Dow-Key Microwave announces the release of its new product series called Reliant Switch™, with a SPDT being the first RF switch in this series made available to the RF & test industry.

Today’s RF & wireless devices are equipped with many RF signal paths between input and output ports that need to undergo vigorous and complex testing. Therefore the use of coaxial switches is essential in allowing the user to easily switch between I/O ports, and avoid the cumbersome task of having to disconnect and re-connect RF cables.  More importantly, repeating a RF test across DUT’s and maintaining high insertion loss repeatability between ports, makes the life of a RF switch and its reliability imperative. With better insertion loss repeatability the measurement accuracy increases as source of errors in the measurement path decreases. Dow-Key Microwave has launched a new product line that meets these features in performing a successful RF test.

The first release of Reliant Switch product line is a 1 x 2 bidirectional coaxial switch with an operating frequency from DC to 26.5 GHz, which covers the typical 6 GHz test range and beyond, for high-speed testing. The switch is designed with a high isolation of 85 dB at 4 GHz maintaining the integrity of the measured signal in port-to-port testing. The Reliant Switch SPDT can sustain a guaranteed insertion loss repeatability of 0.03 dB across the entire frequency band from DC to 26 GHz. It also has an extended life where each position can switch a minimum of 10 Million cycles, which is a 10X improvement from a typical RF switch.

To meet a variety of test & measurement setups and signal switching configurations, the Reliant SwitchTM is offered with latching actuators, optical position indicators and SMA connectors. The 1 x 2 switch operates in break-before-make mode with 150W CW input power at 3 GHz (cold-switching). In hot-switching applications, a maximum of 2W CW can be applied to the input port(s) across the frequency band.

The Reliant Switch SPDT has a switching time of 15 ms and it is offered with a nominal power supply voltages of +12 or +24 Vdc. The switch can be controlled by applying ground to close the desire port, but it is also available to be controlled via TTL logic (by applying +5vdc to close a port or +0Vdc to open a port).

Both Reliant Switch SPDT switch options can operate over a -25° to +75°C temperature range and be stored between -55° to +85°C. For antenna and radar related applications, the switch operates up to 15,000 ft and can be stored at 50,000 ft without any performance degradation.

The next switch configuration to be released soon is a terminated SPDT coaxial switch. For more information please contact Dow-Key® Microwave at askDK@dowkey.com or visit http://www.DowKey.com.