find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler part of atlc.

find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler [options... ] h t Er1 Er2 Z Zodd_req Zeve_reg outfile.bmp

This man page is not a complete set of documentation - the complexity of the atlc project makes man pages not an ideal way to document it, although out of completeness, man pages are produced. The best documentation that was current at the time this version was produced should be found on your hard drive, usually at

/usr/local/share/atlc/docs/html-docs/index.html

although it might be elsewhere if your system administrator chose to install the package elsewhere. Sometimes, errors are corrected in the documentation and placed at http://atlc.sourceforge.net/ before a new release of atlc is released. Please, if you notice a problem with the documentation - even spelling errors and typos, please let me know.

find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler is part of the atlc, CAD package for the design and analysis of transmission lines and directional couplers. While the executable program atlc (as opposed to the complete package atlc) is able to analyse the properties of directional couplers, telling you both the odd and even mode impedances Zodd and Zeven, it is not able to design a coupler to have specific odd and even mode impedances. The only way to use the program program atlc

The parameters 'W' and 'H' and the inner dimensions of the outer conductor. The inner conductor has a diameter of 'd' and is offset from the centre of the outer conductor by an amount 'x' horizontally and 'y' vertically. The space between the inner and outer conductors is a dielectric of relative permittivity 'Er'. If there is just a vacuum dielectric, then 'Er' should be set to 1.0

find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler d W H x y Er > filename.bmp OR

find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler -f filename.bmp d W H x y Er

The bitmaps produced by find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler are 24-bit bit colour bitmaps, as are required by atlc.

The permittivities of the bitmap, set by 'Er', determine the colours in the bitmap. If Er1 is 1.0, 1.006, 2.1, 2.2, 2.33, 2.5, 3.3, 3.335, 3.7, 4.8, 10.2 or 100 then the colour corresponding to that permittivity will be set according to the colours defined in COLOURS below. If Er is not one of those permittivities, the region of permittivity Er will be set to the colour 0xCAFF00. The program atlc does not know what these permittivites are, so atlc, must be told with the -d command line option, as in example 4 below.

-b bitmapsize

is used to set the size of the bitmap, and so the accuracy to which atlc is able to calculate the transmission line's properties. The default value for 'bitmapsize' is normally 4, although this is set at compile time. The value can be set anywhere from 1 to 15, but more than 8 is probably not sensible.

-f outfile

-v

Causes find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler to print some data to stderr. Note, nothing extra goes to standard output, as that is expected to be redirected to a bitmap file.

The 24-bit bitmaps that atlc expects, have 8 bits assigned to represent the amount of red, 8 for blue and 8 for green. Hence there are 256 levels of red, green and blue, making a total of 256*256*256=16777216 colours. Every one of the possible 16777216 colours can be defined precisely by the stating the exact amount of red, green and blue, as in:

red = 255,000,000 or 0xff0000

green = 000,255,000 or 0x00ff00

blue = 000,000,255 or 0x0000ff

black = 000,000,000 or 0x000000

white = 255,255,255 or 0xffffff

Brown = 255,000,255 or 0xff00ff

gray = 142,142,142 or 0x8e8e8e

Some colours, such as pink, turquoise, sandy, brown, gray etc may mean slightly different things to different people. This is not so with atlc, as the program expects the colours below to be EXACTLY defined as given. Whether you feel the colour is sandy or yellow is up to you, but if you use it in your bitmap, then it either needs to be a colour recognised by atlc, or you must define it with a command line option (see OPTIONS and example 5 below).

The following conductors are recognised by atlc:

red = 255,000,000 or 0xff0000 is the live conductor.

green = 000,255,000 or 0x00ff00 is the grounded conductor.

black = 000,000,000 or 0x000000 is the negative conductor

All bitmaps must have the live (red) and grounded (green) conductor. The black conductor is not currently supported, but it will be used to indicate a negative conductor, which will be needed if/when the program gets extended to analyse directional couplers.

