NONLINEAR TRANSMISSION LINE WAVEFORM GENERATOR
First Claim
1. A method for generating a waveform comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a nonlinear transmission line having an input and an output and a predetermined C/V characteristic; and
(b) applying a sinusoidal input voltage to said nonlinear transmission line in which the amplitude and frequency of said sinusoidal input voltage are matched to said C/V characteristic.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A nonlinear transmission-line waveform generator for generating a comb of frequencies and relatively short duration pulses, for example, in the range of picoseconds and tens of picoseconds, that are adapted to being utilized with ultra wideband radios in order to improve the bandwidth of such radios by an order of magnitude, for example, up to tens and even hundreds of GHz. In particular, the nonlinear transmission line waveform generator in accordance with the present invention consists of a microstrip or coplanar waveguide line. In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, the ΔC/ΔV characteristic of the nonlinear transmission line is matched to the frequency and amplitude of the input sinusoid. By matching the ΔC/ΔV characteristics of the nonlinear transmission line to the input sinusoid, the output of the nonlinear transmission line produces a comb of frequencies that are multiples of the input sinusoid frequency, making it suitable as a harmonic generator. The nonlinear transmission line can also be used to generate a relatively short duration pulses by disposing a shorting stub at the output. The shorting stub causes the waveform to be reflected 180° out of phase so that it cancels the trailing edge of the original output from the nonlinear transmission lines to form a short duration pulse in the picosecond range. The length of the stub determines the width of the resultant output pulse.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for generating a waveform comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a nonlinear transmission line having an input and an output and a predetermined C/V characteristic; and
(b) applying a sinusoidal input voltage to said nonlinear transmission line in which the amplitude and frequency of said sinusoidal input voltage are matched to said C/V characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A signal generator comprising:
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a nonlinear transmission line having an input and an output and a predetermined Δ
C/Δ
V characteristic; and
means for generating a sinusoidal input waveform, the frequency and amplitude of said input waveform selected to match said Δ
C/Δ
V characteristic of said nonlinear transmission line. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A signal generator comprising:
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a nonlinear transmission line having an input and an output and a predetermined Δ
C/Δ
V characteristic;
means for generating an input sinusoidal waveform whose amplitude and frequency characteristics are matched to said Δ
C/Δ
V characteristics of said nonlinear transmission line; and
means coupled to the output of said nonlinear transmission line for manipulating the output pulse from said nonlinear transmission line in order to provide a resultant pulse having a pulse width less than the pulse width of said output pulse. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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Specification