RF Toolbox 2.6

Designing Broadband Matching Networks (Part 1: Antenna)

In any system that uses RF circuits, a matching network is necessary to transfer the maximum amount of power between a source and a load. In most systems, such as wireless devices, there is a bandwidth of operation specified. As a result the purpose of the matching network is to provide maximum power transfer over a range of frequencies. While the L section matching approach (conjugate match), guarantees maximum power transfer, it does so only at a single frequency. This demo uses an approach based on optimization with direct search methods to design a broadband matching network between a resistive source and inductive load. Such a situation might occur while matching an antenna's input impedance to a source over a specific bandwidth.

Figure 1: Impedance matching of an antenna to a source

Contents

Specify Frequency and Impedance

You are building a matching network with a bandpass response, so specify the center frequency and the bandwidth of match.

fc       = 350e6;           % Center Frequency of matching network (Hz)
BW       = 110e6;           % Bandwidth of matching network (Hz)

Here you specify the source impedance, the reference impedance and the load impedance. In this demo the load Zl is modeled as a series R-L circuit. You could instead measure the impedance of the load and use that directly.

Zs       = 50;              % Source impedance (ohm)
Z0       = 50;              % Reference impedance (ohm)
Rl       = 40;              % Load resistance (ohm)
L        = 12e-8;           % Load inductance (Henry)

Define the number of frequency points to use for analysis and set up the frequency vector.

Npts     =  256;            % No. of analysis frequency points
fLower   =  fc - (BW/2);    % Lower band edge
fUpper   =  fc + (BW/2);    % Upper band edge
freq     =  linspace(fLower,fUpper,Npts); % Frequency array for analysis
w        =  2*pi*freq;     % Frequency (radians/sec)

Understand Load Behavior using Reflection Coefficient and Power Gain

You then use two simple expressions for calculating the load reflection coefficient and the power gain. This corresponds to directly connecting the source to the antenna input terminals i.e. in Figure 1 there is no matching network.

Xl       =  w*L;           % Reactance (ohm)
Zl       =  Rl + 1i*Xl;    % Load impedance (ohm)
GammaL   = (Zl - Z0)./(Zl + Z0);               % Load reflection coefficient
Gt       = 10*log10(1 - abs(GammaL).^2);       % Power delivered to load

Use the SMITHCHART to create a Smith chart that shows plot the variation in the load reflection coefficient with frequency. Input reflection coefficient closer to center of the Smith chart means a better matching performance. This plot shows that the load reflection coefficient is far away from this point and so, there is an impedance mismatch.

fig      = figure;
l        = smithchart(GammaL);
set(l,'LineWidth',1.0,'Color','r');
legend('\Gamma_L');

You can confirm this mismatch by plotting the transducer gain as a function of frequency.

plot(freq.*1e-6,Gt,'r');
grid on;
title('Power delivered to load - No matching network')
xlabel('Frequency (MHz)')
ylabel('Magnitude (decibels)')
legend('G_t','Location','Best')

As the plot shows, there is approximately 10 dB power loss around the desired region of operation (295 - 405 MHz). As a result, the antenna needs a matching network that operates over a 110 MHz bandwidth that is centered at 350 MHz.

Design the Matching Network

The matching network must operate between 295 MHz and 405 MHz, so you choose a bandpass topology for the matching network which is shown here.

Type - I: Series LC first element followed by shunt LC

Figure 2: Matching network topology

The approach you take here is to design an odd order, 0.5 dB Chebyshev low pass (LP) prototype and then apply a lowpass to bandpass transformation to obtain the initial design for the matching network [1]. Figure 2 shows the resulting matching network topology. You now need to enter the order desired and the associated coefficients. This is a single match problem [3], i.e. the source is purely resistive while load is a combination of R and L, so you can begin by choosing a five element prototype network.

