Voltage Variable Attenuators

Our portfolio of voltage variable attenuators includes models covering octave broadband frequencies from 400 MHz to 18 GHz while boasting low insertion loss and wide dynamic range. Moreover, these voltage variable attenuator (VVA) modules display excellent VSWR over all attenuation levels. CW input power is rated up to +23 dBm. Each variable attenuator unit is designed into rugged coaxial packages to meet MIL-STD-202 environmental conditions.

In most communications systems, the RF components used (transmitters, receivers, mixers, multipliers, attenuators, amplifiers, VCO’s, phase locked loops, etc.) may require specific power levels to run optimally. These power levels may differ from one component to the next in a system network and may require the attenuation level to be finely adjusted to account for changes in received signal levels or to optimally match the input power into a sensitive circuit. Pasternack’s new PIN diode-based voltage variable attenuators (VVAs) provide accurate control and broadband flatness where the output level can be adjusted continuously by varying an analog voltage on the input control line. These VVA’s are ideally suited for use with variable gain amplifiers, power level control, feed-forward amplifiers, and automatic level control (ALC) circuits.