PE4302 RF Attenuator

Features

• This is a PE4302 numerical control RF attenuator module.
• The parallel immediate mode is simple and easy to use.
• Bandwidth is wide and can be 1MHz to 4GHz.
• Program control gain attenuation range is from 0 to 31.5DB.
• The module supports parallel port and serial port mode as well as power on state selection function.

Specifications

• Power Supply Voltage
  • 2.7-3.3 VDC - 3V typical
  • Typical current 5mA
• Program control gain attenuation range
  • 0~31.5DB
  • 10K pull down resistors to ground
• Stepping: 0.5DB
• Input/Output Impedance
  • 50 ohm
• Bandwidth
  • 1MHz~4GHz
  • Attenuation value will differ under different frequency
• Max Input power (50Ω) +30 dBm
  • 1W = 7.1V RMS
• Connectors
  • SMA-female

My Design

• A lot of designs using Arduino/OLED, etc to control the card
  • Unnecessary
    • Could add noise from OLED
    • Doesn't need to switch too often
• Mount in small extruded metal project box
• Mini360 Adapter Board for wide input voltage range
  • 4.5-23V input
  • 3V output
  • Concern over EMI?
• Use SWLEDX8 to control attenuation selection
  • Use SW1-SW6 switches (centered)
• Use D6 for power indication
  • Digital Input High 0.7xVDD in V = 2.1V
  • Using 1.5K pullup to counter the 10K pulldowns on the card = 2.6V
  • 3V / 1.5K = 2 mA
  • Adds to current 2 mA x 6 = 12 mA when all switches are low

References

• DuWayne's Arduino based attenuator
  • Hackaday project page
• Peregrine Semiconductor's page - Chip maker
• PE4302 tswfi - Simple attenuator built with PE4302 and Arduino "pro micro".
  • PE43xx Arduino Library