Trilithic, Inc.

Other

Texscan Corporation

Wavetek Indiana, Inc.

Bruce G Malcolm

Steven L Sink

Michael G Pazoga

Dexin Sun

William P Dawson

Robert E Binninger

An attenuator includes a housing defining an interior, a front, a rear, and a rotor mounted between front and rear for rotation within housing about an axis of the rotor. First electrical contacts are provided on the housing. Second electrical contacts are provided on the rotor. The rotor includes multiple printed conductor boards. Each PC board includes an electrically relatively non-conductive substrate. One side of each substrate provides conductive areas through which electrically attenuating elements of the attenuator are coupled together to form an attenuating network providing a selected level of attenuation. Electrical contact is made between the first electrical contacts and the electrically attenuating elements of the attenuator through the second electrical contacts.

Rotary attenuator and method of making it

An attenuator includes a substrate having first and second surfaces and a plurality of discrete circuit elements. The first surface includes a first electrically conductive pattern providing circuit contacts providing electrical connections among the discrete circuit elements and circuit contacts providing electrical connections to components external to the attenuator. The second surface includes a second electrically conductive pattern.

In-line attenuator

A 1-by-N switch matrix ( ) includes at least two ranks of switches ( - - - - - - - - - - - - - , and - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , and - - - - ). Each switch has first, second and third terminals ( ). A first state of each switch couples the first terminal ( ) to the second terminal ( ) and a second state of each switch couples the first terminal ( ) to the third terminal ( ). The second ( ) and third ( ) terminals of each switch ( - - - - - - - - - - - - - - and - - ) of each rank (- -, - -, - -) above the next to lowest rank (- - or - -) are coupled to first terminals ( ) of respective switches ( - - - - and - - - - - - - - ) in the next lower rank (- -, - -, - -). The second ( ) and third ( ) terminals of each switch ( - - - - and - - - - - - - - ) in the next to lowest rank (- - or - -) are coupled to the second terminals ( ) of respective switches ( - - - - - - - - and - - - - ) in the lowest rank (- - or - -). The first terminals ( ) of the switches ( - - - - - - - - and - - - - ) in the lowest rank (- - or - -) are coupled to switch matrix utilization devices ( - - and - - ). The third terminals ( ) of the switches ( - - - - - - - - and - - - - ) in the lowest rank (- - or - -) are coupled to respective dummy loads.

One-by-N switch matrix

Programmable attenuators including DPDT relays or pairs of SPDT relays with terminals which are interconnected through conductors and attenuator sections disposed on opposite sides of grounded isolation elements, and so configured and supported by printed circuit boards or the like as to provide very high isolation while obtaining flat response characteristics up to very high frequencies, in the megahertz range.

Programmable attenuators

Input signals having a particular impedance in a particular frequency range are provided. A first transformer has at its input a particular impedance in the particular frequency range and provides a change at its output to a second impedance in the particular frequency range. A filter is constructed to receive the signals from the first transformer and is provided with the second impedance in the particular frequency range. When the second impedance is lower than the particular impedance, the operation of the filter at the second impedance is advantageous because the size of the inductances in the filter is significantly reduced without impairing the quality of the inductances or increasing energy losses in the inductances. A second transformer is constructed to receive the signals from the filter. The second transformer provides the second impedance at its input and provides at its output a change to the particular impedance in the particular frequency range. Means are connected to the second transformer for providing output signals having the particular impedance in the particular frequency range.

L-C Filter with impedance transformers

A spring contact element is soldered to the end section of a plate holder hub in a high frequency tuneable cavity. The spring contact extends outwardly transverse to the shaft's principle direction and terminates in a plurality of radially extending contact fingers inclined toward and in contact with a wall of the cavity at the end of the hub. Attachment of the spring contact electrically at the plate holder hub and consequent moving contact between the cavity wall and the spring contact member at a circumference considerably larger than that at the hub provides reduced current densities in the vicinity of the moving contact between the wall and the spring contact and consequently considerably reduced power loss at high frequencies above 100 MHz.

Spring contact for high frequency electrical signals

A rotary step attenuator having a housing and a rotor rotatably mounted in the housing. An array of attenuator elements is mounted on the rotor, appearing in an end view as chords of a circle whose center is at the axis of rotation of the rotor. Each attenuator element has a first surface bearing an electrically conductive pad facing the axis of rotation of the rotor, and additionally there is a blade contact member having a first surface facing away from the axis of rotation mounted in a fixed position relative to the housing and operable to touch a selected one of the conductive pads as the rotor is rotated within the housing. There are no spring biased signal contacts other than the blade contact member itself for effecting electrical coupling between the attenuator elements and the electrical connections to the rotary step attenuator.

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Indianapolis, IN, United States of America

Bruce G Malcolm