Wave propagation and group velocity

A synthesizing method is presented to design and implement digital dual-band filters in the microwave frequency range. A dual-band filter consists of a bandstop filter and a wide-band bandpass filter in a cascade connection, wherein the transfer functions of both the bandpass filter and bandstop filter are expressed in the Z domain. The bandstop filter is implemented by using a coupled-serial-shunted line structure, while the wide-band bandpass filter is constructed by using a serial-shunted line configuration. In particular, the bandwidth of each passband of the dual-band filter is controllable by adjusting the characteristics of both the bandpass filter and bandstop filter. By neglecting the dispersion effect between microstrip lines of different widths over a wide bandwidth, a dual-band filter is realized in the form of microstrip lines and its frequency responses are measured to validate this method.

Dual-band bandpass filters using equal-length coupled-serial-shunted lines and Z-transform technique

We will demonstrate an alternative topology for the feedforward amplifier. This amplifier does not use a delay element, thus providing an efficiency enhancement and a size reduction by employing a distributed-element negative group-delay circuit. The insertion loss of the delay element in the conventional feedforward amplifier seriously degrades the efficiency. Usually, a high-power coaxial cable or a delay-line filter is utilized for a low loss, but the insertion loss, cost, and size of the delay element still act as a bottleneck. The proposed negative group-delay circuit removes the necessity of the delay element required for a broadband signal suppression loop. With the fabricated two-stage distributed-element negative group-delay circuit with 30 MHz of bandwidth and -9 ns of group delay for a wideband code-division multiple-access downlink band, the feedforward amplifier with the proposed topology experimentally achieved 19.4% power-added efficiency and -53.2-dBc adjacent channel leakage ratio with 44-dBm average output power.

Efficiency Enhancement of Feedforward Amplifiers by Employing a Negative Group-Delay Circuit

An intimate relation is established between non-Foster reactive elements and loss-compensated negative-group-delay (NGD) networks. It is shown that any possible network configuration containing a class of non-Foster elements operates as an NGD network. Likewise, it is demonstrated that a loss-compensated NGD network represents a reactive network with a non-Foster behavior. Consequently, these two properties can be intimately linked together and NGD networks can be utilized to implement non-Foster elements, such as negative capacitors and inductors. This result introduces another perspective in realizing non-Foster reactive elements, leading to new designs that are well behaved and more predictable in terms of stability and operation than traditional designs using negative impedance inverters and negative impedance converters. Based on this concept, loss-compensated NGD networks are proposed for realizing high-quality non-Foster reactive elements. Furthermore, entirely passive non-Foster elements with a limited quality ( Q) factor are proposed for which the minimum Q factor and the maximum achievable bandwidth are inversely related. It is shown that the design of non-Foster reactive elements using NGD networks can lead to the realization of standalone unilateral non-Foster reactive elements in a certain bandwidth. Examples of such non-Foster reactive elements and networks are demonstrated experimentally and shown to be stable.

Realizing Non-Foster Reactive Elements Using Negative-Group-Delay Networks

Beamforming in series-fed antenna arrays can inherently suffer from beam-squinting. To overcome the beam-squinting problem, low-dispersion, fast-wave transmission lines can be employed. Such transmission lines can be designed by loading a regular transmission line with non-Foster reactive elements (e.g., negative capacitors and inductors). As a result of a recent development, these non-Foster reactive elements can be implemented using loss-compensated negative-group-delay (NGD) networks, providing a solution to the stability issues associated with conventional non-Foster networks. In this work, transmission lines augmented by loss-compensated NGD networks, representing the non-Foster reactive-element loading, are employed for designing wideband fast-wave, low-dispersion transmission lines. This work consolidates this non-Foster reactive element loading method with earlier efforts where NGD networks were used to implement zero-degree phase shifters for beamforming at the broadside direction, and generalizes these methods for arbitrary-angle beamforming from backfire to endfire including the broadside direction. Experimental results are presented for a wideband linear four-element transmitting array feed network for beamforming at 30° with respect to the broadside direction in the frequency range 1–1.5 GHz. By connecting this feed network to four wideband tapered-slot antennas, the beamforming performance is experimentally verified inside an anechoic chamber. Moreover, the antenna array is experimentally tested for transmission of a narrow pulse, where low distortion is observed at the beamforming angle over the entire operating bandwidth. The physical length of the feed network is realistic and is 0.96 wavelengths long at the center of this frequency range. In addition, switched-line phase shifters are employed for squint-free beamforming in three other angles: 60°, 0°, and $-30^{\circ}$ .

