A Convenient Indication of the Effect of Instrumentation Errors on Six - Port Reflection Measurements

The performance of a six - port Vector Reflection Analyzer is mainly limited by the accuracy of its calibration kit, but the fundamental limit is due to the instrumentation. This paper shows the relationship between instrumentation errors in scalar power measurements and the corresponding residual directivity, source match and frequency response errors in a six - port reflection measurement. Furthermore, enough measurements are made during a normal calibration to produce a figure of merit for the instrumentation as a by-product.