MXPA97005729A - Method to test radio frequency circuits without disconnecting them and for the redirection of the flujode radiofrecuen signal - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for testing radio frequency (RF) circuits without disconnecting them and / or for redirecting the RF (radio frequency) signal. These methods and systems are used in conjunction with an RF circuit having a first element of the circuit, a second element of the circuit, a line of microtira that couples the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit, in such a way that the energy of RF flow along the microtra line from the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit and an RF test gate to test the RF circuit. A first separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the microtire line to produce a first impedance imbalance in the microtire line, such that some of the RF energy is reflected by the imbalance back to the first element of the circuit . A second separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the microstrip line, in such a way that the microtira line is coupled to the test gate of

Description

METHODS TO TEST RADIO FREQUENCY CIRCUITS WITHOUT DISCONNECTING THEM AND FOR THE REDIRECTION OF SIGNAL FLOW RADIO FREQUENCY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates in general to the testing of electronic circuits and more specifically to the testing and redirection of the signal flow in the configurations of radio frequency (RF) circuits.

Description of the Related Art "Circuit" tests (to test devices without disconnecting them from the circuit) have been widely used to test the operation of electronic circuit configurations. In the case of circuits operating at direct current (DC) or at relatively low frequencies (that is, at frequencies below approximately 100 KHz), circuit tests can be carried out in a relatively straightforward manner such as, for example, by using test probes. However, as the operating frequency of the circuit elements increases, the circuit tests become increasingly difficult because many measurement techniques alter the operation of the circuit under test. At RF frequencies a test probe presents circuit elements with a significant amount of series impedance and shunt capacitance (or parallel), which can cause severe imbalances of the REF: 25108 circuit and in the case of critical elements of the circuit such as oscillators, can cause the circuit to cease its operation completely. These imbalances in the circuit cause reflections and a poor coupling of the signal to the gate or test port. A possible alternative technique for verifying a radiofrequency (RF) signal at a test point of the given circuit is to cut the signal path and attach or attach a radio frequency connector to the test point. However, this process is destructive to a circuit board and tedious to implement in practice, due to the relatively small geometries of many radio frequency circuit boards. After the test is completed, the signal path needs to be restored and it is necessary to remove the RF connector, which results in additional work and expense.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Methods and systems for testing RF circuits without disconnecting them and for redirecting RF (radio frequency) signal flow are described. These methods and systems are used in conjunction with an RF (radio frequency) circuit having a first circuit element, a second circuit element, a first microtire line that couples the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit, such that the RF energy flows along the first microtira line from the first circuit element to the second circuit element, a second microtira line and an optional RF test gate, coupled to the second microtiter line , to test the RF circuit. A first separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the first microtira line, to produce a first impedance imbalance in the first microtira line, such that some of the RF energy is reflected by imbalance to the first microtire element. circuit. A second separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the first microtira line, such that the first microtira line is coupled to the second microtira line. According to one embodiment, the first separable electrical impedance includes a first RF (radiofrequency) capacitor of the type of the lascate coupled and mechanically attached to one end of a first hand and the second electrical impedance includes a second capacitor of the I; of lasca mechanically attached to one end of a second hand. The first and second capacitors of the type of lasca are brought in close physical proximity to the first microtira line, in such a way that the flake type capacitors are coupled by RF (radiofrequency) to the first line of microtira. The reactances of the first and second capacitors of the flake type are selected to provide relatively low impedances at the operating frequency of the RF circuit, such that the reactances are much lower than the impedance of the first microtire line, such Thus, the first electrical impedance provides a capacitive charge to the earth via the first microtira line and in such a way that the second electrical impedance is in series between the first microtira line and the second microtira line. The reactance of the second flake type capacitor is selected to provide a specific amount of coupling between the first microtira line and the second microtira line. According to a further embodiment, the reactance of the first flake type capacitor is selected to provide a desired amount of RF (radio frequency) energy reflected back to the first circuit element. The first hand can be either an electrically conductive hand or an isolated hand and regardless of the conductivity of the first hand, the second hand can be either an electrically conductive hand or an isolated hand.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a perspective view of a configuration of the physical elements showing a first illustrative embodiment of the invention described herein. Figure 2 is a perspective view of a configuration of the physical elements showing a second illustrative embodiment of the invention described herein. Figure 3 is a side view of a configuration of the physical elements showing a third illustrative embodiment of the invention described herein.