Arbitrary-Angle Squint-Free Beamforming in Series-Fed Antenna Arrays Using Non-Foster Elements Synthesized by Negative-Group-Delay Networks

In this letter, we report on the design, simulation and implementation of an active negative group delay circuit that operates at 1 GHz with a group delay and a gain, respectively, around 2 ns and 2 dB. Analytical formulas are proposed to demonstrate that the adopted topology is able to simultaneously achieve negative group delay (NGD) and gain while fulfilling active device constraints. The theoretical and simulated results are both validated by frequency measurements of a two-stage active microwave circuit.

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Active Microwave Circuit With Negative Group Delay

This paper deals with the design and synthesis of active circuits able to simultaneously produce negative group delay and gain at microwave frequencies or for baseband signals Analytical equations show that the proposed topology meets these objectives while also satisfying active device requirements Then, a synthesis approach is extracted and applied to design a two-stage microwave circuit, further validated by experimental results This method is extended to the design of a four-stage baseband active circuit providing gain and negative group delay up to 600 MHz A high relative time-advance is evidenced by time-domain simulations

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Synthesis of Broadband Negative Group Delay Active Circuits

The new phase-shifter configuration described in this report uses a negative group delay (NGD) active circuit. In this topology, a classical transmission line is set in cascade with an NGD circuit whose phase slopes are alike, but opposite, to get a constant and broadband phase shift. The proposed approach was validated through the design and measurement of a phase shifter, which exhibited a constant phase of 90° ± 5° over a 75% relative bandwidth around 1.6 GHz. Moreover, as the group delay of the NGD circuit compensated the transmission line one, the overall circuit group delay was kept to a small value in the operating frequency band. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 3078–3080, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23883

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Application of negative group delay active circuits to the design of broadband and constant phase shifters

In this paper, an original approach to analyze and optimize continuously varying transmission lines (CVTLs) is used to design planar microwave filters. The method is based on exact solutions of the telegrapher's relations of nonuniform transmission lines. The CVTL scattering parameters are investigated in detail in the frequency domain. In order to validate the method, several different CVTLs are built using microstrip and coplanar-waveguide technology. Measured data are presented and compared with theory over a wide frequency range.

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The continuously varying transmission-line technique - application to filter design

In this paper, a broadband balun using an active circuit with negative group delay (NGD) is proposed. The unit cell of the active NGD circuit is based on a Field Effect Transistor (FET) in cascade with an RLC series network. First, a comparison between measurements of a two-stage prototype of this active topology and simulations validate the synthesis method of this innovative device. Then, thanks to the NGD circuit, a constant phase can be generated if this circuit is associated with a classical transmission line. By implementing such phase shifters into the two branches of a resistive splitter, we obtain a new balun topology. The NGD balun simulation results show a rather constant differential output phase (180degplusmn9deg), insertion losses above -2.4 dB and an excellent isolation below -59 dB for all three ports, for a bandwidth from 3.5 GHz to 5.5 GHz.

/pdf/broadband-balun-using-active-negative-group-delay-circuit-4tph69dq6u.pdf

M. Le Roy

Papers

Active Microwave Circuit With Negative Group Delay

Synthesis of Broadband Negative Group Delay Active Circuits

Application of negative group delay active circuits to the design of broadband and constant phase shifters

The continuously varying transmission-line technique - application to filter design

Broadband balun using active negative group delay circuit