Artificial line

An artificial line comprising a two-port network with an essentially frequency-independent mirror impedance, which in a first state includes two identical inductors of magnitude L, connected in series and having a mutual inductance M, a capacitor of magnitude C1 over the inductors and a shunt capacitor C2 to earth, said artificial line being adapted to give a same group delay in a wide frequency range by element values as a function of a cut-off frequency fc and a characteristic impedance Z0 being selected according to inductance, mutual inductance and capacitance equations, said artificial line being a continuously tunable artificial line, said capacitors C1 and C2 being designed as varactors, and a first range within which a group delay GD should be tunable being selected, whereupon this selection is transferred to a range of cut-off frequency f0 according to a group delay equation GD ⁢ ( ω ) = 2 ω C · 1 + k ⁢ ⁢ Ω 2 ( 1 - k ⁢ ⁢ Ω 2 ) 2 + Ω 2

• whereupon a cut-off frequency within this range is selected, followed by a choice of L and M at the selected frequency according to said inductance, mutual inductance and capacitance equations, capacitances of the varactors being variable, such that the artificial line gives the delay which is intended in each moment, according to the group delay equation, calculation occurring via a frequency value obtained from said inductance, mutual inductance and capacitance equations.