Figure 4 is a block diagram of the physical elements showing a fourth illustrative embodiment of the invention described herein.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments Figure 1 is a perspective view of a configuration of the physical elements showing a first embodiment of the invention described herein. This embodiment is used in conjunction with an RF (radiofrequency) circuit having a first circuit element 101, a second circuit element 103, a first microtire line 107 which couples the first circuit element 101 to the second circuit element 103 , such that RF (radio frequency) energy flows along the first microtira line 107 from the first circuit element 101 to the second circuit element 103, a second microtira line 109 and a test gate 105 RF (radiofrequency) optional, coupled to the second line 109 of microtira, to test the RF circuit. The RF test gate 105 represents a convenient test point on the second microtira line 109 to which the test equipment can be connected. In practice, the RF test gate 105 can be represented by an RF connector coupled to the second microtira line 109. A first separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the first microtira line 107 to produce a first impedance imbalance in the first microtira line 107, such that some of the RF energy is restored by the return imbalance. to the first circuit element 101. A second separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the first microtira line 107 and the second microtira line 109, such that the first microtira line 107 is coupled to the second microtira line 109 by means of the second impedance. separable electric At least a portion of the RF (radio frequency) energy reflected by the first separable electrical impedance is coupled to the second separable electrical impedance. The first separable electrical impedance includes a first capacitor 115 of the flake type having a first terminal and a second terminal. The first terminal of the first capacitor 115 of the flake type is coupled by radiofrequency and mechanically attached to a first end of a first knob 111. In the present example, the first knob 111 is electrically conductive. The second electrical impedance includes a second lasso type capacitor 113 having a first terminal and a second terminal. The body (i.e., an electrically isolated portion) of the second lasso-type capacitor is mechanically attached to a first end of a second stalk 116. The second stalk 116 can be an electrically isolated stalk or alternatively this stalk could be electrically conductive. The first and second separable electrical impedances are separable in the sense that, when the first ends of the first and second electrically conductive hands 111, 116, respectively, are brought in close physical proximity to the first microtiter line 107, the second terminals of the first and second flake type capacitors 115, 113, respectively, are coupled by radiofrequency to the first microtira line 107 and the second terminals of the first and second flake type capacitors 115, 113, respectively, may actually be in physical contact with the first microtira line 107. At this time, the first terminal of the second flake type capacitor 113 is radio frequency coupled to the second microtira line 109 and this terminal may also be in actual physical contact with the second microtira line 109. When the first and second hands 111, 116 respectively move in such a way that these hands are no longer in close physical proximity to the first microtira line 107 (and the second microtira line 109) any physical contact between the second terminals of the microtira flake type capacitors 113, 115 and the first line 107 of microtira break, any physical contact between the second line 109 of microtira and the capacitor 113 of the flake type is broken and the flake type capacitors 113, 115 no longer they are coupled by radiofrequency to the first line 107 of microtira. The reactances of the first and second flake type capacitors 115, 113, respectively, are selected to provide relatively low impedances at the operating frequency of the RF circuit, such that the reactances are much lower than the impedances of the first line. 107 of microtira and / or the second line 109 of microtira. In order to select an appropriate value for the first capacitor 115 of the flake type and the second capacitor of the flake type 113, note that the first electrical impedance effectively provides a capacitive load in shunt to ground through the microtiter line 107 and that the second electrical impedance effectively controls the amount of coupling between the first microtira line 107 and the optional RF test gate 105 via the second microtira line 109. The capacitive bypass load of the first impedance is used to reflect the RF energy traveling on a microtra line back to its source and the second impedance is used to extract some or all of the RF energy reflected by the first impedance, in such a way that this reflected energy can be applied to the test equipment. Accordingly, the reactance of the second flake type capacitor 113 may be selected to provide a specific amount of coupling between the first microtira line 107 and the RF test gate 105. According to a further embodiment, the reactance of the first capacitor 115 of the flake type is selected to provide a desired amount of RF energy reflected back to the first element 101 of the circuit. The first handle 111 can be made of either an electrically conductive material or an electrically insulating material. Regardless of whether the first