Patent ID: 9684029
Date: 2017-06-20
CPC Classifications: G01R

Claim:
1. A pulse delivery circuit, comprising: a device under test (DUT); a pulse generator configured to generate an incident pulse for application to the DUT; a power splitter having an input and a first output and a second output, wherein the power splitter splits the incident pulse into two substantially identical pulses each having a polarity that is the same as the incident pulse; a delivery cable having an approximately constant impedance along its length is connected to the first output of the power splitter, wherein the delivery cable receives a first split pulse from the first output and transmits the first split pulse to the DUT; and an open-ended delay cable having an approximately constant impedance along its length and similar end-to-end pulse propagation delay time as the delivery cable, wherein the open-ended delay cable is connected to the second output of the power splitter to receive a second split pulse from the second output; wherein the power splitter receives a first pulse reflection from the DUT via the delivery cable at the first output, the first pulse reflection having a polarity that is inverted or non-inverted in comparison to the first split pulse, and a magnitude that ranges from zero to full magnitude of the first split pulse, wherein the power splitter receives a second pulse reflection from the open-ended delay cable at the second output, with a polarity that is the same as the polarity of the second split pulse and a magnitude that is similar to a magnitude of the second split pulse, the first pulse reflection and the second pulse reflection are received at the power splitter at approximately the same time due to the delivery cable and the open-ended delay cable having similar end-to-end pulse propagation delay times, wherein the power splitter combines the first pulse reflection and the second pulse reflection in equal parts, wherein the power splitter attenuates and re-reflects the combined equal parts of the first pulse reflection and the second pulse reflection as re-reflected pulses that have a polarity that is the same as the polarity of the incident pulse, and wherein the power splitter directs a first portion of re-reflected pulses to the pulse generator from the input, a second portion of re-reflected pulses to the DUT from the first output via the delivery cable, and a third portion of re-reflected pulses to the open-ended delay cable from the second output, wherein all of the re-reflected pulses to the DUT and the open-ended delay cable are attenuated approximately equally.