ApplicationnoteonWhyRFImpedanceMatchingisImportant.pdfVIP

Positioning Leadership APN-032 December 2, 2004 Application note on Why RF Impedance Matching is Important Overview The purpose of this application note is to discuss the importance of impedance matching. This Application Note will not go into the specific engineering formulas involved with designing a complex RF transmission line network. What is RF Transmission Line Impedance? A transmission line guides electrical energy from one point to another. In this case it is used to transfer the RF energy from a GPS antenna to a GPS receiver. A transmission line can be described in terms of its impedance. The Impedance, Z, is the ratio of voltage to current (E/I). The ratio of voltage to current at the output (E out/Iout) end is known as the output impedance (Zout) and conversely, the ratio of voltage to current at the input (E in/Iin) end is known as the input impedance (Z ). If an infinitely long transmission line is considered, the ratio of in voltage to current at any point on that transmission line would be some particular value of impedance. This impedance is known as the “characteristic impedance” and is the value typically used to describe an RF transmission line. At RF frequencies, a conductor no longer behaves like a basic DC copper wire connection. The point where things like cable impedance and transmission line theory enter the picture is when the length of the conductor approaches about 1/10 the wavelength of the signal it is carrying. In the case of GPS frequencies, the wavelengths are 19cm for L1 (1575.42 MHz) and 24cm for L2 (1227.60 MHz). 1 of 5 What happens when impedances are matched? In an ideal situation, all power in the signal is transferred from the transmitter to the receiver via the RF transmission line. Consider the analogy of yelling to another person while the both of you are insi