handle 111 is manufactured or not of an electrically conductive material, the second handle 116 can be made of either an electrically conductive material or an electrically insulating material. However, if the first handle 111 is made of an electrically insulating material, then some structure for the radiofrequency ground connection of the first terminal of the first capacitor 115 of the flake type must be provided. If the first hand 111 is made of an electrically conductive material, then an RF ground connection can be applied through the hand itself. For this purpose, note that the reactance of the first capacitor 115 can optionally be selected to compensate and / or to resonate with the series inductance of the first hand 116, if the first hand 116 is electrically conductive. Due to the fact that the first hand 111 and / or the second hand 116 can carry RF currents, these handles must be designed to keep the inductance in series to a minimum. Therefore, handles should be designed as short as is feasible for a given application of the system. The length of the hands becomes increasingly critical as the operating frequency increases. In some frequency ranges, an alternative to minimizing the length of the hands is to adjust the length of the hands to provide a specified amount of inductance. Then this inductance could be made to resonate with the capacitive reactance of a capacitor of the type of flake located either at one end or the other or at both ends of the hand. In general, the first handle 111 may be either a conductive hand or a non-conductive hand. The second handle 116 can also be either a conductive hand or a non-conductive hand, regardless of whether the first hand 111 is conductive or non-conductive. The first hand 111 is used to apply a first impedance - that is, a shunt (or parallel) capacitance - through a section of the microtire line 107, when using any of a variety of mechanical structures. For example, according to a mechanical structure to be described in conjunction with Figure 2, an RF ground trace 230 is provided on the circuit board 200 near a first microtire line 207. The first handle 242 may be non-conductive, since the function of the first handle 242 in this case is only to keep the capacitor 215 of the flake type in a position such that the capacitor is connected in shunt (or parallel) in the space between the microtire line 207 and the RF ground connection trace 230 (this structure will be described in more detail in conjunction with Figure 2). However, in the absence of an RF ground trace sufficiently close to the microtire line 107 (FIG. 1), the first handle 111 must be conductive, to provide an RF ground connection to one end of the capacitor 115 of the type of flake, as shown in figure 1. Note that the ground connection shown connected to the first hand 111, is provided by a low inductance strip connecting the first hand 111 to a good RF ground connection. Note also that, in the mechanical structure of Fig. 2, the capacitor 215 of the flake type is mounted to the first handle 242, so that neither the first terminal nor the second terminal of the flake type capacitor are brought into contact with the first handle 242. In contrast, in the mechanical structure of Figure 2, where there is no trace of an RF ground connection sufficiently close to the microtire line 107, a terminal of the capacitor 115 of the flake type is electrically coupled to an electrical ground connection provided by the first hand 111. The second hand 116 may be either conductive or non-conductive, according to the following examples. If there is a gate or RF port 105 on a circuit board 100 to be tested, the function of the second hand 116 is to bridge or join the space between the microtra line 107 and the microtra line 109, where the line 109 The microstrip is connected to the RF gate 105 in order to couple the RF energy to the RF gate 105. In this example, the second handle 116 provides a mechanical support function only, but does not need to carry any RF current. Accordingly, the second handle 116 in this case, is made of insulating material. On the other hand, the second handle 116 could be used to transport RF energy from the circuit board 100 to the external test equipment, even if the circuit board 100 does not include an RF test gate 105. In such a case, the second handle 116 is effectively used as an RF test probe and is therefore made of electrically conductive material. In addition, the length and / or inductive properties of a second electrically conductive hand 116 can be designed to provide resonance in series with the second lasso type capacitor 113 at a specified frequency or to provide an unbalanced impedance at a specified frequency.

The first and second separable impedances are used to divert, without circuit disconnection, the RF energy that travels from a source to a destination along a microtire line, in such a way that some or all of its energy is diverted to the equipment of tests for testing purposes, when these impedances are brought into contact with the microtire line by the first and second hands 111, 116. When these separable impedances are separated from the microtiter line, the RF energy is no longer diverted to the Test equipment and the RF energy traveling in this microtra line will now flow from the source to the destination without deviation. In addition, this technique can be used to channel RF energy around defective electronic components, to carry out essentially fault diagnosis of the RF circuit, circuit repair and restoration.

