{"id":590,"date":"2017-06-15T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.pasternack.com\/?p=590"},"modified":"2017-05-31T11:12:48","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T15:12:48","slug":"brief-introduction-types-rf-phase-shifters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/phase-shifters\/brief-introduction-types-rf-phase-shifters\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief Introduction to the Types of RF Phase Shifters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phase Shifters<\/a> are a critical component in many RF and Microwave systems. A phase shift module is a microwave network module which provides a controllable phase shift of the RF signal and are used in phased arrays. Phase shifters are used to change the transmission phase angle of a two-port network. Applications include controlling the relative phase of each element in a phase array antenna in a RADAR or steerable communications link and in cancellation loops used in high linearity amplifiers. But what is a phase shifter? And more to the point, what is phase?<\/p>\n

Phase Shifter Basics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phase\u00a0is the position of a point in time on a\u00a0waveform\u00a0cycle. The phase of a single tone is meaningless until it is compared to another signal. Phase then is the fraction of a wavelength difference between two signals and can vary from 0 to 360 degrees. Phase can also be an expression of\u00a0relative displacement\u00a0between two corresponding features of two waveforms having the same\u00a0frequency. In\u00a0sinusoidal\u00a0waves \u201cphase\u201d has two meanings: one is the initial angle of a sinusoidal function at its\u00a0origin, sometimes called\u00a0phase offset\u00a0or\u00a0phase difference, and the other is the fraction of the wave cycle that has elapsed relative to the origin.<\/p>\n

Phase shift\u00a0is any change that occurs in the phase of one quantity, or in the phase difference between two or more quantities. Phase difference\u00a0is the difference, expressed in degrees or time, between two waves having the same frequency and referenced to the same point in time.\u00a0Two oscillators that have the same frequency and no phase difference are said to be\u00a0in phase. Two oscillators that have the same frequency and different phases have a phase difference, and the oscillators are said to be\u00a0out of phase\u00a0with each other. Phase Range (degrees) is the phase shift range of the device so that, based on the way the device is configured, it will only be able to provide a phase shift within this range.<\/p>\n

Phase Shifter properties include insertion Loss (dB) (loss\/gain) and amplitude.\u00a0 The loss of signal from the input of the phase shifter to the output of the device is called insertion loss. Effective phase shifters provide low insertion loss in all phase states and require less amplification and lower power to overcome the losses. Systems using phase shifters must not experience amplitude changes in signal level as phase states are changed and therefore must have equal amplitude for all phase states.<\/p>\n

Types of RF Phase Shifters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phase shifters can be controlled magnetically, mechanically, or electrically using analog signals or digital bits.<\/p>\n

Mechanical Phase Shifter<\/span> \u2013controlled manually with a knob and the phase from the input to the output is adjusted by turning a knob.<\/p>\n

Analog Phase Shifter<\/span> \u2013controlled by a voltage level and phase shift change is based on the tuning voltage specified for the phase shifter. Analog phase shifters provide a continuously variable phase often controlled by a voltage. These analog phase shifters can be controlled with\u00a0tuning diodes\u00a0that change capacitance with voltage, or nonlinear dielectrics such as barium strontium titanate, or ferro-electric materials such as yttrium iron garnet. Analog phase shifter advantages are lower loss and lower cost of parts.<\/p>\n

Digital Phase Shifter<\/span> \u2013digitally controlled, programmable, or can be controlled via a computer interface. Digital, in this case, means two-state devices, where the states have different insertion phases at microwave frequencies. Most phase shifters digitally controlled as they are less susceptible to noise on voltage control lines. Digital phase shifter advantages include immunity to noise on control lines, a more uniform performance, the ability to achieve flat phase over wide bandwidth, are less susceptible to phase pulling when embedded in networks that are not perfectly impedance-matched, ease of assembly versus analog, and have a potentially higher power handling and linearity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phase Shifters are a critical component in many RF and Microwave systems. A phase shift module is a microwave network module which provides a controllable phase shift of the RF signal and are used in phased arrays. Phase shifters are used to change the transmission phase angle of a two-port network. Applications include controlling the ..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[348],"tags":[349],"class_list":["post-590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-phase-shifters","tag-phase-shifters"],"yoast_head":"\nA Brief Introduction to the Types of RF Phase Shifters - Pasternack Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/blog\/phase-shifters\/brief-introduction-types-rf-phase-shifters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Brief Introduction to the Types of RF Phase Shifters - Pasternack Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Phase Shifters are a critical component in many RF and Microwave systems. 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