is very important that only one mode circular waveguide.
be propagated in the waveguide. If more than one mode
is propagated, the exponential law of attenuation along Capacitive Antennas
the guide will no longer hold because, although all A piston attenuator using this type of antenna is de-
modes may be attenuated exponentially, they are at- scribed by Meinke [8], and employs the TMo1 mode.
tenuated at different rates. Under these conditions, one There is a major disadvantage in using this mode, since
mode may be important at one point and another im- it has a larger attenuation constant than the TE11 mode.
portant at another point in the guide. If only one mode If there is any TE11 mode present, it will be attenuated
is propagated and the physical dimensions and electrical less than will the TMo1 mode, causing an appreciable
properties of the waveguide are alike at all points, the error at high attenuations. Any asymmetry will pro-
attenuation law will be exponential. duce this undesired mode and it is not advisable to use
It is a common misconception that the exponential this type of antenna if large accurate attenuations are
law of attenuation in such an attenuator does not hold required.
for very small separations of the sending and receiving IdcieAnen
antennas. The problem here is entirely one of mode ngtvAtea
purity. If only one mode is propagated, the exponential In this case, two coils are used-one as the transmit-
attenuation law holds down to the smallest measurable ting antenna and the other as the receiving antenna. If
separation of the antennas. It is, therefore, very im- the attenuation constants of all possible modes in a cir-
portant to provide the proper types of antennas and cular waveguide are compared, it will be seen that the
mode filters to insure that this condition will be met. TE11 mode has the smallest. It is, therefore, the best
The antennas can be either one of two types: capacitive mode to be used if large, accurate attenuations are re-
or inductive, and they are usually made similar. quired. A cross section of a circular waveguide showing

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1959 Weinschel, et al.: VHF/UHF Signal Generator Attenuator Calibration 27

Fig. 8-Simplified representation of a piston attenuator

using the TEI, ! lode.

Fig. 10-Piston attenuator and indicator assembly of L.F.

substitution attenuation test set.
probable error of the calculation and( not a machiniing
tolerance.
IS 1
a DEEP
From (8) in the Appendix, it can be seen that the
attenuationi varies approximately as 1/r from which can STRIP3
Fig. 9-Faraday screen for suppressing the TMo1 mode. be calculated the allowable machininig tolerance. If the
maximum error is not to exceed 0.02 db for a range of
the an Hlnesof aTE1 moe isshon inFig 6.100 db or 0.0002 db for 10 db, the diameter must be held
This mode can be excited with a coil having its axis to to wh ±0.00016 ice thefial adjust of hole
within + 0.00016 inches. The finial adjustment of hole
along a diameter of the guide and having circular sym- d
etry. This is shown in Fig. 7. To gain a physical pc- the diameter were made usinlg an air pressure bridge
ture of the way in which this mode can be excited, it is
type gauge and a standard with ai accuracy of 0.00001
the l~~~~~~~~~nch.
necessary..only to picture the magiietic . field around
. The average deviation from the nominal value
coil in free space and then place a circular guide around . .
the coil, chaIging themanover the critical five-inch portion of the hole was
the coil, changing the magnetiC lines so that the elec- 0.000017 inch. The deviation from the expected attenua-
trical field lines terminate perpendicularly on the guide 0.02 dbove e
the d i-
surface and are orthogonal to the magnetic field lines. tio is, therefore,
Fig. 8 shows schematically a sending and receiving
coil as used in such an arrangement. The most trouble- The Associated Circuits
some of the undesired modes is the TMo1 mode which The critical problem in the constructioni of a precision
corresponds to a capacitive coupling between the two piston attenuator is encountered in the design of the
coils. A Faraday Screen acts as an effective suppressor sending and receiving circuits. Close physical tolerances
for this irmode and is shown in Fig. 9. It is effective in anid the use of a good mode filter solve most of the other
attenuating the TMol mode by 60 db while at the same problems.
time it attenuates the desired TE,, by only 0.06 db The design of these circuits can be approached in two
[10 ]. ways, viz., through the use of waveguide theory or
Circttlar Waveguide Dimensions through the use of low-frequency coupled circuit analv-
To facilitate the design of the indicatinig mechanism, sis. It is assumed throughout the following that the
the attenuator is designed to have ani attenuation of piston attenuator is to be tused at only one frequency,
mc.
exactly 20 db per inch. With such a design, it is possible '
Resonant * sending and receiving circuits are used to
to use readily available dial gauges and gauge blocks as achieve a minimum loss in voltage between input and
attenuation indicators. This mechanism can be seen in r
Fig.
*F*g.10 Precision gauge blockslcs arePrcso.ag
~ r used
.0.steps and a dial indicator interpolates between ne h output of the attenuator. Barlow and Cullen [
sdtto index
thetreated the problem of the linearity of a piston attenu-
o
12]j
10-db ator in an excellent iner, using waveguide theory
10-db
10-db steps to a precision
steps precision of 0.01 db.
of,. 0.01
dand assuming untuned circuits operating at high fre-
.
To obtain a high degree of structural stability adomn
resistance to corrosion, stainless steel #316 was selected quencs to minimize nonli uecondi-
as the waveguide material. A thin wall tubing of this generator and load which have impedaced twee a
material was pressed into a heavy brass block producing generatoan ad wihavim pedance tha are
a thermal coefficient of expansion equal to that of the purely resistve and eu in magniudtot h
brass. The Appendix covers the details of the calcula- teritiwae impdancenof the attenuator.
tion of the physical dimensions of the waveguide. The Undethee coitis te an
diameter of the attenuator cylinder is calculated to be
1.59561±0.00002 inches. The 20 micro-inches is the A = al - ln 2 + In [1 + e-al]nepers (3)

