Cascaded resistance ladder attenuator network
US5339021A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 24, 1993 |
| Grant date | Aug 16, 1994 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 24, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH03H7/24
- WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A voltage attenuation network includes one or more cascaded resistor ladder stages, with decremented voltage taps provided at successive cascaded steps within each stage. Each stage includes a termination step having a resistance value Ri equal to the stage input impedance, series step resistors with resistance values Ri(1-A)/A and shunt step resistors with resistance values Ri/(1-A), where A is a step-to-step voltage attenuation factor. The input resistances of each step within a given stage are substantially equal, eliminating the need for output buffers at the step taps. A pair of switches are provided for each step, including an output switch connected between the step input node and a common output line, and a shunt switch connected in series with the shunt resistor for that step. Only one output switch is closed at a time, and only the corresponding shunt switch for the same step is opened. Multiple stages can be cascaded to provide a progressively finer voltage decremention, with the input impedance for each stage equal to the shunt resistance values for the preceding stage.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.