Antenna Distribution Unit Signal Splitting Impedance
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional antenna distribution units suffer from increased design complexity, manufacturing costs, and reduced signal quality due to three successive splitting stages, which introduce noise and intermodulation distortion, limiting their use to a restricted frequency band and producing unacceptable noise artifacts.
Innovation Solution
A novel antenna distribution unit employing a single three-way splitter for the first splitting stage and a splitter assembly with three-way splitters for the second stage, maintaining series and parallel impedance to achieve high-quality signal distribution across multiple output ports with minimal noise and intermodulation distortion, within a broad bandwidth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If three successive splitting stages are used in conventional antenna distribution units, then the number of output ports is increased, but noise and intermodulation distortion increase, reducing signal quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the signal distribution function into two distinct stages: a first splitting stage that divides the input signal into multiple intermediate signals, and a second splitting stage that distributes these intermediate signals to multiple output ports. This segmentation allows each stage to operate with fewer splits, reducing the accumulation of noise and distortion compared to a single three-stage splitter.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediate signal stage between the input and final output ports. These intermediate signals serve as mediators that carry the distributed signal from the first splitting stage to the second splitting stage, allowing the system to achieve multiple output ports while maintaining signal quality by avoiding direct three-stage splitting.
2Quantity of substance
If three successive splitting stages are used, then more output ports are available, but design complexity and manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the signal distribution into two separate stages with distinct functions, the patent simplifies the design of each individual stage. Each splitting stage only needs to handle a subset of the total splitting requirement, reducing the complexity of each component while achieving the same overall number of output ports.
3Quantity of substance
If three successive splitting stages are used, then more output ports are provided, but signal quality deteriorates due to noise artifacts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the signal path into two stages, where each stage introduces minimal noise and distortion. This segmentation prevents the cumulative degradation that occurs in three successive splitting stages, maintaining higher signal quality across all output ports while still providing multiple distribution channels.
Data Source
AI summary
An antenna distribution unit distributes an input RF signal comprised of multiple discrete antenna feeds to a plurality of electronic devices in communication therewith. The antenna distribution unit engages in three-way signal splitting across a pair of successive splitting stages in order to produce an even multiplicity of high-quality signals across nine output ports. By limiting signal splitting to two splitting stages and carefully selecting components to maintain series and parallel impedance, a high-fidelity output signal is produced having an essentially flat spectrum over the target frequency band. In particular, the antenna distribution unit is optimized for use in the distribution of signals within the TV VHF low band of 50 MHz to 88 MHz, the TV VHF high band of 175 MHz to 213 MHz, the TV UHF band of 470 MHz to 610 MHz, and the 900 band of 900 MHz to 1000 MHz.