Richardson RFPD, Inc. announced the availability and full design support capabilities for the butler matrix family of beamforming networks from Weinschel by Spectrum Control.

Designed for use in wireless test applications, the new beamforming networks reciprocally transfer signal from any of the input ports to any of the output ports, with high phase-accuracy, amplitude balance, low insertion loss and high port-to-port isolation. In transmitting mode, they deliver maximum power, with progressive phase shift to the output. In receiving mode, they collect signals from all beam directions with the full gain of antenna array.

The butler matrix family includes the 8401, 8401-8 and 8401-16 models that can be used in a variety of configurations, across cellular, Wi-Fi and any band within its frequency limits:

Part No. (Type)

Freq.
 Range
 (GHz)

Insertion Loss
 (dB)

VSWR

Output
 Phase
 Accuracy

8401E (4x4)

2.4–7.2

8.5 typical, 11 max.

2.0:1 max.

±15 degrees max. at 6.5 GHz

8401-8E (8x8)

2.4–7.2

13.5 typical, 16 max. 

2.2:1 max.

±20 degrees  max. at 6.5 GHz

8401-8-6 (8x8)

0.5–2.5
 2.5–6.0

10 typical, 14 max.
 11 typical, 16 max.

1.6:1 max.
 2.2:1 max.

±20 degrees  max. at 3.4 GHz

8401-6 (4x4)

0.5–2.0
 2.0–6.0

7 typical, 10 max.
 7 typical, 12 max.

1.7:1 max.
 2.0:1 max.

±10 degrees  max. at 3.25 GHz

8401-16-5 (16x16)

0.7–2.0
 2.0–6.0

14 typical, 18 max.
 18 typical, 24 max.

2.0:1 max.
2.2:1 max.

± 20 degrees  max. at 3.25 GHz