Measurement of microwave circuits in the range 0.1 to 18 GHz requires, as a minimum, a sweepable signal source and a scaler signal analyzer. A low-cost microwave measurement station is developed using widely-available personal computers and recent advances in broadband microwave measurement components. Costs will also be reduced by using a signal sweeper to run four or more setups simultaneously. The stations will not have the accuracy of commercially available systems but will be well-suited to a teaching environment. An emphasis will be placed on making the systems simple to allow students to better understand the measurement process. The stations are interfaced directly to personal computers so the students can compare their measurements with predicted circuit designs. By making the software and hardware flexible enough to run with most microwave sweepers and by using only off-the-shelf components, we plan to develop a complete laboratory course that can be adopted in teaching programs nationally.
