RF Passives

Passive Components comprise the many types of RF distribution and conditioning components in a wireless system. These devices manipulate the transmission in some manner. They may divide, combine, couple, tap, block, arrest, or filter the signal that passes through.

These components are referred to as being ‘passive’ in that they are unpowered products, i.e., they do not use an external power source to amplify or interact with the signal.

The most important electrical performance characteristics of passive components are generally Insertion Loss, Inter-Port Isolation, VSWR, and PIM. High quality components are those which maintain these performance characteristics right through the operating frequency range.