In this article, we have listed the most downloaded white papers on everything RF in 2023. In 2023 there were more than 10,000 White Paper downloads on everything RF. Our white paper section on the website consists of more than 4,000 White Papers, each tagged based on relevant topics to make it easy for users to find. We add white papers to the website every day and try to ensure that users will be able to find and download white papers on almost any topic in the RF & Microwave sector.
The Need for Direct RF in an Evolving Defense Environment
The Department of Defense (DoD) vision of connected and well-informed armed services depends on the ability of industry to develop and provide revolutionary digital and RF microelectronics. Direct RF is a crucial technology for transforming defense platforms. The next generation of this technology is here and ready to redefine what’s possible in radar and software radio, from jamming to electronic intelligence to significant performance increases in bandwidth capture. This white paper explores why it is important to move toward direct RF, discusses its capabilities and applications, and shows how innovative products like those from Mercury Systems can help make the DoD’s vision a reality. Click here to download the white paper.
An Overview of Space Electronic Warfare
This paper is intended to give the reader an overview of electronic/electromagnetic war-fare (EW) in space, the space domain ecosystem, and offensive and defensive measures for space EW. The paper starts with a brief overview of the space domain, satellite orbits and the basics of satellite communications. Next, the paper discusses the satcom segments and the military uses of the electromagnetic spectrum. The paper reviews the basics of offensive, defensive and cyber operations as it relates to space EW and gives examples of operational systems. In the solutions section, the paper discusses useful technologies that can be applied to space EW, including link budgeting, communications monitoring, signal analysis, carrier-under-carrier detection, interference hunting, capturing short-duration events, handheld interference hunting, and high bandwidth recording to capture long-term events. Click here to download this white paper.
eBook: Introduction to 5G RedCap
everything RF has created this eBook “Introduction to 5G RedCap”, to act as a comprehensive resource for anyone looking to learn about 5G RedCap. This eBook starts with the very basics of what this technology is, and then transitions to more advanced topics that cover its use cases, comparisons to existing technologies and how to test this technology. Click here to download this eBook.
A Technical Overview of LoRa and LoRaWAN
The purpose of this document is to give an introductory technical overview to LoRa® and LoRaWAN™. Low–Power, Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN) are projected to support a major portion of the billions of devices forecasted for the Internet of Things (IoT). LoRaWAN™ is designed from the bottom up to optimize LPWANs for battery lifetime, capacity, range, and cost. A summary of the LoRaWAN™ specification for the different regions will be given as well as high level comparison of the different technologies competing in the LPWAN space. Click here to download this white paper.
Understanding the Smith Chart
The Smith chart is a useful graphical tool to convert between impedances and reflection coefficients. It may also be used to solve impedance-matching problems. It can be thought of as a polar reflection coefficient chart with overlaid impedance curves. Click here to download this white paper.
How to Test an RF Coaxial Cable using a Vector Network Analyzer
RF coaxial cables are high precision test assemblies, which along with a calibration kit, adapters and a torque wrench ensure the integrity of the measurements taken by test equipment such as a Vector Network Analyzer. An ideal cable transfers maximum RF energy while incurring as little loss as possible. To choose the best cable for a test solution, one has to consider several factors such as: operating frequency, characteristic impedance, insertion loss, return loss/VSWR, power handling capacity, operating temperature, flexibility, size, weight, shielding and ruggedness, with cost as a primary trade-off. Click here to download this white paper.
Getting Started: An Introduction to Inductor Specifications
There is more to selecting an inductor than determining its nominal inductance value. To ensure an inductor will perform as needed, you need to consider inductance tolerance, current ratings, DCR, maximum operating temperature and efficiency under your specific operating conditions. Whether you are a student or someone new to inductors, this paper provides an overview of the key performance ratings you will need to understand and analyze when specifying RF and Power Inductors. Click here to download this white paper.
