An Electronic UWB Continuously Tunable Time-Delay System With Nanosecond Delays

We propose and demonstrate an electronic system achieving continuously tunable time-delays with nanosecond-scale delay excursions for ultra-wideband signals. Our demonstration system yields an adjustable delay of up to 1.6 ns for input signals spanning 3 to 7 GHz. The key component is a dispersive length of microstrip line created by etching a chirped electromagnetic bandgap structure in the conducting strip.