Calibration method for coupler-tuner assembly

1. A calibration method for integrated coupler-impedance tuner assembly, at a frequency Fo,

said tuner comprising

input (test) port and output (idle) port,

a parallel plate airline (slabline) between the ports,

one remotely controlled mobile carriage moving parallel to the slabline axis,

said carriage comprising a remotely controlled vertical axis, carrying a tuning probe insertable into the slot of the slabline;

and said coupler comprising

input, output, coupled and isolated ports and

a coupling section electromagnetically coupled with the center conductor of the slabline;

wherein the coupler is integrated in the tuner structure

and wherein input and output ports of the coupler are associated with the test and idle ports of the tuner correspondingly;

said calibration method comprising S-parameter measurement of all two-port combinations between the test (1), the idle (2), the coupled (3) and the isolated (4) ports for a multitude of horizontal (x) and vertical (y) positions of the tuning probe and saved in calibration file in form of S-parameter matrix [Smn(x,y)] for {m,n}={1,4} and m≠n.

2. A calibration method for integrated coupler-impedance tuner assembly, at frequencies F=N*Fo (1≤N≤M), wherein N=1 corresponds to the fundamental frequency and N=2 . . . M corresponds to harmonic frequencies 2Fo . . . M*Fo, wherein M≤4, said tuner comprising

input (test) port and output (idle) port,

a parallel plate airline (slabline) between the ports,

M remotely controlled mobile carriages moving independently parallel to the slabline axis,

each said carriage comprising a remotely controlled vertical axis, carrying a

tuning probe insertable into the slot of the slabline;

and said coupler comprising

input, output, coupled and isolated ports and

a coupling section electromagnetically coupled with the center conductor of the slabline;

wherein the coupler is integrated in the tuner structure,

and wherein input and output ports of the coupler are connected to test and idle ports of the tuner correspondingly;

said calibration method comprising

(a) S-parameter measurement at all frequencies N*Fo of all combinations of two-ports between the test (1), the idle (2), the coupled (3) and the isolated (4) ports for all tuning probes retracted and saved in init S-parameter matrices [S0mn.N] for {m,n}={1,4}, m≠n;

(b) S-parameter measurement of all combinations of two-ports between the test (1), the idle (2), the coupled (3) and the isolated (4) ports for a multitude of horizontal (xz) and vertical (yz) positions of all tuning probes z (z=1, 2, 3 . . . ) and saved in calibration file in form of S-parameter matrices [Smn.N.z(xz,yz)] for {m,n}={1,4} and m≠n;

(c) de-embedding of S-parameter [Smn.N.z(xz,yz)] as in step (b) for z>1, by cascading with the associated init matrices: [S0mn.N] −1 and saving;

(d) creating, in computer memory, cascades of all permutations of S-parameter matrices [Smn.N.z(xz, yz)], as in step (c), and saving in a calibration file.

3. The coupler-tuner assembly as in claim 1 or 2 ,

wherein the coupler is mounted between the test port and the tuning probe next to the test port.

4. The coupler-tuner assembly as in claim 1 or 2 ,

wherein the coupler is mounted between the tuning probe next to the idle port and the idle port.