Mesuro Ltd of Pencoed Technology Park, UK, a spin-off from Cardiff University’s Centre for High Frequency Engineering, has announced the capability for its RF measurement services to deliver whatever measurements are needed for non-linear devices.
Whatever measurement set or application is needed from non-linear device data, Mesuro’s laboratory allows for device testing up to 100W CW packaged devices to 6GHz fundamental; up to 20W CW packaged devices at X-band; fundamental test up to 67GHz; and fixture design and manufacture.
Device characterization allows customers to evaluate their device performance using Mesuro’s test platforms for immediate use within designs and to gain experience of the WaveForm Engineering process that can aid in business case justification and provide confidence through verified data sets. All parameters available in the test platforms can be measured, including DCIV, S-parameters, Pin/Pout, power and efficiency contours.
With device modeling, non-linear measurement data has been exploited in various ways to create behavioral models for high-frequency transistors. These include frequency-domain descriptive behavioral models, including poly harmonic distortion (PHD) models, S-functions and X-Parameters. Formulations of these models have been developed in the travelling-wave domain with a desire to represent non-linear behavior of high-frequency transistors. Work demonstrated using the Cardiff Model formulations, based on PHD models, has shown that, by considering higher-order mixing terms in the PHD formulation, a better fit can be achieved around a more compact file size, without sacrificing accuracy.
When considering the performance of RF power amplifiers (PAs) or other non-linear devices, it is the terminal RF I-V waveforms that are the unifying theoretical link between transistor technology, circuit design, and system performance, says Mesuro. From a non-linear PA design perspective, the integration of RF waveform engineering capability, whether passive or active, with RF waveform measurement capability, is essential, the firm adds. With such systems, the practical design of PAs achieved by directly employing the theoretically based waveform engineering approach is now experimentally possible, the firm adds.