An Introduction to Radio Direction Finding
Humans do audio direction finding to a remarkable precision of less than two degrees. Shortly after the development of radio transmitters and receivers, radio direction finding (RDF or just DF) evolved for much the same reasons as human audio direction finding: firstly, for the location of possible threads and secondly for spatial awareness. Click here to download this white paper.
Navigating the RF Energy Shift
Tube-based technologies are becoming a thing of the past, having served the markets well. With advancements in electronics, semiconductor-based systems are replacing tubes in several industries. Similarly, in the realm of industrial microwave generation or RF generation (RF Energy), highly robust, dependable, and cost-effective solid-state technology is gaining ground, surpassing the capabilities of tubes.
This whitepaper covers a detailed comparison between tube-based magnetrons and solid-state high-power microwave generators, shedding light on who holds the key to the next phase of progress in industrial microwave generation. Elite RF has extensive experience in designing and manufacturing RF amplification technology, and we are more than happy to address any questions related to RF Energy. Click here to download this white paper.
5G IoT Antenna Design in Smallest PCB Size
Forget the clearance troubles on your next 5G wireless design, DUO mXTENDTM doesn’t need any clearance beyond its footprint. This new antenna booster is modular, multipurpose and multi-port and enables top-quality high-speed connectivity to IoT and Mobile devices using 5G. It is fully reconfigurable, so it can be mounted either at the corner or at the center edge of your 5G device, thanks to this modular and dual port nature.This antenna booster has been designed for providing a top-quality mobile operation at 3400-3800 MHz, regardless of the antenna position on your device,either if the mounting of the component is at a corner of the PCB or just at the center edge of the printed circuit board. Click here to download this white paper.
Overcoming Common Planar Phased Array Circuit Design Challenges
This article details the design and layout challenges associated with the electronic design of planar phased arrays and focuses on an RF front end containing power amplifiers (PAs), low noise amplifiers (LNAs), and beamformers. It discusses the signaling and timing involved with control of PA and LNA biasing, transmit and receive switching, memory loading, and beam advance.The PCB layout discussion highlights a single cell, consisting of a beamformer surrounded by four transmit/receive (TR) modules. Thermal management challenges are discussed, including component side heat sinking and heat sink cavity design with RF absorbers to avoid oscillations. The power management design for the RF front end is explained, including the power tree and the specific bias sequencing required to avoid PA damage. Click here to download this white paper.
IC Integration Enables Flat-Panel Phased Array Antenna Design
Advances in semiconductor technology have enabled the proliferation of phased array antenna across the industry. This shift away from the mechanically steered antenna to the active electronically scanned antenna (AESA) began years ago in military applications, but has rapidly advanced more recently in satcom on-the-move and 5G communications. The low profile AESA has advantages such as fast steering capability, the ability to produce multiple radiation patterns, and higher reliability; however, these antennas required significant advancements in IC technology before they could become widely available. Planar phased arrays require devices operating with high levels of integration,low power consumption, and high efficiency so that users may fit these components behind the antenna array while keeping the heat generated to acceptable levels. This article will briefly describe how advances in phased array chipsets are making planar phased array antennas possible, followed by examples. Click here to download this white paper.
Making Sense of Radio Frequency: RF Fundamentals & Spectrum Situational Awareness
Although electromagnetic radiation and radio frequency was not a new concept, Marconi was the first to realize the commercial possibilities of the discovery. Today, wireless technology is ubiquitous in the military and civil society; it connects people and systems and is the universally accepted way to transfer large amounts of data across (almost) unlimited space. We have become entirely dependent on wireless devices sending radio signals across the Electro Magnetic Spectrum (EMS). Click here to download this white paper.
Switch Matrix Configurations for RF Signal Routing
Switch matrices are an essential tool for control of RF signal routing in any environment where there is a recurring need to change how systems interconnect. The addition of Ethernet and USB interfaces with flexible software and APIs (application programming interfaces) makes switch matrices particularly useful in automated test environments, allowing test sequences to be scheduled to run with no user intervention, switching between multiple devices under test (DUT), input / output ports and test equipment.
