{"title":"Virtual VNA 2.0: Ambiguity-Free Scattering Matrix Estimation by Terminating Inaccessible Ports With Tunable and Coupled Loads","authors":"Philipp del Hougne","doi":"arxiv-2409.10977","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"We recently introduced the \"Virtual VNA\" concept which estimates the $N\n\\times N$ scattering matrix characterizing an arbitrarily complex linear system\nwith $N$ monomodal ports by inputting and outputting waves only via\n$N_\\mathrm{A}<N$ ports while terminating the $N_\\mathrm{S}=N-N_\\mathrm{A}$\nremaining ports with known tunable individual loads. However, vexing\nambiguities about the signs of the off-diagonal scattering coefficients\ninvolving the $N_\\mathrm{S}$ not-directly-accessible (NDA) ports remained. If\nonly phase-insensitive measurements were used, an additional blockwise phase\nambiguity ensued. Here, inspired by the emergence of \"beyond-diagonal\nreconfigurable intelligent surfaces\" in wireless communications, we lift all\nambiguities with at most $N_\\mathrm{S}$ additional measurements involving a\nknown multi-port load network. We experimentally validate our approach based on\nan 8-port chaotic cavity, using a simple coaxial cable as two-port load\nnetwork. Endowed with the multi-port load network, the \"Virtual VNA 2.0\" is now\nable to estimate the entire scattering matrix without any ambiguity, even\nwithout ever measuring phase information explicitly. Potential applications\ninclude the characterization of antenna arrays.","PeriodicalId":501034,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - EE - Signal Processing","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"arXiv - EE - Signal Processing","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2409.10977","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We recently introduced the "Virtual VNA" concept which estimates the $N
\times N$ scattering matrix characterizing an arbitrarily complex linear system
with $N$ monomodal ports by inputting and outputting waves only via
$N_\mathrm{A}