The design of dielectric resonator VCO

Two design methods are presented which result in a simple, low-cost and highly stable L-band VCO. One method uses microwave transistors and a high dielectric constant microstrip line which couples with DR. The frequency tuning range of the oscillator is more than 0.5% using this method. The other design method is based on the C-band Self-Oscillation Mixer (SOM) since the L-band DR is too large to use on the one hand. On the other hand, the Q-factor of the DR with the relative dielectric constant of 80 is much lower than that in normal use. The C-band DR is found to be suitable in this case. The L-band VCO consists of two C-band DROs. The L-band output frequency is the frequency difference of the two DROs. This design has the advantages of good frequency stability and relatively large tuning range (2%).<>