RF Cascade Workbook© 2005 User's Guide

Copyright 2005 - Kirt Blattenberger, RF Cafe Website.

This manual may not be reproduced in part or in whole without the express, written permission of Kirt Blattenberger or his assigns. Only licensed users of RF Cascade Workbook may possess this manual.

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Table of Contents

• 1  Introduction
  • 1.1 Terms of Use
  • 1.2 VBA Code Access
• 2  Adding or Deleting Rows
  • 2.1 Adding Rows
  • 2.2 Deleting Rows
• 3  Inband System Specification
• 4  Device Specification
• 5  Inband Output (Calculated) Parameters
  • 5.1  Gain (dB)
  • 5.2  Noise Figure, NF (dB)
  • 5.3  2-Tone, 2^nd-Order Intercept Point, OIP2 (dBm)
  • 5.4  2-Tone, 3^rd-Order Intercept Point, OIP3 (dBm)
  • 5.5  Saturated Power, P[sat] (dBm)
  • 5.6  Signal Power, P[sig] (dBm)
  • 5.7  Noise Bandwidth, NBW (MHz)
  • 5.8  Noise Power, P[n] (dBm)
  • 5.9  Signal to Noise Ratio, SNR (dB)
  • 5.10  Saturated Dynamic Range, SDR (dB)
  • 5.11  2^nd-OrderSpurious-Free Dynamic Range, SFDR2 (dB)
  • 5.12  2^nd Order Intermodulation Product Power, OIMD2 (dBm)
  • 5.13  Δ 2nd Order Intermodulation Products, ΔOIMD2 (dB)
  • 5.14  3^rd-OrderSpurious-Free Dynamic Range, SFDR3 (dB)
  • 5.15  3^rd Order Intermodulation Product Power, OIMD3 (dBm)
  • 5.16  Δ 3^rd Order Intermodulation Products, ΔOIMD3 (dB)
  • 5.17  Interstage VSWR Mismatch Error (dB)
  • 5.18  Cumulative VSWR Mismatch Error (dB)
• 6  Inband Plots
• 7  Filter-Mixer Worksheet
  • 7.1  Input Frequency
  • 7.2  Filters
• 8  Mixers + LOs
• 9  Filter-Mixer Plot
• 10  DC Power Budget
• 11  Bill of Material (BOM)
• 12  Conversion Formulas
  • 12.1  Noise Temperature – to – Noise Figure
  • 12.2  VSWR – to – Return Loss
• 13  Revision History

1    Introduction

RF Cascade Workbook is built on a foundation of RF Cascade Workbook 2003, and now features frequency calculations for filters and mixers. Also added are calculations for 2nd-order intermodulation products As provided, there are 24 component positions; however, the number of components (and frequency conversions) possible is limited only by the capability of Excel. Most of the formulas are contained in VBA routines to maintain uncluttered cells and simple manipulation. This is especially helpful in the case of conditional formulas. Expansion of the workbook to include custom calculations is a simple matter.

All of the formulas used in RF Cascade Workbook are presented in the following paragraphs to assist in understanding the operation of the spreadsheet. Excel has a very extensive Help section for standard functions and VBA code writing.

The bottom worksheet tab image shown below is the default set of pages. Worksheets with parameter plots can be added or deleted as necessary, and the “DC Power,” “BOM,” and the “User” worksheets can be eliminated entirely without affecting the primary functions. The “Filter-Mixer” worksheet contains Noise Bandwidth and Frequency Units parameters that are also used on the “Inband” worksheet, and therefore must not be deleted.

1.1    Terms of Use

You may freely modify RF Cascade Workbook for your own use; however, you may not redistribute it under a new name after making changes. Furthermore, you may not redistribute RF Cascade Workbook for any reason without the written permission of Kirt Blattenberger/RF Cafe, because this is licensed software protected under U.S. copyright. RF Cascade Workbook is NOT shareware or freeware.

Your use of RF Cascade Workbook attests to your agreement to hold harmless Kirt Blattenberger/RF Cafe and his assigns for any losses that may occur as a result of the use of RF Cascade Workbook. Every iota of code is available for review and discernment by the user, who is consequently solely responsible for all results. RF Cascade Workbook has been tested and is believed to be free of errors upon release.

Formulas used in RF Cascade Workbook are not proprietary and have been obtained from multiple publicly available sources. All are ideal implementations without any personal “adjustments.” Min/max calculations are constructed based on the author's notion of what constitutes conditions that would generate extreme cases, but the user's experience or specific circumstances might require the formula variable combinations to be rearranged.

Prior to using this workbook for the first time, please be sure to create a backup copy so the original version is always accessible. If you loose track of the original (I've done that sort of thing, too) and I have your name on file as a legal licensee, I will gladly e mail a replacement version upon request.

1.2    VBA Code Access

Access to the VBA code is made using the “Tools->Macro->Visual Basic Editor” menu selection (Figure 1), and choosing the relevant page. Note that different versions of Excel might have slightly different menu structures, so your menu might look different from Figure 1.

Figure 1    VBA Menu Access

Figure 2 shows a portion of the VBA code window, where you can make changes to existing functions, or add new ones of your own. The “Option Explicit” directive forces the declaration of all variables, which aids during the debug process by eliminating the difficult to find misspelled variable or constant that is so easy to have in VB.

Figure 2    VBA Code Window

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

        9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Version 1.11

by Kirt Blattenberger

RF Cafe Website

(www.rfcafe.com)

Chapter 1