The hands, in this case are part of the box or case of the RF circuit. In practice, an RF (radio frequency) circuit may include circuit elements in addition to those shown in Figure 1. These elements are normally coupled together by using sections of the microtire line attached to a circuit board. If it is desired to test such a circuit board, a plurality of first and second pairs of electrical impedances can be provided, wherein each of these pairs of electrical impedances is used to test a specific element of the circuit on the circuit board. Figure 2 is a perspective view of a configuration of the physical elements showing a second embodiment of the invention described herein. This embodiment is used in conjunction with a RF circuit board 200 having a first circuit element 201, a second circuit element 202 and a microtire line 207 that couples the first circuit element 201 to the second circuit element 202, in such a way that the RF (radio frequency) energy flows along the microtire line 207 from the first element 201 of the circuit to the second element 202 of the circuit. A first separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the microtire line 207, to produce a first impedance imbalance in the microtire line 207, such that some of the RF energy is reflected by the imbalance back to the first element 201 of the circuit. A second separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the first microtira line 207, to allow the microtra line 207 to be coupled to an external RF test gate. At least a portion of the RF energy reflected by the first separable electrical impedance is coupled to the second separable electrical impedance. The first separable electrical impedance includes a first capacitor 215 of the flake type having a first terminal and a second terminal. The electrically non-conductive body of the capacitor 215 of the flake type is mounted to a first handle 242, which can be made of electrically insulating material. When the first handle 242 is positioned to place the slipper type capacitor 215 in close physical proximity to the RF circuit board 200, a first terminal of the first chip type capacitor 215 is radio frequency coupled to and can be mechanically contacted with, a trace 230 of RF grounding on the board 200 of RF circuits. At this time, a second terminal of the first capacitor 215 of the chip type is RF-coupled and can be mechanically contacted with the microtiter line 207. The second electrical impedance includes a second capacitor 213 of the flake type having a first terminal and a second terminal. The first terminal of the second capacitor 213 of the flake type is electrically coupled to an internal conductor of a second hand 236 which, in the present example, it is a coaxial hand. Such a coaxial hand could be manufactured, for example, by using a semi-rigid coaxial cable. When the second hand 236 is positioned to place the capacitor 213 of the flake type in close physical proximity to the board 200 of RF circuits, the second terminal of the second capacitor 213 of the flake type is coupled by RF and can be mechanically contacted with, line 207 of microtira. In this way, when the first and second hands 242, 236 are positioned in close physical proximity to the RF circuit board 200, as described above, some of the RF energy traveling along the microtire line 207 from the first element 201 of the circuit to the second element 202 of the circuit is reflected back to the first element 201 of the circuit by the capacitor 215 of the flake type. At least a portion of this reflected RF energy is then removed by the capacitor 213 of the flake type and the second hand 236. Note that, in some situations, the capacitor 213 of the flake type could be eliminated, whereby the second hand 236 essentially functions as a conventional RF test probe. Although the embodiments described in Figures 1 and 2 use specific types of first and second hands, this is for purposes of illustration only, it is understood that any of several types of hands could be used for the first and second hands of Figures 1 and 2. 2. For example, the coaxial hand of Figure 2 (reference number 236) could be used as the second hand 116 of Figure 1, if a flake type capacitor is mounted to the coaxial hand as shown in the figure 2. Similarly, the first hand 242 of FIG. 2 could be used as the first hand 111 of FIG. 1, if an appropriate grounding trace 230 is found on the circuit board 100. Figure 3 is a side view of a configuration of physical elements showing a third illustrative embodiment, wherein a plurality of electric impedance pairs are used to test a plurality of circuit elements on a circuit board. A first pair of electrical impedances includes a first hand 111, a first capacitor 115 of the type of flake having a first terminal mounted on one end of the first hand 111 (which is an electrically conductive hand), a second hand 116 and a second capacitor 113 of the type of flake having its non-conductive body mounted on one end of the second handle 116. The first pair of electrical impedances is used to test the elements of the RF circuit that are coupled to a first line 107 of microtira attached to a 100 circuit board of RF. The first hand 111, coupled to ground 329, results in the application of a capacitance in derivation to the first microtira line 107, when the second terminal of the first capacitor 115 of the flake type comes into contact with the first line 107 of microtira. This shunt capacitance reflects some or all of the RF energy traveling on microtire line 107 back to its source. The second hand 116 couples a portion of the RF energy on the first microtra line 107, which has been reflected by the first electrically conductive hand 111 to a second microtira line 109, when the first and second terminals of the second capacitor 113 of the flake type are put in contact with the first line 107 of microtira and the second line 109 of microtira. It is assumed that the second microtra line 109 is coupled to a test gate where the coupled RF energy can be introduced to one or more test instruments. In this manner, the first capacitor 115 of the flake type and the first handle 116 (electrically conductive) are used to selectively redirect a desired amount of RF energy to the second capacitor 113 of the flake type and the second knob 116 and this redirected energy Can be attached to any of several electronic test instruments, such as, for example, an RF energy meter, a spectrum analyzer, a directional coupler, a demodulator, a modulation analyzer and / or other types of test equipment.

