Centellax TA2U50HA User manual



Errata Notice
This document contains references to “Centellax.” Please note that the test and
measurement product portfolio once owned by Centellax, Inc. is now part of Agilent
Technologies. For more information about these products and support, go to
www.agilent.com/find/bert-news.
Advanced Test Equipment Rentals
www.atecorp.com 800-404-ATEC (2832)
®
E
s
t
a
b
l
i
s
h
e
d
1
9
8
1

High Performance
2-50 GHz System
Power Amplifier
Operating Manual
Email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.centellax.com
3843 Brickway Blvd, Suite 100
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Specifications are subject to change without notice.
All Centellax trademarks and trade names are the property of Centellax Inc.
Copyright © 2003-2009 Centellax Inc.
Printed in USA. 17 Jun 2009
smd-00054 rev B.
CENTELLAX
TA2U50HA

TA2U50HA Operating Manual TA2U50HA Operating Manual

Table f C ntents
Section 1 Introduction ....................................... 2
Section 2 Description ........................................ 3
Section 3 Specifications .................................... 4
Section 4 Performance Verification .................. 6
Section 5 Operation ........................................... 7
Section 6 Warranty/Product Service .................. 12
Email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.centellax.com
3843 Brickway Blvd, Suite 100
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Secti n 6: Warranty/Pr duct Service
Centellax, Inc. Standard Warranty
Test Instrument and Accessory Products
Centellax, Inc. (“Centellax”) warrants that the Test Instrument(s) and Accessory(s)
(“Product(s)”) it manufactures is/are free from defective material and workmanship for a peri-
od of one (1) year subject to the following terms and conditions. Centellax will remedy any such
warranted defect subject to the followings:
This warranty requires the Product to be delivered to Centellax intact for examination with an
RMA number and with all transportation charges prepaid to the factory, within one (1) year
from the date of sale to the original customer. Centellax will determine in its sole discretion
when such defect exists. Centellax will return the repaired or replaced Product to the customer
at its cost unless the shipment needs to be expedited or the shipment is international, in which
cases customer will pay for return shipment.
During the warranty period, Centellax will, at its sole option, either repair or replace Products,
which prove to be defective.
This warranty is only for the benefice of the original buyer registered with Centellax and is not
assignable. This warranty does not extend to any of Centellax’ Products which have been sub-
ject to misuse, neglect, accident, improper installation, or used in violation of operating instruc-
tions. This warranty does not extend to Products, which have been repaired, calibrated, or
altered in any way by a facility that is not approved, in writing, by Centellax to perform such
work. This warranty does not apply to any Product where the seals or serial number thereof has
been removed, defaced or changed, nor to Products not of our own manufacture.
THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED FOR THE PRODUCTS AND ALL SUCH OTHER WARRANTIES ARE HEREBY
EXPRESSLY EXCLUDED. CENTELLAX SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PUR-
POSE.
TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, THE REMEDIES PROVIDED HEREIN ARE THE
CUSTOMER’S SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES. CENTELLAX SHALL NOT BE
LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMA ES, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT OR ANY OTHER LE AL THE-
ORY.
Additional information with regard to the applications and maintenance of this equipment may
be available from time to time.
Centellax reserves the right to modify or change the warranty without notice.
Product Service
For information and pricing on standard factory service, please contact [email protected].
Note: This product contains no user or factory adjustments. There is no calibration cycle or cer-
tificate.
TA2U50HA Operating Manual
112

