What are Flexible Waveguides?

A flexible waveguide is a waveguide tube that can be turned and twisted easily to connect two waveguide elements. These can be thought of as flexible waveguide straights or a connection medium between two waveguide systems.

Flexible waveguides used to eliminate the installation problems that occur due to misalignment between two systems. They also allow movement of two connected systems. 

The performance of a flexible waveguide is not as good as that of the rigid waveguide, but their flexibility and mechanical stability make them a convenient option to provide a feasible transmission link between two systems. They can operate on two modes; Higher mode (30 MHz to 300 MHz), which corresponds to the propagation in the form of electromagnetic waves and Lower Mode (less than 3 MHz), which corresponds to the propagation through the coaxial cable.

The internal portion of the flexible waveguide is made from a conductive material in a spring-like shape. It can be constructed through a corrugated or helically wound system. 

Flexible waveguides are used in various microwave and millimeter-wave applications, which include military, aerospace, SATCOM, radar, millimeter-wave imaging etc.

Here are some important parameters which you should specify when looking for flexible waveguides:

Operating Frequency: It is the minimum to maximum acceptable frequency range, at which the waveguide works efficiently.

Waveguide Type: Depending upon the variants, the flexible waveguide can be classified as Twistable, Non-twistable, and Seamless.

Waveguide Size: The cross-section of a waveguide is standardized to meet the different market requirements like WR137, WR112, WR90, WR29, etc.

Insertion Loss: Insertion loss of a waveguide is the ratio of received to input signal power at the termination point. It is often expressed in dB.

Length: This is a key parameter and is usually customized based on the users requirement. However, many companies do provide flexible waveguides with fixed lengths.

everything RF has listed flexible waveguides from the leading companies like ETL Systems, Penn Engineering, L-3 Narda- ATM, and SAGE Millimeter, etc. You can view product specifications, download datasheets and request quotes or information on products that meet your requirement.