Solution Times: Balancing Received Signal Strength

July 12, 2022

Equalizers

Theaters and performance venues are designed to balance sound acoustics in vast spaces. Multi quadrant systems and their antennae to line-replaceable unit (LRU) paths installed on airplanes have similar requirements. Even with the best coaxial cables, there is a loss slope within each cable’s run and a delta loss run-to-run that must be balanced.

A system component known as an equalizer balances this slope (amplitude) to enable normalizing (flattening) of the incoming signals. Equalizers add specific attenuation to shorter cable runs and control signal strength to meet an expected power over a specified frequency range. Low frequencies typically need more attenuation while minimizing amplitude of incoming high-frequency signals, effectively flattening the received power over frequency.

At Times, we install insertable equalizers in line with our RF assemblies for one powerhouse user-changeable package. Post-install, engineers can easily swap equalizers to fine-tune signal ranges and paths without extra devices or costly upgrades.