Patent attributes
A tapped transmission line for distributing an electrical signal, such as an RF signal, to multiple modules, and/or aggregating signals from multiple modules. Embodiments of the invention provide a tapped transmission line based on a transmission-line medium along which tap elements are dispersed, so that the tap elements have a predominantly capacitive loading of the transmission-line medium. Methods for compensating the loss of the transmission-line medium are presented as well. Applications for distribution of transmitted signals, of local oscillator signals, and to aggregation of signals from multiple oscillators are disclosed. The invention is particularly applicable to integrated circuits (IC, ASIC, RFIC), and to multichannel RF systems such as phased array and MIMO systems.
