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Manufacturing.
Model 0826B50-100J
Rev A
Test Instructions
A balun consists of an “unbalanced” port and two “balanced
ports”. The balun is a passive and reversible device.
Therefore the “unbalanced” port can be used as either an
input or an output; likewise the “balanced” ports can be used
as inputs or outputs.
Baluns are also frequently used as impedance-transforming
devices. For historical reasons the most commonly used
impedances of the “unbalanced” ports are 50 or 75 and
simple transformation ratios of 1:1, 1:2, and 1:4 are widely
used. This creates components with impedances in the
ranges of 50:50, 50:100 and 50:200 for 50 system
impedance and 75:75, 75:150 and 75:300 for 75 system
impedances.
This document discusses some of the issues involving
evaluating the performance of general baluns on different
types of equipment. The techniques and pitfalls identified are
general for all types of baluns and not just for the stripline
version described here. There are two basic frequency
domain methods and one time-domain method.
The first section describes the preferred method, which
enables the user to get full S-parameters of the entire balun.
This allows the user to gain significant insight into the
performance of all aspects of the balun. Most of the same
results can be obtained using the other approaches.
2-ports analyzer techniques
Using a 2-port analyzer to evaluate the performance of a 3-
port device involves some switching of cables and performing
multiple measurements to gather enough information to
perform the calculation to evaluate the true balanced
performance.
In the following section the “unbalanced” port is labeled P1
and the corresponding return loss is labeled S11,
consequently return loss measured on the two “balanced”
ports (P2 and P3) are labeled S22 and S33. Furthermore the
logical “balanced” port is labeled PD2 and its corresponding
return loss is labeled SD22.
Return loss measurements using 2-port
analyzers
Terminating the “balanced” ports with the correct loads and
performing a straightforward return loss measurement on the
“unbalanced” port one can evaluate the “unbalanced” return
loss.
Evaluating the performance of the “balanced” port
requires several measurements and some transformation
of single ended S-parameters into balanced. The
following equation describes the relationship between the
single ended measurements and the balance port
measurements.
() ()2
2
32
S23
2
1
-
33
S22
2
1
10
20
22
S
Log
SD
+
=
(1)
Equation (1) transforms the 2 sets of single ended return
loss measurements combined with insertion loss
measurements into a balanced port impedance. Complex
values of all the S-parameters must be used to make the
equation valid, and is to be used with data that has been
deembedded and renormalized to the goal impedances.
Due to way the balun works (any balun, both Flux
coupled and stripline version) one will find 6 dB worth of
return loss measured singled ended onto either port 2 or
port 3 of any balun.
Figure 1a Return loss of balun measured as a 3 ports device
Figure 1b Return loss of balun measured as logical 2-port device