A homodyne multiport network analyzer forS-parameter measurements of microwaveN-port circuits/systems

A homodyne multiport network analyzer is proposed for the characterization of N-port microwave devices, circuits, and systems. The single six-port junction used as a wave correlator is operated as a two-channel wave receiver. The use of an additional test set, which comprises two switching matrices and N bidirectional couplers, allows the measurements of complete S-parameter matrices of N-port devices. By comparison to existing network analyzers, the proposed system is homodyne in the sense that it does not require any frequency down-conversion to determine the phase information, and uses only one single six-port junction to obtain complex S-parameter measurements from only scalar measurements. A detailed description of the proposed system is presented. Two- and three-port structures are measured, and the results are compared to the data obtained by a two-port commercial network analyzer.