Amplitude control system having parallel integrating signal paths

Abstract

An amplitude control system uses a pair of parallel integrators to rapidly adjust the amplitude of a test signal between two precisely determined power levels in an RF signal generator. The amplitude control system initializes a first power level by switching a first integrator into a feedback signal path to establish a first drive voltage, corresponding to the first power level. A second power level is initialized by switching a second integrator into the feedback signal path to establish a second drive voltage, corresponding to the second power level. The amplitude control system then alternately switches each of the integrators into the feedback signal path to alternately apply the first and second drive voltages to a level modulator, which rapidly adjusts the amplitude of the test signal to each of the two initialized power levels. An electronic step attenuator and a burst modulator, when used in conjunction with the pair of parallel integrators, enable the difference between the initialized power levels to be increased beyond the dynamic range of the level modulator and also enable the amplitude of the test signal to be further customized. Additional parallel integrators, when incorporated into the amplitude control system, correspondingly increase the number of initialized power levels for adjusting the amplitude of the test signal.