A distributed amplifier based dispersive delay line

In this work, we report the results of an active dispersive delay line (DDL) designed out of a distributed amplifier based transversal filter (DATF) with 12 gain cells, achieving the average gain of 2 dB and group delay variance of 3 ns from 3 to 5 GHz. Simulation based upon the measurements of a gain cell and transmission line fabricated with high speed PC Boards demonstrates that the DDL can be utilized as a real time signal processing block for an ultra-wideband (UWB) system. This work could potentially open the door for CMOS integration of DDLs.