A compact millimeter-wave comb generator for calibrating broadband vector receivers

Abstract

We propose a compact and low-cost waveform source that can be used to calibrate the magnitude and phase response of vector receivers over a bandwidth as large as a few gigahertz. The generator consists of a broadband comb generator followed by a filter and amplifier. As a demonstration, we constructed and calibrated a source suitable for calibrating vector signal analyzers operating between 43 GHz and 46.5 GHz. We then used the source to characterize the response of a commercially available vector signal analyzer. We compared the result with calibrations performed with a general-purpose source.