Continuously tunable waveguide attenuator
AssigneeHarris Corporation
InventorsStephen B. Brown, James J. Rawnick
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A continuously variable waveguide attenuator (100). The continuously variable waveguide attenuator includes at least one waveguide attenuator cavity (109) having at least one barrier. A fluid dielectric (108) having a loss tangent, a permittivity and a permeability is at least partially disposed within the waveguide attenuator cavity (109). At least one composition processor (101 ) is included and adapted for dynamically changing a composition of the fluid dielectric (108) to vary an electrical characteristic of the fluid dielectric. A controller (136) is provided for controlling the composition processor (101 ) to selectively vary the electrical characteristic in response to a waveguide attenuator control signal (137).
Claims32
A continuously variable waveguide attenuator, comprising;
- at least one waveguide attenuator cavity bounded by at least one barrier, at least a portion of said barrier being a dielectric material;
- a fluid dielectric at least partially disposed within said waveguide attenuator cavity;
- at least one composition processor adapted for dynamically changing a composition of said fluid dielectric to vary at least one electrical characteristic of said fluid dielectric;
- and
- a controller for controlling said composition processor to selectively vary said electrical characteristic in response to a waveguide attenuator control signal.
A method for controlling an attenuation of a waveguide attenuator comprising the steps of:
- providing at least one waveguide attenuator cavity within a waveguide;
- disposing a fluid dielectric within said at least one waveguide attenuator cavity;
- responsive to a control signal, selectively varying at least a first electrical characteristic of said fluid dielectric to selectively control an attenuation of an RF signal propagated along said waveguide;
- and
- varying said first electrical characteristic to maintain said attenuation constant as a second electrical characteristic of said fluid dielectric is varied.
A method for controlling an attenuation of a waveguide attenuator comprising the steps of:
- providing at feast one waveguide attenuator cavity within a waveguide;
- disposing a fluid dielectric within said at least one waveguide attenuator cavity;
- responsive to a control signal, selectively varying at least one electrical characteristic of said fluid dielectric to selectively control an attenuation of an RF signal propagated along said waveguide;
- and
- dynamically mixing a plurality of components in response to said control signal to selectively vary said at least one electrical characteristic of said fluid dielectric.
A method for controlling an attenuation of a waveguide attenuator comprising the steps of:
- providing a plurality of waveguide attenuator cavities within a waveguide;
- disposing a first fluid dielectric within at least a first one of said plurality of waveguide attenuator cavities;
- responsive to a control signal, selectively varying at least one electrical characteristic of said first fluid dielectric to selectively control an attenuation of an RF signal propagated along said waveguide;
- and
- disposing a second fluid dielectric within at least a second one of said plurality of waveguide attenuator cavities.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.