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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.

coils. To determine the decay of the magnetic field

7
}
(b) strength, waveguide theory is used. The attenuation of
Fig. 1- Equivalenit circuit of piston attenuator. the TE1, mode merely expresses the decay of the field
strength along the tube and, therefore, the decrease in
where the coupling factor, k, as the coils are moved apart. The
coupling factor k, is, therefore, proportional to e51
A = total attenuation in nepers where a is the attenuation constant for the TE11 mode.
a = attenuation constant appropriate for the guide Input Circuit
and mode under consideration
*=distance between coils. Fig. 12 shows the equivalent circuit of the piston at-
tenuator with the associated input and output circuits.
If the maximum allowed nonlinearity is 0.02 db, the The primary circuit is a series resonant circuit with a
minimum attenuation must be 24.4 db. large L/C ratio. This arrangement results in a high
The matched conditions required would be very dif- magnetic field strength. The inductance was made as
ficult to achieve in this application, since the character- large as practical and still have sufficient capacity for
istic wave impedance for the TE11 mode in this wave- good stability. The values are L1= 1.35 4h and C1= 21
guide is approximately 2.61 ohms, which is much too ,uf. The Q of the circuit is approximately 100, giving a
small to be conveniently handled. resonant impedance at 30 mc of about 2.5 ohms. The
A much more fertile approach in this case is that of effective Q, of course, must be considered with the gen-
considering the entire piston attenuator as a tuned erator connected. The generator impedance will deter-
bandfilter with mutual inductive coupling. The equiva- mine the primary current and bandwidth. If it is too
lent circuit is shown in Fig. 11. The equivalent circuit low, the bandwidth will be narrow and stability require-
of Fig. lib is developed from lla in a straightforward ments become severe and if it is too large, no advantage
manner, if it is assumed that both coils are identical and is gained by series tuning. There are other considerations
that no nonlinearity exists. to be discussed later. The optimum value is approxi-
A simple analysis of the circuit of Fig. 11 shows that mately 25 ohms resulting in an effective Q of 10 and a
the ratio of voltage across the receiving coil to the volt- bandwidth of 3 mc.
age across the sending coil is proportional to the
coupling, k, for small values of k, which corresponds to Output Circut
loose coupling. The coupling factor, k, can be expressed The minimum insertion loss for a given nonlinearity
as the ratio of the magnetic field strength at the receiv- is determined for parallel resonance and for series res-
ing coil to the magnetic field strength at the sending onance of the output circuit.
coil. This ratio depends on a number of factors among
which are the spacing between coils and the environ-
ment. Included in the latter factor is the presence of the This is shown in Fig. 12. Calculating the magnitude
tube making up the waveguide which surrounds both of E2/E0 as a function of the coupling factor, k, yields:
R
k
lE2 47Ri2 ± (wL)2 - ' (2wL --1)
-1E= R,2R-(w,L)2 +-L12+(,)
/1+ k22 ( +k

