RF Design and Software

RF Design Skills

RF Test Equipment HPIB programming

• Because of the years in RF design on the bench and the interest in PC hardware and software, I managed to write quite a bit of HPIB code to help take data in an efficient manner. It makes a nice change of pace from breathing solder fumes all day long.

  I have a lot of code that programs signal generators, spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, etc. Data output is in the form of full-page plots on the PC's printer and stored as a file of the user's choice. Custom programming is always available.

Computer Controlled Internal Power Supply Cards, PCPS-001, -002

• AE Systems has two products that are useful in automated testing of small, DC powered projects. It is excellent for testing when accurate, variable voltages are necessary both on the bench or factory floor. These might include testing a phone card for effects of battery voltage changes, PA testing, and VCO tuning curves. A PCPS-001 and a spectrum analyzer make a great, inexpensive VCO test station!

  The card is an internal, ISA PC card. It uses the PC's own 12 and 5V buss supplies and converts them to the desired output. The cards also send DC current information when polled. Current is in eight bit resolution. Sample code and programs in C are provided for general testing and control functions right out of the box. Custom configurations are available.

RF Design Software-FILTER

• Filter is a useful design tool for RF, discrete, lumped element filters. The design handles filters from KHz to GHz. Designs include almost 30 different bandpass, 12 lowpass, 4 highpass, and 4 bandstop designs. Butterworth, Chebychev, minloss, Bessel, and Gaussian polynomials are all accommodated. Output of the program includes, attenuation, return loss, VSWR, input impedance and admittance, group delay, phase deviation from linear, and temperature variation effects.

  

  LSPEC, a powerful, air coil design tool, is built into the program. It allows the user to quickly design the coils for the filter. It provides mechanical details and Q for different geometries.

  The program works only on the PC and is hardware key protected. This software is the primary design tool for many filter companies in the US! Individual and corporate licenses are available.

  The programs are frequently updated. For the latest versions hit the AE Systems FTP site.

  If you don't want to bother with the actual design, or just want someone else to build the filter for you, try Lark Engineering at http://www.larkengineering.com/

  For a good toroid design tool, try John Bellor'a Toroid pgram. You'll like it.  http://members.aol.com/Toroids/johnindx.htm I'm trying to get him to get a real ULR with his own domain name, but it hasn't happened yet. This URL is case sensitive.

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• Last Revised: 6/28/98