MEASURING/MONITORING SYSTEM

MEASUREMENT OF COMPLEX MICROWAVE IMPEDANCES IS A VERY R ROUTINE AND IMPORTANT PRACTICE IN MICROWAVE INDUSTRY. TO MEASURE THIS COMPLEX IMPEDANCE AT HIGH POWER LEVEL AND TO TRACK THE CHANGE OF THIS IMPEDANCE IN REAL TIME WHEN THE LOAD IS VARYING IN TIME ARE GENERALLY VERY DIFFICULT TASKS. CURRENTLY, THERE IS NO EQUIPMENT COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE FOR LEVELS WITHOUT GOING THROUGH SOME MAJOR HARDWARE MODIFIC- CATIONS. THIS PROPOSAL IS SPECIALLY AIMED AT THIS POINT TO DEVELOP A REAL-TIME COMPLEX IMPEDANCE MEASURING/TRACKING SYSTEM THAT CAN BE USED IN HIGH POWER LEVELS E.G.1 KW TO 10KW,CW, OR PULSED. THE PROPOSED WORK IS DERIVED FOR THE RESULT OF AN NSF-SUPPORTED PROJECT, "A NOVEL MICROWAVE AUTOMATIC IMPEDANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM, ECS-8118880. "THIS PROJECT WAS ALREADY SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED. THREE JOURNAL PAPERS (IEEE-MTT) AND SEVEN CONFERENCE PAPERS WERE PUBLISHED. THE THEORY OF THIS NOVEL SYSTEM IS SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE SIX-PORT ANA SYSTEMS, BUT BOTH WERE DEVELOPED QUITE INDEPENDENTLY IN THE PAST. BECAUSE OF THE SIMPLICITY OF THE THEORY, IT IS POSSIBLE FOR US TO REALIZE THE DESIGN BY USINGONLY ANALOG DEVICES. THE EXPERIMENT IS COMPLETED AND THE PERFORMANCES WERE CHECKED AT LOW POWER LEVELS (10MW). THE PHASE I OF THE PROPOSAL IS AIMED AT THE FEASIBILITY OF USINGTHIS SYSTEM AT HIGH POWER LEVELS, FOR EXAMPLE, IKW TO 10 KW.THE POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATION AS DESCRIBED BY THE AWARDEE: RESEARCH WILL BE APPLIED TO MEASURING AND TRACKING REAL TIME THE CHANGES OF THE COMPLEX IMPEDANCE OF ANY MICRO WAVE LOAD EXCITED AT HIGH POWER LEVELS. EXAMPLES OF POTENTIAL MARKET ARE RADAR MANUFACTURERS, SATELLITE COMMUNI-CATIONS, MICROWAVE DRYING SYSTEMS, MICROWAVE OVENS, OR ANY MICROWAVE AUTOMATED TESTING LABORATORIES.