High Performance
Broadband F Amplifier
TA2U50HA
Operating Manual
Secti n 1: Intr ducti n
The TA2U50HA is a versatile 1W RF System Amplifier, which has
many uses in research, development, or production-line environments.
This amplifier is a useful addition to the laboratory where RF,
microwave, or millimeter wave measurements are made. Typical appli-
cations include:
•Driver for high power amplifiers e.g. TWT or linear
power amplifiers.
•Overcome system losses such as long transmission
lines, power dividers, etc.
•Antenna research and development; Antenna
characterization systems.
•Broadband RF characterization of systems and
components.
NOTE
Source-driven RF power amplifiers should always be terminat-
ed in an absorbing load. Unterminated outputs will radiate RF
energy; this can be dangerous to the operator, may violate FCC
laws. Unterminated RF amplifiers reflect most of their energy
back into the final amplifier stage; this can result in damage or
destruction of the amplifier.
Centellax is committed to providing amplifiers that have
exceptional performance, are unconditionally stable, and will
survive accidental laboratory misuse, such as a fully-saturated
unterminated output. TA2U50HA System Amplifiers have
passed rigorous RF tests which include an RF burnout test. RF
burnout test conditions are: P ut = 30dBm @ 2 Hz; open out-
put (unterminated).
Internal Power Detector: The TA2U50HA Power System Amplifier incorpo-
rates a power detection feature.
Two matched on-chip aAs diodes are used:
One of the diodes is RF coupled to the final output stage of the amplifier.
The second is a matched diode, in close proximity to the detector diode, which
is not RF coupled but provides a reference voltage that is a function of temper-
ature and biasing.
A differential measurement of these diodes provides a voltage proportional to the
amplifier output power level independent of temperature and bias level of the
output amplifier chip.
The two diode voltages are provided on the rear panel of the TA2U50HA System
Amplifier and can be used to determine the amplifier output power level (as
shown in Figure 9).
An application note details the use of these diodes and is available from the
Centellax website.
For additional questions, please email: [email protected] or call
707-568-5900x7.
The detector diode is frequency dependant and must be calibrated for each test
frequency. The diode is a nonlinear device and its output voltage varies with
power. This must also be characterized.
In an ATE environment, calibration of the detector diode is not complicated and
may be as simple as measuring the differential voltage at each test frequency and
power level. A look up table or curve fit can be used to provide a measure of
power delivered.
External ALC Leveling
Establishing a desired power level at the amplified DUT “Reference Plane”
with power request to the source is often desirable. Many modern sources sup-
port "External P wer Leveling". This technique involves power leveling using
feedback from external sensors (e.g. power meters or detector diodes). Properly
configured, these sensors provide feedback to the source that can be used by
the source to level the amplified power level at a remote reference plane.
TA2U50HA Operating Manual
2 11

Secti n 2: Descripti n
The Centellax TA2U50HA Power System Amplifier is a high perform-
ance, 1W broadband amplifier featuring 6 octaves of RF coverage from
2 Hz to greater than 50 Hz.
The TA2U50HA is designed to be a useful general purpose RF Power
System Amplifier for laboratory or test system applications where high-
er broadband RF power is needed. The amplifiers small size
(5.5x4.5x2.5 inch) and built in bias power supplies allows close place-
ment to the measurement or source reference plane. It’s high gain helps
make up for system losses such as long transmission lines and system
components.
The TA2U50HA features 2.4mm 50 Hz female connector at the ampli-
fier’s input and 1.85mm(V) connector at output. V connector is compat-
ible with 2.4mm. Adapters to lower frequency connectors e.g. 2.9mm,
3.5mm and SMA are readily available.
The TA2U50HA is self contained and plugs into standard AC power
sources.
ear Panel
Input: A 2.4 mm input connector is provided on the rear panel of the
TA2U50HA.
Power in: 9 Vdc @ ~1.5 A, supplied by the included AC supply.
Figure 9: Rear panel of TA2U50HA
GND
DET
GND
EF
TA2U50HA Operating Manual TA2U50HA Operating Manual
10 3
Features
• 1W (30dBm) Psat to 10 Hz
• Excellent performance at 20 Hz:
- High gain (27dB, +2dB flatness)
- 26dBm P-1dB’ 29dBm Psat
• Easy to integrate into your lab:
- Built-in cooling fan
- AC power supply
• Power detector outputs
• Size: 5.5 x 4.5 x 2.75 inch
+9V @ 1.5 A