The following dielectrics are recognised by atlc and so are produced by find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler.

white 255,255,255 or 0xFFFFFF as Er=1.0 (vacuum)

white 255,202,202 or 0xFFCACA as Er=1.0006 (air)

blue 000,000,255 or 0x0000FF as Er=2.1 (PTFE)

Mid gray 142,242,142 or 0x8E8E8E as Er=2.2 (duroid 5880)

mauve 255.000,255 or 0xFF00FF as Er=2.33 (polyethylene)

yellow 255,255,000 or 0xFFFF00 as Er=2.5 (polystyrene)

sandy 239,203,027 or 0xEFCC1A as Er=3.3 (PVC)

brown 188,127,096 or 0xBC7F60 as Er=3.335 (epoxy resin)

Turquoise 026,239,179 or 0x1AEFB3 as Er=4.8 (glass PCB)

Dark gray 142,142,142 or ox696969 as Er=6.15 (duroid 6006)

L. gray 240,240,240 or 0xDCDCDC as Er=10.2 (duroid 6010)

D. Orange 213,160,077 or 0xD5A04D as Er=100 (for testing)

If the permittivity is one not in the above list, then those parts of the image with Er1 will be set to 0xCAFF00, and those parts with Er2 to 0xAC82AC.

Here are a few examples of the use of find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler. Again, see the html documentation in atlc-X.Y.Z/docs/html-docs for more examples.

In the first example, there is just an air dielectric, so Er1=Er2=1.0. The inner of 1x1 inches (or mm, miles etc) is placed centrally in an outer with dimensions 3 x 3 inches.

The exact place where the dielectric starts (a) and its width (d) are unimportant, but they must still be entered.

% find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 > ex1.bmp

% atlc ex1.bmp

In this second example, an inner of 15.0 mm x 0.5 mm is surrounded by an outer with internal dimensions of 61.5 x 20.1 mm. There is a material with permittivity 2.1 (Er of PTFE) below the inner conductor. The output from find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler is sent to a file ex1.bmp, which is then processed by atlc

% find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler 61.5 20.1 5 22 0.5 50 15 5 1.0 2.1 > ex2.bmp

% atlc ex2.bmp

In example 3, the bitmap is made larger, to increase accuracy, but otherwise this is identical to the second example. % find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler -b7 61.5 20.1 5 22 0.5 50 15 5 1.0 2.1 > ex3.bmp

% atlc ex3.bmp

In the fourth example, instead of re-directing find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler's output to a file with the > sign, it is done using the -f option.

% find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler -f ex4.bmp 61.5 20.1 5 22 0.5 50 15 5 1.0 2.1

% atlc ex4.bmp

In the fifth example, materials with permittivites 2.78 and 7.89 are used. While there is no change in how to use find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler, since these permittivities are not known, we must tell atlc what they are. % find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler 61 20 1 4 22 0.5 50 15 5 2.78 7.89 > ex5.bmp % atlc -d CAFF00=2.78 -d AC82AC=7.89 ex5.bmp In the sixth and final example, the -v option is used to print some extra data to stderr from find_optimal_dimensions_for_microstrp_coupler.

atlc(1) create_bmp_for_circ_in_circ(1) create_bmp_for_circ_in_rect(1) create_bmp_for_microstrip_coupler(1) create_bmp_for_rect_cen_in_rect(1) create_bmp_for_rect_cen_in_rect_coupler(1) create_bmp_for_rect_in_circ(1) create_bmp_for_rect_in_rect(1) create_bmp_for_stripline_coupler(1) create_bmp_for_symmetrical_stripline(1) design_coupler(1) readbin(1)

http://atlc.sourceforge.net - Home page

http://sourceforge.net/projects/atlc - Download area

atlc-X.Y.Z/docs/html-docs/index.html - HTML docs

atlc-X.Y.Z/docs/qex-december-1996/atlc.pdf - theory paper

atlc-X.Y.Z/examples - examples