Radio frequency power meter

摘要

An in-line directional radio-frequency (“RF”) power meter for measuring power and other parameters in a transmission line. The meter simultaneously measures complex voltage-waves traveling in the forward and reverse directions of a connected transmission line and processes measured voltages to compute forward and reverse power, standing wave ratio, and impedance values. The apparatus includes a microprocessor having microcode for digitally computing RF power parameters, and a field programmable gate array (“FPGA”) having microcode for executing complex Fast Fourier Transforms (“FFT”) to calculate voltages and frequencies, a microprocessor with attached firmware to make a series of complex calculations relative to sensed electrical values in the transmission line and to pass certain calculated values to the device to communicate RF power parameters to a user. The configuration of the apparatus allows for measurement of RF power parameters in a relatively economical package.