Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1541351
11 | The Building Blocks of RF Signal Chains Image Source: YouraPechkin/stock.adobe.com RF circuits and electronics are the keystone technology for wireless communications, radar, radio navigation (GNSS/GPS), and radio telescopes, as well as the latest microwave, millimeter-wave (mmWave), imaging, and scanning technologies. RF circuits, circuit elements, and their functions are nuanced and intrinsically complex. To communicate RF circuit concepts more easily and perform system-level planning, RF circuit and system designers use an abstraction layer to the RF circuits, often called an RF signal chain. The RF signal chain is used as a performance and figure- of-merit (FOM) planning tool during RF circuit and system development. Manufacturers of RF components, devices, modules, subsystems, and systems also use the signal chain to convey the value of their solutions. RF signal chains are used during the planning stages for RF test setups and systems and to educate and communicate concepts of key RF system dynamics. To successfully implement an RF system, engineers need extensive knowledge of the interactions between RF components and devices as well as the non- idealities associated with RF interconnects and practical systems. This is why using RF signal chains as a planning tool is useful in determining the link budget for key performance metrics, such as gain, allowable noise and noise figure, phase noise, distortion, amplitude and frequency accuracy, and other non-idealities. This chapter explains the use of an RF signal chain as a tool for planning and designing RF systems. It also delves into the purpose of various key RF signal chain components and devices, and discusses whether it is better to buy or make RF modules. RF Signal Chains An RF signal chain is an abstraction of an RF system circuit. The purpose of an RF signal chain is simply to convey the important