The RF & Microwave industry is continuously developing newer solutions to meet the rising demands in various industries, including satellite, RF testing, and medical. In this light, everything RF has created a new list of radio frequency (RF) product categories that are finding usefulness in cutting-edge applications such as GNSS, radar navigation, test and measurement, packaging, research and development, semiconductor, and much more.
Cross Band Couplers
A cross-band coupler is an radio frequency (RF) device that is used to combine (as a power combiner) or separate (as a diplexer) RF signals lying in different frequency bands. This allows transmitters or receivers to share a common feedline or antenna, while eliminating inter-band interference. Since the cross-band coupler functions both as power combiner and diplexer in a single device, this type of coupler helps reduce costs and system complexity as opposed to incorporating separate diplexer and power combiner modules. Click here to learn more.
Wattmeter
A wattmeter is a test instrument that is used to measure and display electrical power consumed by any given circuit. Radio Frequency (RF) wattmeters can measure and indicate different types of RF signals over a wide frequency range from HF all the way through UHF and VHF. The various signal types include continuous wave (CW), pulsed, or a combination of both. They display two common methods of measuring power – Average and RMS. This versatile nature makes it suitable for various applications such as military, aviation, land mobile radio, public safety, marine, and wireless communication systems. Click here to learn more.
Phase-Locked Oscillator (PLO)
A Phase-Locked Oscillator (PLO) is an electronic device designed to generate a stable and precise output frequency by locking the phase of its internal oscillator to a reference signal. The PLO uses a feedback control system called a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) to synchronize the output signal of a Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO) with the phase and frequency of a reference oscillator. This ensures that the generated signal maintains a fixed frequency with high stability, even in the presence of environmental changes such as temperature variations. The distinguishing feature of a PLO is its ability to maintain a constant, synchronized output frequency with minimal phase noise and spurious emissions, making it indispensable in applications such as radar systems, telecommunications, frequency synthesis, and test equipment. Click here to learn more.
RADAR Systems
RADAR or Radio Detection and Ranging system is an electromagnetic device that is used for detecting, tracking, and ranging different types of targets in the radio frequency range (from 30 MHz and beyond). Radars can also determine the size and shape of the target. Unlike optical radars such as LiDAR, radars can detect distant objects even in challenging weather conditions while accurately determining range, speed, and direction of the target. This makes them ideal for a wide variety of scenarios, which include, airborne surveillance, maritime, aerospace and defense, surface imaging, and ground surveillance. Click here to learn more.
RF Phantoms
RF Phantoms are devices that are used as stand-ins or substitutes for human body parts (e.g. chest, hands, tissues) to ensure that wireless devices such as fitness trackers and wearable electronics placed on the body are working properly as expected. Phantoms can evaluate the RF communication link with wireless devices by measuring parameters such as radiation pattern, specific absorption ratio (SAR), and specific anthropomorphic mannequin (SAM). This helps to characterize the performance of wearable devices on body and also prevent any potential malfunctioning or damages that will directly impact the human body. Click here to learn more.
GNSS Splitters
A GNSS splitter is an RF component that allows a single GNSS antenna to be shared among multiple GNSS receivers in a communication system. It essentially splits the incoming signal and transmits it to multiple GNSS receivers via coaxial cables. For the GNSS splitter to operate, a sufficient amount of power has to be delivered to its input port in order to perform splitting of the signal among the receivers. GNSS splitters are commonly used in satellite communication (SATCOM) applications to enable efficient routing of the signals within the system. Click here to learn more.
RF Packages
RF Packages are housings that are integrated with RF components to enable mounting on PC boards and/or other systems. Depending on the type of mounting the application demands, RF packages are offered in various mounting methods. They are surface-mount technology (SMT), through-hole, die attach, module with connectors, chassis-mount, rack-mount etc. Certain applications such as space and military are subjected to harsh conditions. Therefore, packages are hermetically designed such that they can withstand the demanding environments, while ensuring greater reliability. Click here to learn more.
RF Transmitters
An RF Transmitter is a communication system that processes signals (e.g. filtering, amplifying, routing) in each sub-system and transmits it over the wireless channel. A transmitter consists of multiple components such as antennas, power amplifiers (PAs), filters, couplers, modulators, switches, etc. It may also contain multiple channels containing such components, and depending on the application requirements, the desired number of channels may be used.
RF transmitters are used in various applications such as wireless communication systems, radars, military (electronic warfare), RFID, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and others. Click here to learn more.
RF Frequency Counters
An RF frequency counter is an instrument that measures the frequency of a radio frequency (RF) signal. It usually measures the number of cycles of oscillation or pulses in a second of a periodic signal. Frequency counters consist of a built-in counter, which is a device that measures and accumulates the number of cycles occurring within a specified period of time. After this specified period called as the gate time, the value in the counter is transferred to the display, and the counter value is reset to zero for performing new measurements. Two performance metrics – accuracy and resolution, are used to evaluate the stability with which the frequency counter measures the number of cycles. Click here to learn more.
RF Plasma Source
An RF plasma source is an equipment that uses high energy electromagnetic waves at radio frequencies to accelerate electrons, which will then collide with the gas atoms/molecules, thereby ionizing the gas. This ionized gas is called plasma. The RF energy is usually transmitted either via a coaxial cable or a waveguide to the plasma chamber within the system to generate the plasma. To create a plasma, a gas is introduced into the plasma chamber. Common types of gases used are argon, nitrogen, and oxygen, depending on the application. RF plasma sources are ideal for research and development, semiconductor fabrication and testing, surface modification, chemistry, and medical applications. Click here to learn more.
everything RF is always adding new categories to the website. The above list was a small sample of what we added in 2024. Visit www.everythingRF.com to keep up to date with the RF & Microwave Industry, Read News, Find Products and learn about the latest technologies.
