Intermodulation distortion (IMD) suppression is a critical issue in modern military and commercial RF/microwave systems. Pressed by the demands imposed by distortion‐sensitive digital modulation formats, modern systems routinely specify linearity requirements that are impossible to attain using conventional approaches. To meet these new challenges, Marki Microwave has introduced the Two‐Tone‐Terminator (T3) mixer family. The T3 mixer is the most sophisticated mixer circuit on the market today and offers unparalleled performance when compared to all other mixer technologies. This Primer describes the key operating principles of the T3 mixer and compares the performance against traditional double balanced mixers.

Understanding complex microwave transmission concepts can be difficult. Understanding complex material properties can also be difficult. Understanding phenomena that combine both of these can be mind boggling. Phase stability versus temperature is one of these phenomena. This application note will provide the reader with a basic grasp of the situation.

Abstract:

RF system design is a notoriously complex and challenging endeavor, made even more so by today’s stringent time-to-market requirements. Meeting these requirements places increasing pressure on system integrators to speed the system-design process wherever possible. One viable option for addressing these concerns lies in the ability to evaluate real circuit-level designs from design houses/component vendors within the system context, early in the design process and prior to the availability of a physical hardware prototype.

A shift in system design is taking place that drastically changes the connectivity in base station architectures. Older architectures use heavy coax cable between base stations and amplifiers, and between the amplifiers and passive antennas.