A second pair of electrical impedances includes a third hand 242, a third capacitor 215 of the flake type having its insulated body mounted on one end of the third hand 242, a fourth hand 236, which is a coaxial hand and a fourth capacitor 213 of the type of flake, having a first terminal mounted on one end of the internal conductor of the fourth handle 213. The second pair of electrical impedances is used to test the elements of the RF circuit that are coupled to the microtire line 207. The third handle 242 is used to apply a shunt capacitance across the microtiter line 207 when the first and second terminals of the third capacitor 215 of the chip type are brought into contact with the first microtira line 207 and the trace 230 of connection to earth respectively. The fourth handle 236 and the fourth capacitor 213 of the flake type, coupled to the test gate 327, redirect at least a portion of the RF energy on the microtire line 207 that was reflected by the third capacitor 215. This energy RF is redirected to the test gate 327 when the second terminal of the fourth capacitor 213 of the flake type contacts the microtire line 207. A third pair of electrical tools includes a fifth handle 342, a fifth capacitor 315 of the flake type, a sixth handle 336 and a sixth capacitor 313 of the flake type. The sixth handle 336 is electrically conductive and applies a shunt capacitance through line 309 of microtira. The fifth hand 342 applies a series capacitance between the microtira line 309 and the microtira line 311, where the microtira line 311 is coupled to a test gate. In the example of Figure 3, one end of each of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth hands 111, 116, 242, 236, 342, 336 is mounted on an accessory accessory plate 301. These hands can optionally be mounted to the accessory accessory plate 301, such that some or all of the hands can be selectively retracted from the circuit board 301 that is under test and / or extended to board 301 of circuits under test. This option allows carrying out a plurality of tests on the circuit board 331, where each test is characterized by a certain combination of extended and / or retracted hands. For a given test, some hands will be extended in such a way that the capacitor of the type of flake attached to its handle will contact the circuit board 331 under test, while the other hands will be retracted in such a way that the flake type capacitor attached to such a hand will not contact the circuit board 331 that is under test. Any of several methods may be employed to removably or extensibly mount the hands on the accessory plate 301 and / or the hands themselves may include a mechanism for extension, expansion and / or retraction, such as, for example, the use of plug-in and / or hydraulically controlled hands.

