Increased speed in microwave measurements based on spline interpolation model

In this paper a new algorithm applied in microwave measurements is presented. The main purpose of the algorithm is to reduce the time and to increase the speed of the measurement by reducing the number of samples. As the number of devices that need to be tested is increased by the extended microwave frequency domain, a new frequency sampling algorithm is required to minimize the acquisition time for a vector network analyzer (VNA). The algorithm proposes a new method for frequency sampling based on multiple spline interpolation models with different orders. The differences will be analyzed and the algorithm will propose the frequency corresponding to the maximum differences as the new set of samples. Next, a new measurement using the VNA for the new set of samples will be provided. The biggest advantage of the proposed algorithm is represented by the high applicability, as there is no rule or knowledge regarding the structure of the device under test (DUT).