home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- OBJECTIVES EDITOR
-
-
- A. GENERAL DESCRIPTION
-
- The objectives editor is used for writing the data sets
- used as goals for optimization. Here, we can specify the per-
- formance that we desire from our network, in terms of return
- losses and gain, specified in dB. We can also apply a weight-
- ing factor to these specific goals, thereby arriving at a
- response suitable for our purposes.
- When first entering from the optimization level, the user
- is asked for a file name, in the same manner as when entering
- either of the other editors in the program. Objectives may
- be retrieved from disk, modified, and saved on disk in exactly
- the same manner as well.
- The determination of specific objectives is strictly a
- matter of experience. One must determine, on a case-by-case
- basis, what compromises are acceptable in the overall perfor-
- mance of the circuit at hand. Unfortunately, there is no cast
- iron method of determining what is and is not appropriate for
- a problem in general, in that there is no universally general
- problem that can be discussed.
- However, it is often the case that specific goals cannot
- be attained due to the fact that devices chosen for the circuit
- are not suitable for such goals as gain flatness or input re-
- turn loss due to an excessively wide bandwidth, or that the
- device just can't deliver the amount of gain desired. At times
- like these, it is often necessary to choose another device in
- order to attain the desired response.
- When making entries for the return losses (S11 and S22),
- the magnitude is always given in terms of dB, and is always
- less than or equal to zero. The weighting is always positive.
- The user need not be concerned with this, as the program cor-
- rects these whenever necessary. In evaluating the error func-
- tion during optimization, the magnitude is looked upon as being
- a worst case. Anything better than that given is therefore
- equally desireable, and the weighting is therefore applied only
- when the return loss is worse than that desired.
- Gain (S21), however, is an entirely different matter.
- Here, the magnitude, expressed again in dB, can be either posi-
- tive or negative. The weighting can be either positive or neg-
- ative, each sense having different meaning. If positive, then
- the S21 specified is a desired, or target, value, and the error
- function is determined by applying the weighting to the differ-
- ence to either side.
- If the weighting is negative, then the specified S21 be-
- comes a maximum value, much the same as S11 or S22. This is
- useful when specifying the stopband performance of a filter.
- Let's say, for instance, that we desire 20 dB of attenuation
- of a lowpass filter at some point removed from the passband.
- We would simply specify -20 dB for the value of S21, and some
-
-
-
- - 35 -