The mounting locations of these hands on the accessory accessory plate 301 is determined by the specific configuration of the microstrip lines 109, 107, 307, 207, 230, 309, 311 on a circuit board 331 which is to be tested. During testing of a circuit board, the accessory accessory plate 301 is brought into mechanical alignment with a circuit board 331 that is to be tested, such that, if all the hands on the accessory accessory plate 301 they will be placed in a fully extended position, a terminal of the first capacitor 115 of the type of lasca and a terminal of the second capacitor 113 of the type of lasca, would be put in contact with the first line 107 of microtira. The remaining terminal of the second capacitor of the flake type would be contacted with line 109 of microtira, the terminals of the third and fourth capacitors of the flake type would be put in contact with microtira lines 207 and / or 230 and the terminals of the fifth and sixth capacitors of the flake type would be put in contact with microtira lines 309 and / or 311. During the tests of the circuit board 331, the hands selected from the first, third and sixth hands 111, 242, 336 deflect the RF energy to, respectively the second, fourth and fifth hands 116, 236, 342 , to thereby couple the RF signals to the test gate 327 and / or a test gate coupled to the microtire line 109, so that the test operations can be carried out. After the tests of this circuit board 331 have been completed, the circuit board 331 and the accessory accessory board 301 are separated and the next circuit board to be tested is mechanically aligned with the accessory board 301. proof. In the example of Figure 3, the use of three pairs of hands is shown for purposes of illustration only, it being understood that any desired number of hands can be employed. For example, Figure 3 shows first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth hands 111, 116, 242, 236, 342, 336 arranged in three pairs - a first pair including the first and second hands 111, 116, a second pair including the third and fourth hands 242, 236 and a third pair including the fifth and sixth hands 342, 336. However, a diversity of pairs of hands greater than three or less than three could be employed. Although the illustrative arrangement in Figure 3 shows the hands arranged in pairs, note that not all hands need to be paired. For example, if a microtire line 207 is connected to a relatively non-critical portion of an RF circuit or if microtire line 207 is used only to carry a DC voltage (direct current), the fifth hand 242 could be eliminated , while the fourth hand 236 would be used to test line 207 of microtira. In addition, if it is desired to test a DC (direct current) voltage over a given microstrip line, then the chip type capacitor is removed from the end of the hand used to contact that microtira line and this hand can be lengthen mechanically to compensate for the lack of a lacquer type capacitor at the end of the hand.

Figure 4 is a block diagram of the physical elements, showing a fourth exemplary embodiment of the invention described herein. An RF circuit board that is to be tested includes a first RF amplifier 401 and a second RF amplifier 404. The output of the ppmer RF amplifier 401 is applied to the input of a second RF amplifier 404 by using a section of the microtra line 402. Assume that it is desired to measure the RF (radio frequency) energy of a signal at the output of the first RF amplifier 401. In a site on the microtire line 402 which is at a first distance from the output of the first RF amplifier 401, a first terminal of a first capacitor 412 of the flake type is in detachable contact with the microtra line 402 . The second terminal of the first capacitor 412 of the chip type is coupled by RF and mechanically attached to a first end of a first handle 414, which in the present example is an electrically conductive handle. At a site on the microtire line 402, which is at a second distance from the output of the first RF amplifier 401, where the second distance is greater than the first distance, a first terminal of a second capacitor 416 of the type of lasca is in detachable contact with line 402 of microtira. The second terminal of the second capacitor 416 of the flake type is coupled by RF a and is mechanically attached to a first end of a second knob 418, which in the present example is an electrically conductive handle. The second end of the second hand 418 is connected to ground, for example to an RF ground plane on the circuit board to which the first and second RF amplifiers 401, 404 are mounted. When the first terminal of the second capacitor 416 of the flake type is in contact with the microtire line 402, at least a portion of the RF energy traveling from the first RF amplifier 401 to the second RF amplifier 404, as length of the microtire line 402 is reflected back to the first RF amplifier 401. If the first terminal of the first capacitor 412 of the flake type is also in contact with the microtire line 402, some or all of the RF energy that was reflected by the second capacitor 416 of the flake type is reflected to the first capacitor 412 of the type of lasca. The reactance of the second capacitor 416 of the flake type may optionally be selected to reflect a specific portion of the RF energy traveling on the microtire line 402, in a direction back towards the output of the first RF amplifier 401. In this way, the combination of the second capacitor 416 of the flake type and the second electrically conductive hand 418 selectively redirects the RF energy to the combination of the first capacitor 412 of the flake type and the first electrically conductive knob 414, where The redirected RF energy can be applied to the test equipment. In the example of Figure 4, the second end of the first electrically conductive hand 414 is coupled to the test equipment in the form of an RF filter 406. The RF filter 406 could be, for example, a band pass filter centered at a desired transmission or test frequency. Once the out-of-band components have been filtered out of the extracted RF signal by the chip type capacitor 412 and the first electrically conductive hand 414, the output of the RF filter 406 is coupled to a diode detector 408. The diode detector 408 could be, for example, an RF diode that generates a DC voltage substantially proportional to the energy of the RF carrier applied to the diode. Then the DC output of the diode detector 408 is fed to a voltmeter 410 which provides an indication of the relative amount of RF energy generated by the first RF amplifier 401. It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known by the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention. Having described the invention as above, property is claimed as contained in the following

Claims (19)

1. Claims 1. A system for testing radiofrequency circuits without disconnecting them, from a radiofrequency circuit having a first element of the circuit, a second element of the circuit, a microtire line that couples the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit, such that the radiofrequency energy flows along the microstrip line from the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit, the system is characterized in that it comprises: (a) a first separable electrical impedance which, when placed in physical proximity to the microtire line, it produces a first impedance imbalance in the microtire line, in such a way that at least a portion of the radiofrequency energy that travels on the microstrip line is reflected by the imbalance back to the first element of the circuit; (b) a second separable electrical impedance which, when placed in physical proximity to the microtire line, couples the reflected radiofrequency energy by the first separable electrical impedance to a radiofrequency test gate coupled to the second separable electrical impedance.