N                = 5;                  % Order of matching network
LCprototype      = [1.7058 1.2296 2.5408 1.2296 1.7058];     % LP prototype 
element values(Normalized)
wU               = 2*pi*fUpper;        % Upper band edge
wL               = 2*pi*fLower;        % Lower band edge
w0               = sqrt(wL*wU);        % Geometric mean

Use the constructor RFCKT.LCBANDPASSTEE to build the matching network. The impedance and frequency transformations are included in this for denormalization purposes. Please note that the topology demands an LP prototype that begins with a series inductor. If the topology chosen is an LC bandpass pi then you would begin with shunt C for the LP prototype.

Lvalues           = zeros(N,1);        % Preallaocate to store inductors
Cvalues           = zeros(N,1);        % Preallocate to store capacitors

Lvalues(1:2:end)  = LCprototype(1:2:end).*Zs./(wU-wL);            % Series L
's (H)
Cvalues(1:2:end)  = (wU-wL)./(Zs.*(w0^2).*LCprototype(1:2:end));  % Series C
's (F)

Lvalues(2:2:end)  = ((wU-wL)*Zs)./((w0^2).*LCprototype(2:2:end)); % Shunt L'
s
Cvalues(2:2:end)  = LCprototype(2:2:end)./((wU-wL).*Zs);          % Shunt C'
s

MatchingNW        = rfckt.lcbandpasstee('C',Cvalues,'L',Lvalues); % Create t
he matching network
L_Initial         = Lvalues;           % Copy initial values for comparison
C_Initial         = Cvalues;

Optimize the Designed Matching Network

There are several points to consider prior to the optimization

The objective function used during the optimization process by FMINSEARCH is shown here.

type('broadband_match_antenna_objective_function.m');

function output = broadband_match_antenna_objective_function(MatchingNW,Lval
ues,freq,Zl,Zs,Z0)
%BROADBAND_MATCH_ANTENNA_OBJECTIVE_FUNCTION Is the objective function.
% OUTPUT =  BROADBAND_MATCH_ANTENNA_OBJECTIVE_FUNCTION(MATCHINGNW,LVALUES,FR
EQ,ZL,ZS,Z0)
% returns the current value of the objective function stored in OUTPUT
% evaluated after updating the inductor values in the object, MATCHINGNW.
% The inductor values are stored in the variable LVALUES.
%
% BROADBAND_MATCH_ANTENNA_OBJECTIVE_FUNCTION is an objective function of RF 
Toolbox demo:
% Designing Broadband Matching Networks (Part I: Antenna)

%   Copyright 2008 The MathWorks, Inc.
%   $Revision: 1.1.6.1 $ $Date: 2008/09/13 07:10:27 $

% Ensure positive element values
if any(Lvalues<=0)
    output = inf;
    return;
end

% Update the element values in the matching network
MatchingNW.L(1)   = Lvalues(1);
MatchingNW.L(end)   = Lvalues(end);

% Perform analysis on tuned matching network
Npts              = length(freq);
analyze(MatchingNW,freq,Zl,Zs,Z0);

% Calculate input reflection coefficient 'gammaIn'
[GammaGt]         = calculate(MatchingNW,'gammain','Gt','none');
gammaIn           = zeros(Npts,1);
gammaIn(1:Npts,1) = GammaGt{1}(1:Npts,1);

% Cost function
output            = mean(abs(gammaIn));

% Other possible choices for objective function could be : -
% output            =  max(abs(gammaIn));
% output            = -(mean(Gt_pass));

% Animate
l                 = smith(MatchingNW,'gammaIn');
set(l,'DisplayName','Optimizing \Gamma_i_n');
drawnow;

There are several ways to choose the cost function and some options are shown within the objective function above (in comments). The optimization variables are the first and last inductors, L1 and L5 respectively. The element values are stored in the variable L_Optimized.

nIter       = 125;                     % Max No of Iterations
options     = optimset('Display','iter','MaxIter',nIter);  % Set options str
ucture
L_Optimized = [Lvalues(1)  Lvalues(end)];
L_Optimized = fminsearch(@(L_Optimized) broadband_match_antenna_objective_fu
nction(MatchingNW,...
              L_Optimized,freq,Zl,Zs,Z0),L_Optimized,options);

