DESIGN OF MATCHING NETWORKS FOR LOW-NOISE PREAMPLIFIERS

This paper discusses matching networks that minimize inductive couplin g between the antennas within an array while simultaneously insuring m inimum noise contributions from preamplifiers. Typical low noise pream plifier designs require a strong mismatch between the source impedance and the amplifier input impedance (reflection coefficient close to on e) to achieve optimal noise performance, This is in contrast to the fa miliar impedance match known from communication theory where input and source impedances have complex conjugate values for maximizing the po wer transfer from source to amplifier, The high input reflection coeff icient of low noise amplifiers can be exploited to reduce antenna curr ents by using lossless impedance transformations to create a high impe dance at the coil terminals while simultaneously maintaining a low noi se figure for the amplifier, The networks presented here constitute an improvement over previous work because they give additional freedoms regarding the values of the network components and the amplifier input impedance. The technique has been formalized and coded in MathCad(TM) , making the design of realizable networks a simple process.