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NAME

       gsmc - A GTK Smith Chart Calulator for RF impedance matching

SYNOPSIS

       gsmc

DESCRIPTION

       gsmc  is a GTK application that allow to do all the calculation usually
       done on a Smith Chart.  It permits  to  make  calculation  for  network
       composed by resistor, capacitor, inductance, and trasmission line (also
       as stub).  Network topology is limitated to  series,  parallel  and  as
       trasmissive  for  trasmission line. No series connection are allowed in
       parallel  branch,  neither  parallel  connection  in   series   branch.
       Trasmission line can be placed as quadrupole or as a parallel or series
       stub, either opened or shorted at the other end.

       Calculation procedure starts with setting the initial impedance  to  be
       matched,  next  network  elements  are  added  and  tuned to obtain the
       desidered impedance value.

       The network so  obtained  can  be  saved  in  spice  format  for  other
       analisys; current work can be saved for succesive retrieve.

       The initial (start) impedance is thought as "the load" so when adding a
       trasmission line placed as a quadrupole rotation  is  clockwise,  going
       "toward generator"; generator is placed after the last network element,
       as can be seen from spice output.

OPTIONS

       None

INTERACTIVE COMMANDS

       gsmc is  a  menu  based  GTK  application  with  as  much  as  possible
       accelerators  and mnemonics. Nearly all the command can to be issued as
       a single keystroke  or  keystroke  with  modifiers.  This  is,  in  the
       author’s  opinion,  the  preferable  way for very specialistic programs
       that has to be used extensively.

       Ctrl+q Quit the program.

       Ctrl+1 Toggle visualization of impedance (Z) circle

       Ctrl+2 Toggle visualization of admittance (Y) circle

       Ctrl+3 Toggle visualization of reflection coefficient (RHO) circle

       Ctrl+4 Toggle visualization of constant Q circle

       s      Set start point: can be  entered  as  impedance,  admittance  or
              reflection coefficient

       Ctrl+0 (zero)
              Set characteristic impedance z0

       f      Set frequency (f0)

       r      Add a resistor

       l      Add an inductor

       c      Add a capacitor

       t      Add a transmission line or stub

       Shift+r
              Insert a resistor before the highlighted element

       Shift+l
              Insert an inductor before the highlighted element

       Shift+c
              Insert a capacitor before the highlighted element

       Shift+t
              Insert  a  transmission  line  or  stub  before  the highlighted
              element

       d      Delete the currently highligthed element

       Shift+Curs Up
              Highlight previous element

       Shift+Curs Down
              Highlight next element

       Shift+Curs Left
              Decrease the first field of currently highlighted element

       Shift+Curs Rigth
              Increase the first field of currently highlighted element

       Mod+Curs Left
              Decrease the second field of currently highlighted element

       Mod+Curs Rigth
              Increase the second field of currently highlighted element

       Mod+Curs Up
              Increase the tuning step

       Mod+Curs Down
              Decrease the tuning step

       Ctrl+w Write network file in spice format

       Ctrl+n Restart for a new calculation with a clean chart

       =      Change first field of currently highlighted element

       Mod+=  Change second field of currently highlighted element

       Ctrl+a Start autotune procedure (tune goal is characteristic impedance)

       Ctrl+x Toggle lock flag in autotune procedure

       Ctrl+p Write an EPS or PS file

       Ctrl+l Load a previously saved .B gsmc job

       Ctrl+l Save a .B gsmc job

       Ctrl+f Increase frequency

       Shift+Ctrl+f
              Decrease frequency

DIALOG WIN

DATA PRESENTATION

       The single window of gsmc is divided in four parts:

       -      The Smith chart itself in the upper left portion, where arcs and
              constant circle are drawn.

       -      The vertical bar on the rigth of the Smith chart, where initial,
              final and cursor impedance are presented togheter general  data.

       -      The  horizontal  bar  on  the  bottom  of  Smith chart where the
              network element are listed.

       -      The portion in the lower right portion, for future use...

EXAMPLE OF USE

       Let’s try a simple example to understand how gsmc work. Suppose to have
       a load of 10-j35ohm to be matched to 50+j0ohm at an operating frequency
       of 15.5MHz and we can use only  concentrated  reactive  elements,  i.e.
       inductances and capacitors.