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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

O aas co2 cto s i C'ejo"

I
Co,A{N0S
cv

JO
A~~~~~~"
OACR C L-b C

RI c

Fig. 13-Deviatwion from linearity

1~~ ~~~
vs coupling
1 /'
factor r - -- 93 '5OJ
K with Cl as parameter. --- /v-

or I5L S c >< 0t
C~~~~~~~~~~C m

Eo Vl1+a$3,2k2 +b/32k4 I 2Stt>

I'
where: _ Il'_C l__

13 [ R,2 + (tL)9-- - 1)] ,/LTrediagram of pisto

Fig.1515-~~~~~~Complete schematic
Lz5Cl \ c5C1/ J Fig.
attenuator circuit.
L
a =R%R - (tL)2-__
resonance of the output circuit.
b = R2 + (teL)2. It is interesting to rewrite (6) as follows. First take the
It is clear that for very small values of k, the ratio logarithm of both sides:
|E2/E0I is very nearly proportional to k and the de- Io w\ / (o)
nominator of (4) and (5) contain] the deviation from this In - - - lnk-ln(l +l+In(l1 + -- kO)|.
linear relationship. Fig. 13 shows the deviation from lnai c\R RRi /
\Rs
Flg.~
lInearity with Ci~ ~ a parameter.
as ~~~~~~5
~ ~ ai2E
~Lc'.Th The factor a in 14-shw
huc
a (5) can Let
be made positive, zero or negative by proper selection
of R, Ri, L and C1. R, Ri and L have already been deter- k = e-at
rined and C is, therefore, chosen as the parameter. IEo
In Fig. 13, Co is the capacity required to tune the in- A = in_
put circuit to 30 n-ic with k =0. As can be seen from the
figure, an imnprovement in linearity is obtained by / woL\ 7 (teL)2 ~\
makinlg Cl slightly greater than Co. If a mlaximum devia- A =te- In t R)J + ln t1 + RR -e-2 (7)
tion of 0.02 db is to be allowed, C should be made about
1.119G0. The coupling, k, can then be increased to which bears a striking resemblance to (3).
greater than 0.1 without exceeding the maximum al-
lowed deviation. Complete Piston A ttenuator Circuit
Case Il-Series Resonance This is shown in Fig. 15. The parallel resonlant circuit
Fi.1* hw h icit h ai 2E~a a func described in Case I above is used in the output circuit
of k*
t ro because of the increase in linearity for large values of k.
C2 is adjusted to resonate L2 to 30 mc with k=0. R1 is
the IF amplifier input impedance and is 800 ohms re- k-L
l-
lEo
I E2 | R,
(teL)2
(6)
()100
R2 is the mixer output impedance and is about
ohms with the proper local oscillator level. R3 and
~~~sistive.
1 R4 are selected to fulfill two conditions: 1) to furnish a
RR, 400-ohm load for the mixer for only then is the IF signal
For small values of k, |E2/E0| is still approximately fairly independent of the local oscillator level and 2) to
proportional to k, but it is not possible to minimize the obtain maximum voltage at the amplifier input as a
deviation from linearity as it was in the case of parallel function of k. The optimum solution would be R3=0

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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

xK 7 - twa7 to mit- .Itput with Fig. 17-Deviation of measured attenuation of 10 db attenuator

20 20 - Lampling betwan from nominal value vs signal level at input of attenuator.
A bt Cl twad to mxlu output with
_~~~~~~~~~~~57t
so Gonga. txwn
deopv
~~~~~~both
Ibvoltage with the coils one inch apart and represents the
/

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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