2. 2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the first separable electrical impedance includes a first capacitor of the type of lacquer having a first terminal coupled by radiofrequency and mechanically joined to an end of a first hand, wherein the first hand is electrically conductive and the second electrical impedance includes a second lasso type capacitor having an isolated body mechanically attached to one end of a second hand.
3. 3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the first separable electric impedance includes a first capacitor of the type of flake having a first terminal coupled by radiofrequency and mechanically joined to one end of a first hand, wherein the first hand is electrically conductive and the second electrical impedance includes a second capacitor of the flake type having a first terminal coupled by radiofrequency and mechanically attached to one end of a second hand, wherein the second hand is electrically conductive.
4. 4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the first separable electrical impedance includes a first capacitor of the type of lacquer having a first terminal coupled by radiofrequency and mechanically joined to an end of a first hand, wherein the first hand is electrically conductive and the second electrical impedance includes a second capacitor of the type of flake having a first terminal coupled by radiofrequency and mechanically attached to one end of an internal conductor of a second hand, wherein the second hand is a coaxial handle having a conductor internal and an external driver.
5. 5. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the first separable electrical impedance includes a first capacitor of the flake type having an isolated body mechanically attached to one end of a first hand and the second electric impedance includes a second capacitor of the type of Lasca having an isolated body mechanically attached to one end of a second hand.
6. 6. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that the first separable electrical impedance includes a first capacitor of the type of flake having an isolated body mechanically attached to one end of a first hand and the second electric impedance includes a second capacitor of the type of flake having a first terminal coupled by radiofrequency and mechanically joined to one end of a second hand.
7. 7. The system according to claim 3, characterized in that the second handle electrically couples the first terminal of the second flake type capacitor to a radiofrequency test gate.
8. 8. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that it includes means for placing the first and second capacitors of the type of flake in close physical proximity to the first line of microtira, in such a way that the capacitors of the flake type are coupled by radiofrequency to microtira line
9. 9. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that the reactances of the first and second capacitors of the flake type are selected to provide relatively low impedances at the frequency of operation of the radiofrequency circuit, in such a way that the reactances are much smaller than the impedance of the microtira line and in such a way that the first electric impedance provides a capacitive load in derivation to ground through the microtira line.
10. 10. The system according to claim 3, characterized in that the second hand is coupled to the radiofrequency test gate and the reactance of the second type of flake capacitor is selected to provide a specific amount of coupling between the microtire line and the gate. of radiofrequency test.
11. 11. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that the reactance of the first capacitor of the flake type is selected to provide a desired amount of radio frequency energy reflected back to the first element of the circuit.
12. 12. A method for testing radiofrequency circuits without disconnecting them, from a radiofrequency circuit having a first element of the circuit, a second element of the circuit, a microtire line that couples the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit, in such a way that the radiofrequency energy flows along the microtire line from the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit, the method is characterized in that it includes the steps of: (a) placing a first separable electrical impedance in physical proximity to the line of microtira, to produce a first imbalance imbalance in the microtira line, in such a way that at least a portion of the radiofrequency energy traveling on the microstrip line is reflected by the imbalance back to the first element of the circuit; and (b) placing a second separable electrical impedance in physical proximity to the microtire line, wherein the radiofrequency energy reflected by the first separable electrical impedance is coupled to a radio frequency test gate coupled to the second separable electrical impedance.
