12.16.20 -- Essential Considerations For RF Communication Applications

Switching is crucial in many radio frequency (RF) applications, whether it’s changing signal pathways through test equipment on a lab bench or rapidly disconnecting a radar antenna from a transmitter and connecting it to a receiver, and then quickly switching back. As such, it’s important to select the correct type of switch for high-power RF applications.

To navigate an increasingly fragmented and complex radio spectrum, RF product designers regularly have to combine the outputs of several different RF transmitters onto one antenna. This article explores options for combining or separating signals and is intended to help engineers determine which component or combination of components is most advantageous, given the application.

Band pass filters ideally allow signals between a lower frequency and an upper frequency to pass with very little loss, rejecting signals outside the two frequencies’ range. The allowed range of frequencies is called the pass band. This article delves into the many considerations for choosing the correct band pass filter for your next application, offering the advantages, disadvantages, and trade-offs for each.

System engineers across a multitude of applications occasionally overlook the impact of electromagnetic interference (EMI), making it a secondary consideration in design. This oversight can lead to development delays and additional costs. This article examines options to eliminate EMI — both mid-stream and at the outset of system development — and the cost constraints of those options.