Power Divider

Key Features

• Broad operating frequency range up to 67 GHz eliminates the need for multiple dividers
• Excellent amplitude and phase tracking ensures highly accurate power division
• Low SWR minimizes measurement uncertainty

Description

The Keysight Technologies, Inc. 11636x power divider provides good matching and excellent tracking characteristics for highly accurate power division, signal routing and matrix testing from DC up to 67 GHz. Offering excellent output power symmetry between the two outputs ports, the 11636x is recommended for applications such as power combining and transmission line fault testing using a network analyzer. The excellent source match of all three ports improves fault location measurements by reducing reflections. These power dividers are not recommended for ratio or source leveling applications.

The Keysight 11636x provides a symmetrical 6 dB power division. It can also be used as power combiner: when signal is input at the two output ports, the sum of the two signals appears at the input port.

Applications

Power dividing

The Keysight 11636x power divider uses three 16 2/3 Ω resistors for direct power dividing applications such as splitting one source into two parts for separate measurements or distributing low power signals into two or more antennas.

The power divider can also be used for broadband independent signal sampling in test systems. Using a power divider, the test system simultaneously measures two different characteristics of a signal, such as frequency and power. Figure 1 shows a power divider used in a simple power dividing application.

Power combining

Power dividers also can act as a power combiner. Figure 2 shows the Keysight 11636x power divider combining the two signals from the different sources into the DUT. The power divider provides a good impedance match at both the output arms when the input is terminated in the system’s characteristic impedance (50 Ω).  Once a good source match has been achieved, the three-resistor power divider may be used to divide the output into equal signals for comparison measurements.