This application note aims to summarize the different switch matrix variations available to the user, along with the key considerations, specifications and benefits of each approach. For convenience, switch matrix ports are referred to below as either “inputs” or “outputs” but in most cases, switch matrices operate bi-directionally so that all ports can be used as both input and output. Click here to download this white paper.
Wide Bandwidth Digitizer Provides Essential Data Processing in an Innovative Real-Time Channel Sounder for 5G Applications
Orange Labs, the research & development division of the French telecommunications multi-national Orange, presented a paper at the 13th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP 2019) held in Krakow, Poland. Introduced in the paper, was an innovative wideband radio channel sounder that conducts reliable, easy-to-use measurements in demanding 5G applications, such as outdoor drive tests.
This article describes the GaGe EON Express 3 GS/s 12-bit PCIe Gen3 Digitizer that Orange Labs employed in the receiver digital part of the radio channel sounder to implement efficient data streaming functions. Click here to download this white paper.
AiP/AiM Design for mmWave Applications: Advanced RF Front-End Design Flows from Concept to Signoff
System requirements for broad bandwidth, millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum, phased arrays, and integrated antennas and front-ends are evolving. The challenge for engineers will be achieving the cost, size, and performance requirements that will make these products commercially viable. All these factors align to drive next-generation component integration, which includes embedding the antenna within the RF front-end package or module.
The focus of this white paper is on the general challenge of antenna design and simulation as implemented with antenna-in-package (AiP) and antenna-in-module (AiM) advanced packaging technology as well as the software tools necessary for antenna,antenna array and feed structure, and front-end simulations.Two different aspects will be addressed: mmWave antenna module packaging and integration for base station and user equipment applications. Click here to download this white paper.
Comparing Linearity Measurements in a GaN Ka-Band Satcom Power Amplifier
Most modern Ka-Band Satellite Communication systems rely on solid state power amplifiers for their transmitters last stage. This item gives the transmitting signal the final power boost before being sent to the antenna, and its parameters are critical for the overall performance of the whole system. The power amplifier’s output power, linearity and efficiency are important variables to be considered for the final system design, which is normally based on wide-bandgap semiconductors like GaAs or GaN.GaN based amplifiers are becoming more important due to their superior power density and power efficiency, which allows the manufacturing of smaller and more efficient transmitters. Click here to download this white paper.
Making High-Frequency Balun Measurements
Balanced measurements to very high frequencies are becoming more and more commonplace. Twisted pair cables are expected to pass digital data with frequency content as high as 18 GHz or more. SRDES lanes on printed circuit boards may require bandwidths just as high. High speed differential amplifiers are needed to drive ADCs and must be properly evaluated. It is possible to compute balanced differential measurements from a series of unbalanced measurements for passive media, such as cables, but this requires a four port VNA. Click here to download this white paper.
Using a VNA as a Signal Generator
A common question from users of Copper Mountain Technologies’ USB-based Vector Network Analyzers is whether the analyzer can be used as a signal source. Users’ motivations for doing so vary, but most commonly the question arises when an additional source is needed in a test setup but is not available. For example, a source might be needed as the LO to a mixer, to check functionality of another test equipment like a power meter or spectrum analyzer, or to produce a reference clock for use elsewhere in a test system. Fortunately, any CMT VNA can readily be used as a signal source.
This application note describes the process of configuring a CMT VNA as a signal source, and the expected performance of an analyzer so-configured. This application note is based on the S2 family of instruments’ software; other instruments will follow similar menu structures and procedures. Click here to download this white paper.
The above list of whitepapers are not the only ones that were downloaded by our users. There were more than 2,000 White Papers in 2023. Click here to see the complete list of white papers listed on everything RF. Narrow down by company or topic to find white papers you want to read.