 Iteration   Func-count     min f(x)         Procedure
     0            1         0.933981
     1            3         0.933981         initial simplex
     2            5         0.920321         expand
     3            7         0.911351         expand
     4            9         0.853251         expand
     5           11         0.730432         expand
     6           13         0.526433         reflect
     7           15         0.526433         contract inside
     8           17         0.421086         reflect
     9           19         0.421086         contract inside
    10           20         0.421086         reflect
    11           22         0.421086         contract inside
    12           24         0.421086         contract inside
    13           26         0.339941         expand
    14           27         0.339941         reflect
    15           29         0.285288         reflect
    16           31         0.285288         contract inside
    17           32         0.285288         reflect
    18           34         0.283533         reflect
    19           36         0.283533         contract inside
    20           38         0.278945         contract inside
    21           40         0.278134         reflect
    22           41         0.278134         reflect
    23           43         0.276368         contract inside
    24           45         0.275793         contract inside
    25           47         0.275646         contract inside
    26           49         0.275509         reflect
    27           51         0.275292         contract inside
    28           52         0.275292         reflect
    29           54         0.275292         contract inside
    30           56         0.275292         contract inside

Optimization terminated:
 the current x satisfies the termination criteria using OPTIONS.TolX of 1.00
0000e-004
 and F(X) satisfies the convergence criteria using OPTIONS.TolFun of 1.00000
0e-004

Update the Matching Network Elements with Optimal Values

When the optimization routine stops, the optimized element values are stored in L_Optimized. The following code updates the input and output matching network with these values.

MatchingNW.L(1)  = L_Optimized(1);     % Update the matching network inducto
r L1
MatchingNW.L(end)= L_Optimized(end);   % Update the matching network inducto
r L5

Analyze and Display Optimization Results

Use the ANALYZE method to perform frequency domain analysis on the circuit under two scenarios:

analyze(MatchingNW,freq,Zl,Zs,Z0);
hold all;
hline = smithchart(GammaL);
set(hline,'Color','r');
[leg,h_line]= legend('\Gamma_i_n','\Gamma_L');
h1 = findall(h_line,'Tag','\Gamma_i_n');
set(h1,'Color','b','LineStyle','-');
h1 = findall(h_line,'Tag','\Gamma_L');
set(h1,'Color','r');
hold off;

The optimized matching network improves the performance of the circuit. In the passband (295 MHz to 405 MHz), the input reflection coefficient is closer to the center of the Smith chart.

Plot the power delivered to load, with the matching network, using the PLOT, method of RFCKT object.

plot(MatchingNW,'Gt');
hold all;
plot(freq*1e-6,Gt,'r');
grid on;
title('Power delivered to load')
legend('Optimized network','No matching network','Location','Best');

The power delivered to the load is approximately 1 dB down for the optimized matching network.

Display Optimized Element Values

The following code shows the initial and optimized values for inductors L1 and L5.

L1_Initial      = L_Initial(1)
L1_Optimized    = L_Optimized(1)

L1_Initial =

  1.2340e-007


L1_Optimized =

  1.2111e-007

L5_Initial      = L_Initial(end)
L5_Optimized    = L_Optimized(end)

L5_Initial =

  1.2340e-007


L5_Optimized =

  1.7557e-009

There are a few things to consider when setting up an optimization:

A Low noise amplifier design example is covered in the second demo Designing Broadband Matching Networks (Part 2: Amplifier).

close(fig);

References

[1] RF Circuit Design, Theory and Applications, Reinhold Ludwig and P. Bretchko, pp 229-239,Prentice Hall, 2000.

[2] Microwave Engineering, David M. Pozar, 2nd ed., John Wiley and Sons, 1999.

[3] Broadband Direct-Coupled and Matching RF networks, Thomas R. Cuthbert, pp 31-33, TRCPEP, 1999.