Engineered Passive Nonlinearities for Broadband Passive Intermodulation Distortion Mitigation

By adding controlled thicknesses of nickel and gold plating to the conductors of a coaxial transmission line, the magnitude of passive intermodulation produced by the transmission line can be controlled with precision. Theoretical predictions of distortion magnitude as a function of plating thicknesses are presented, along with an experimental validation. These adjustable-magnitude passive intermodulation sources are used to give a fourfold improvement in the bandwidth of techniques presented previously, demonstrating that cancellation can for the first time be achieved in bandwidths needed for cellular systems.