Microwave network analyzers

A network analyzer is a high-performance measuring device designed to characterize an active or passive multi-port component or device, assumed to be linear, so that it can be entirely defined by a matrix of complex parameters: impedance, admittance, chain, S dispersion (scattering) matrix, etc. This characterization is generally carried out in a wide frequency band (50 GHz). This characterization is generally carried out in a wide frequency band (50 GHz). Measurement results and associated quantities, as a function of frequency, are generally displayed directly on the analyzer's display screen.

This dossier focuses on heterodyne (receiver operating at intermediate frequencies) microwave (or microwave) analyzers, where measuring voltages and currents is more problematic and of less interest than understanding power propagation: this is why network analyzers measure, by design, transmission and reflection factors in relation to a reference impedance, or the dispersion parameters (S-parameters) of the multi-port network.