Attenuation and ratio—National standards

Abstract

In national standards laboratories, the popular attenuation measurement techniques are: RF, IF, vector IF, and AF substitution; power ratio, voltage ratio, time-interval ratio, and six-port methods; and a procedure that employs a Josephson junction in a superconducting ring. These nine techniques are briefly described, the dynamic ranges and accuracies achieved with them are reported, and their relative merits are discussed. The later sections are devoted to: attenuation measurement techniques used in industry and elsewhere, voltage doubling circuits, attenuation traveling standards, errors and uncertainties associated with attenuation measurements, and international attenuation comparisons. An analysis of the results obtained in four recent international comparisons is included.