Microwave attenuator having smooth attenuation control

Abstract

In receivers of various categories, and likewise in radioinstrumentation engineering, extensive use is made of controlled pin-diode microwave attenuators that are employed as control elements in automatic gain control (AGC) devices, devices for weighted signal handling, etc. A specific form of the control characteristic (CC), which is defined as the dependence of the transmission factor K on the control input x_con, is required for attenuators having smooth attenuation control (see [1]). In a number of cases (specifically, in devices for weighted handling of radar signals) linearity of the characteristic K is required (see [1]). The important requirements imposed on attenuators likewise include a low value of the losses and a broad band of the working frequencies.