Front Panel
Output: The TA2U50HA features a 1.85mm(V) 50 Hz female con-
nector at the amplifier’s output.
Led Indicator: One LED annunciator on the front panel indicates the
System Amplifier is powered.
Figure 8: Front panel of TA2U50HA
4.5”
5.5”
2.75”
Note: Always terminate the F driven amplifier output !
Secti n 3: Specificati ns
Table 1: Performance Specification
Figure 1: TA2U50HA Saturated Output Power
Typical Module Performance
TA2U50HA Operating Manual TA2U50HA Operating Manual
4 9
2 - 10 Hz 10-30 Hz 30 - 40 Hz 40 - 50 Hz
Parameter Description Min Typ Max Min Typ Max Min Typ Max Min Typ Max
Psat (dBm) Saturated Output Power 26 30 - 25 29 - 23 27 - 20 24 -
P-1 (dBm) 1 dB Compressed Power 24 28 - 23 27 - 21 25 - 17 22 -
S21 (dB) Small Signal ain 25 29 - 24 28 - 21 25 - 17 24 -
S11 (dB) Input Match - -15 ---15 ---10 ---8 -
S22 (dB) Output Match - -15 ---10 ---6 ---6 -
S12 (dB) Reverse Isolation - -60 ---60 ---50 ---50 -
NF (dBm) Noise Figure -9- - 9- -10.5 --12 -
H2 (dBc) 2nd Harmonic @P-1 - -40 ---40 ---35 ---30 -
H3 (dBc) 3rd Harmonic @P-1 - -20 ---20 ---- ---

Figure 2: Typical
ain Performance
Figure 3: Typical
Reflection
Performance
Figure 4: Typical
roup Delay
Performance
When the system is calibrated the actual power delivered to the input
"Reference Plane" is read on the power meter display for power sensor
A. Sensor A is used to monitor and provide feedback to the user or an
ATE system in order to set the "Reference Plane" power level. The
power level is set by adjusting the RF Source power level control.
Calibration of the system is accomplished by removing the DUT and
connecting sensor B to the input "Reference Plane" in order to deter-
mine the coupler's coupling coefficient and the other losses to the refer-
ence plane.
These losses are: PmB - PmA. These losses are frequency dependant
and must be measured at each test frequency.
Coupler through losses and their coupling coefficients are very linear
over their rated power range and therefore only need to be measured at
one power level.
The frequency dependant losses (PmB-PmA) are then provided to the
power meter in the form of a display offset for PmA.
The calibration is complete and the DUT input power level is displayed
directly on the power meter sensor A display.
This setup is quick and easy to calibrate and represents a good test
bench for the R&D laboratory, where a manual control system is suffi-
cient to evaluate performance.
Understanding the compression characteristics of the TA2U50HA
System Amplifier is important in these situations and can often be com-
pensated for in the Automated Test Environment (ATE) by using an iter-
ative set and measure routine to set the input reference plane power
level close to the desired level.
Since the incident power is always accurately provided by a PmA meas-
urement, the requested incident power level does not always need to be
exact for accurate characterization of a DUT.
TA2U50HA Operating Manual TA2U50HA Operating Manual
8 5
TA2U50HA Group Delay

Secti n 5: Operati n
Example Application:
The TA2U50HA System Amplifier amplifies the RF Source output
power to the level needed to characterize DUT performance.
The small size of TA2U50HA System Amplifier is easy to place close
to the DUT input “Reference Plane”. The high gain of the System
Amplifier easily overcomes the cable losses from the remote RF Source.
The Figure 7 shows an amplified RF power measurement system using
the TA2U50HA System Amplifier.
The DUT is characterized by setting the power level at the DUT input
“Reference Plane” and measuring the output power at various input
power levels for each test frequency.
The RF Source, used in this example, is a laboratory grade Synthesized
Source or Signal enerator with precise amplitude control, (e.g. Agilent
83650L RF Source, or Anritsu M 3694A). The power levels are meas-
ured using a power meter with two measurement port sensors (A and B),
(e.g. Agilent E4419B).
An RF power coupler provides a small, proportional amount of the
amplified power to power sensor A as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7: Example of an Amplified RF Power Measurement System
Secti n 4: Perf rmance Verificati n
The Figures below show the setup used to verify the performance of the
TA2U50HA System Amplifier.
A calibrated power splitter (or calibrated coupler) connected to the
amplifier input reference plane and to power sensor A , as shown, estab-
lishes the input power level. The output power is measured on power
sensor B. Measurements of gain vs output power at frequencies of inter-
est establish the amplifier performance.
CAUTION: Use of an attenuator may be required on the output in the
sensor B is rated for less than 1W. Applies to fixtures 5,6,7.
Figure 5: Verification setup with a power splitter
Figure 6: Verification setup with a calibrated coupler
TA2U50HA Operating Manual TA2U50HA Operating Manual
6 7
TA2U50HA
TA2U50HA
TA2U50HA