Title:

Characterization of Coaxial Cables Using a Vector Network Analyzer for the Calibration of a Radio Interferometer for Lightning Study

Radio interferometry is used to image lightning at very high speeds. This technique requires the time synchronization of the radio antenna to very high precision. As a result, the cables connecting the antennas to the data processing computers need to be characterized so that we know how long it takes antenna signals to travel the length of the cable. I created a unique method for modeling the group delay of LMR240 cables by measuring return loss with the NanoVNA as a function of frequency. This method is built on my discovery that the peak value of a Time Domain Reflectometry return loss measurement is linearly proportional to the parameters used to model group delay of the cable. In addition, I did an uncertainty analysis on my method based on discretization, systematic uncertainty, temperature, and random variation. Overall, I am able to model the group delay of the cables with respect to frequency within a 1% margin of error.

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