Quasi-Chaotic Microwave Oscillations: Formation, Application to Test Vector Network Analyzers

The design of quasi-chaotic oscillation formation modules based on strip transmission lines with partial dielectric lithium niobate crystals is described. The problem of considering the peculiarities of measuring the parameters of quasi-chaotic signal formation modules and testing vector network analyzers using them in measuring frequency and dynamic characteristics is stated and solved. Proposition to use the comparison of experimental results of measurements of the quasi-chaotic signal formation module on the certified vector network analyzer (VNA 1) and on the tested virtual device (VNA 2) to estimate the insertion errors was made. Experimental frequency characteristics of the scattering parameters in the frequency range from 0.03 to 20 GHz are presented. The effect of formation of multiple resonances distorting the transmission coefficient and reflection coefficient is demonstrated. It is being proposed to apply the shaping modules for broadband dynamic calibration of panoramic network analyzers. The calibration quality is assessed by calculating the difference between the obtained modules of transmission coefficients during measurements on metrological devices and tested serial devices. Modeling of insertion distortions of five types has been carried out: systematic additive independent of frequency; linear dependence; nonlinear distortions of the second order; nonlinear distortions of the third order; polynomial dependence of distortions. After determining the distortions introduced into the frequency dependence of the transmission coefficient, the VNA 2 is calibrated.