Technical Articles on Amplifiers

Jul 23, 2018

An amplifier usually provides a constant gain over a specific frequency range. If we represent the Input power Vs Output power of an amplifier on a graph, we get a straight line (Linear Relationship) ...read more

What is a TWT Amplifier?

Oct 12, 2020

A Traveling-Wave Tube or TWT Amplifier is a high power, high-frequency amplifier that is built using traveling wave tubes. A traveling-wave tube is a type of vacuum tube used to amplify high-frequency...read more

What is Saturated Output Power in an Amplifier?

Jul 23, 2018

Saturated output power is the maximum output power you can get out from an amplifier. There are a few stages to amplifier operation - the first one is linear operation i.e this is the stage where the ...read more

VSWR and its Effects on Power Amplifiers

Editorial Team

Exodus Advanced Communications

VSWR – Voltage Standing Wave Ratio is a result that happens from having an impedance mismatch between a source (an amplifier) and a load (test application). This mismatch can influence the perfo...read more

What is Power Backoff in an Amplifier?

Dec 12, 2019

When a power amplifier (PA) is fed with a multi-tone signal at its input, it amplifies the signal and in the process generates unwanted intermodulation (IM) products. When the amplifier is operat...read more

What are Bidirectional Amplifiers?

Jul 22, 2019

A Bi-directional amplifier is a device that supports two-way communications and amplifies the signal in both transmit and receive mode. It consists of a power amplifier (PA) at the transmit end and a ...read more

Small Signal Gain vs Large Signal Gain in an Amplifier

Nov 29, 2019

If we draw the Input power vs Output power for an amplifier on a graph, we can see that for a specific frequency range the output power of the amplifier is proportional to the input power (initially) ...read more

What is a Detector Log Video Amplifier (DLVA)?

Raghav Kapur

everything RF

A Detector Logarithmic Video Amplifier (DLVA) consists of a detector followed by a logarithmic video amplifier (LVA). The detector converts the RF energy into a DC voltage which is then amplified...read more

What is a Limiting Amplifier?

Peter McNeil

May 8, 2018

In many microwave circuits, especially receiver circuits, there is a limit to the amount of signal power that the circuit can handle before causing undesirable operation, damage, or destruction of the...read more

What are Klystron Power Amplifiers?

Dec 16, 2019

A vacuum tube that amplifies microwaves by controlling the speed of electrons flowing in a straight line with the help of a magnetic field is called Klystron. An amplifier that uses the klystron vacuu...read more

What is a SDLVA - Successive Detection Log Video Amplifier?

Raghav Kapur

everything RF

An SDLVA (Successive Detection Logarithmic Amplifier) is similar to a DLVA (read about DLVAs here), however, the SDLVA circuit is designed in such a way that it does not need a det...read more

Amplifier Classification A vs. AB

Editorial Team

Exodus Advanced Communications

Amplifiers are designed in many ways. One distinction is how the amplification devices are biased. They can be biased in different ways that affect performance and efficiency. This is called the Class...read more

What are Load Pull Measurements?