X -Parameter measurement of pulse-compression nonlinear transmission lines

Abstract

X -parameters provide a powerful and eminently practical solution for interoperable measurement, modeling, and simulation of nonlinear microwave and RF components. Using X -parameters to do large-signal measurements has been brought into the spotlight. This paper introduces a new X -parameter application: measuring large-signal behaviour of pulse-compression nonlinear transmission lines (NLTLs). A specially configured Nonlinear Vector Network Analyzer (NVNA) was used to measure the X -parameters in the frequency-domain, and then the measured data was transformed into a nonlinear time-domain waveform. The results show both rise-time and fall-time reduction (double-edge compression) as expected and indicate that this newly developed X -parameter method implemented with an NVNA could correctly predict NLTLs' pulse-compression performance. © 2010 Ming Li et al.