Research On Measurement Theory And Technique Of Wideband Nonlinear Vector Network Analyzer

Along with the proposal of green electronics concept and the rapiddevelopment of wireless communication field, traditional linear-system theories canno longer support the efficient and rapid design of “high power, high efficiency andhigh bandwidth” RF electronic products, nor satisfy the requirement by frond enddevices, for example the RF power amplifiers, mixers, moderms and oscillators, inwireless communication systems for precision characterization, modeling,simulation, design and application. Under such atmosphere, the measurement-basednonlinear vector network analysis theories get the attention and development of bothacademic and engineering communities: not only the increasingly rich academicachievements of large-signal S-function, PHD model (X-parameter), Cardiff model,and etc, towards a unified and perfect nonlinear theory, but also the new generationof micro-wave and millimeter-wave measurement techniques like the NonlinearVector Network Analyzer (NVNA) and Large Signal Network Analyzer (LSNA), asa revolutionary breakthrough of the RF wireless measurement and metrology.With the starting point of successful implementation of the first prototypeNVNA based on independent research and development in China, this dissertationmainly focuses on some innovative researches regarding the NVNA-relatedmeasurement theories, techniques and applications. This work aims to practicallymaster, enrich and improve the existent NVNA-related theories and techniques inthe first place, and then get involved into the follow-up study ofNVNA-measurement-based nonlinear behavioral modeling theories, trying toprovide the fundamental theoretical reserve and technical support for futureresearches on “measurement-based nonlinear behavioral characterization of RFpower devices” by Chinese scholars. The main contents and innovations of thisdissertation are as follows:Above all, the first made-in-China prototype NVNA was successfullyimplemented, whose index of wideband harmonic phase measurement hasapproximated or achieved the level of commercial ones, where the author was incharge of the phase reference characteriztion and all the test work;On the aspect of calibration theory and techniques, by discovering the NVNAfeature of time-invariant phase measurement, two new two-port calibration schemeswhich are equivalent to the classical one were proposed, along with the applicationsof calibration-based “NVNA calibration results self-check” and “evaluation ofNVNA validity and accuracy”;On the aspect of measurement uncertainty analysis theory, the uncertainty propagation law between quantities was given according to the the principle ofNVNA measurement and calibration, and a covariance-matrix-based uncertaintyanalysis theory for NVNA measurement was proposed to meet the requirement by“multi-frequencies, multi-quantities, complex-valued” measurements of nonlinearresearches;On the aspect of NVNA meaurement techniques, a poly-harmonicinter-modulation phase reference approach was proposed to extend the function of“inter-modulation measurements” by the prototype NVNA, dealing with thetechnical challenge of kHz-level high resolution NVNA measurements at GHzbandwidth;On the aspect of NVNA-measurement-based nonlinear behavioral modeling,some follow-up studies on dynamic X-parameters were carried out, including theprediction of complete envelope-domain dynamic X-parameter model underharmonic and mismatch conditions.