13. 13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that it further includes the steps of providing a first separable electrical impedance that includes a first capacitor of the type of flake mechanically attached to one end of a first handle and a second separable electrical impedance that includes a second capacitor of the type of lasca mechanically attached to one end of a second hand.
14. 14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that it includes the step of placing the first and second capacitors of the type of flake in close physical proximity to the microtire line, in such a way that the flake type capacitors are coupled by radiofrequency to microtira line
15. 15. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that it also includes the step of determining the reactances of the first and second capacitors of the flake type to provide relatively low impedances to the frequency of operation of the radiofrequency circuit, in such a way that the reactances they are much smaller than the impedance of the microtira line and in such a way that the first electric impedance provides a capacitive load in derivation to ground through the microtira line.
16. 16. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that it further includes the step of coupling the second hand to a radiofrequency test gate and determining the reactance of the second type of flake capacitor to provide a specific amount of coupling between the microtiter line and the radiofrequency test gate.
17. 17. The system according to claim 14, characterized in that it includes the step of determining the reactance of the first capacitor of the flake type to provide a desired amount of radio frequency energy reflected back to the first element of the circuit.
18. 18. A system for redirecting the flow of the radiofrequency signal on a radiofrequency circuit having a first element of the circuit, a second element of the circuit, a microtire line that couples the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit, in such a way that the radiofrequency energy flows along the microstrip line from the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit, the system is characterized in that it comprises: (a) a first separable electrical impedance which, when placed in physical proximity to the microtira line, it produces a first impedance imbalance in the microtire line, in such a way that at least a portion of the radiofrequency energy that travels on the microstrip line is reflected by the imbalance back to the first element of the microtira. circuit. (b) a second separable electrical impedance which, when placed in physical proximity to the microtire line, couples the reflected radiofrequency energy by the first separable electrical impedance to a radiofrequency test gate coupled to the second separable electrical impedance.
19. 19. The system according to claim 18, characterized in that the first separable electrical impedance includes a first capacitor of the type of flake having a first terminal coupled by radiofrequency and mechanically joined to one end of a first hand, wherein the first hand is electrically conductive and the second electrical impedance includes a second lasso type capacitor having an isolated body mechanically attached to one end of a second hand. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Methods and systems are described for testing radiofrequency (RF) circuits without disconnecting them and / or for redirecting the RF (radio frequency) signal. These methods and systems are used in conjunction with an RF circuit having a first element of the circuit, a second element of the circuit, a line of microtira that couples the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit, in such a way that the energy of RF flows along the microtra line from the first element of the circuit to the second element of the circuit and an RF test gate to test the RF circuit. A first separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the microtire line to produce a first impedance imbalance in the microtire line, such that some of the RF energy is reflected by the imbalance back to the first element of the circuit . A second separable electrical impedance is placed in physical proximity to the microtire line, such that the microtire line is coupled to the RF test gate. According to one embodiment, the first separable electrical impedance includes a first capacitor of the flake type mechanically attached to one end of a first electrically conductive hand and the second electric impedance includes a second capacitor of the flake type mechanically attached to one end of a second electrically conductive hand. The first and second capacitors of the flake type are brought in close physical proximity to the microtira line, such that the flake type capacitors are coupled by RF to the microtira line. The reactances of the first and second capacitors of the flake type are selected to provide relatively low impedances at the operating frequency of the RF circuit, such that the reactances are much smaller than the impedance of the microtire line and in such a manner that the first electrical impedance provides a capacitive load in derivation to ground through the microtira line. The second hand is coupled to the RF test gate and the reactance of the second type of flake capacitor is selected to provide a specific amount of coupling between the microtire line and the RF test gate. According to an additional modality, the reactance of the first type of flake capacitor is selected to provide a desired amount of RF energy reflected back to the first element of the circuit and the reactance of the second type of flake capacitor is selected to provide a desired amount of coupling to the test gate.