       So  start  with setting operating frequency: press ’f’ and a dialog win
       will appear. Type in the string ’15.5M’ and then press  enter.  Now  in
       the vertical bar the frequency entered is displayed.

       Next  set  the  start  point impedance: press ’s’ and a dialog win will
       appear with the title "Start Point"; select the format for start  point
       either  clicking the "Z" radio buttono or using the menmonic via Mod+Z.
       Now the impedance can be entered as the  string  ’10-j35’  followed  by
       enter. The starting point is now displayed as a small circle.

       The  network  has  now  to  be  constructed:  let  start  with a series
       inductance of 800nH, so press ’l’  and  next  introduce  the  value  as
       enter.  TAB and Shift+TAB is usefull to move across items in dialog win
       without leave hands from keyboard.  This value is really too large, use
       Shft+Left cursor to reduce a bit. Up to where? Let’s help you displaing
       the admittance constant  circles  pressing  "Ctrl+2",  the  arc  should
       arrive  to the G=1 circle (also called the mirror circle), it’s arround
       546nH.

       Now add a capacitor in parallel connection, saying of 200pF: press  ’c’
       and  insert  the string ’200p’ and select Parallel either with mouse or
       with "Mod+p". Now the admittance circles  may  confuse,  remove  it  by
       pressing "Ctrl+2" again. The value of 200pF is too small, enlarge it by
       pressing Shift+Left cursor up to get the end point near to the  chart’s
       center.  The  point reached with 429pF has nearly zero imaginary but is
       43ohm of real part instead of 50ohm.

       So back to the inductance and try to modify it,  with  Shift+Cursor  up
       move to the first component and then try to change the inductance value
       by pressing cursor left and right. The changes are too large and  50+j0
       cannot  be reached. So press "Mod+Cursor down" and the "tunestep" value
       shown in the vertical bar is reduced from 10% to 5%, try again  to  use
       Shift+Curors  left  and  right.  It feel better. Now do the same on the
       capacitor, moving to it by pressing  cursor  down  and  than  adjusting
       value as for the inductance.

       Final  values  should  be  arround 568nH and 408pF. Now you want to see
       what appen using the closest standard commercial values, that is  560nH
       and  390pF in the E12 series. Select (with Shift+Cursor Up), if needed,
       the inductance and then press ’=’, the  dialog  window  appear  (middle
       line is unused) and the string ’560n s’ has to be introduced. Next move
       to capacitor (Shift+Curs Down) and pressing ’=’ here insert  ’390p  p’.
       The final result is of SWR=1.14, if it’s enough for you...

       Moving  the mouse to the point where the two arcs ends you can see that
       the point has an impedance of about 10+j20ohm.

       Trasmission line and resistor can be used similary refer to the section
       INTERACTIVE  COMMANDS  for  knowing  how they can be placed.  The major
       difference with transmission line is that they have two parameter,  the
       electrical  lenght  and  the caracteristic impedance: the former can be
       adjusted with Shift+Cursor left/rigth as for resistor,  inductance  and
       capacitor; the latter can be adjusted with Mod+cursor left/right.

       Now  the  network can be saved either in a gsmc format (.gdt extension)
       by pressing Ctrl+s or in spice format pressing  Ctrl+w:   The  file  so
       generated  can  be  now  analized  with  a spice simulator or gnucap or
       ngspice ; maybe you are interested in simulating  it  sweeping  arround
       15.5MHz, so modify the line

            .ac lin 1  15.50MEG  15.50MEG

       in

            .ac lin 51  10MEG  30MEG

       and run spice or gnucap

       This  example should be included in gsmc package an can be retreived by
       pressing Ctrl+l and selecting example1.gdt.

       Autotune algorithm is very primitive and may not  reach  what  is  very
       simple to do by hand, do not ask to much from it, work in progress...

       Charts  so  drawed  can  be  printed  to  a  Postscript or Encapsulated
       Postscript file; in printed file some  information  are  added  on  the
       chart  drawing  as  well as Circuit Description and some of the Current
       Value are transcripted.  Automatic recognition  of  filename  extension
       .eps  or  .ps  allow  to  specify if the file has to be in encapsulated
       format or not.

FILES

       gsmc don’t use special configuration file, a gtkrc file is supplied and
       can   be   tuned  to  user  preferences;  if  present  it  must  be  in
       /root/.gsmc/gtkrc.  File describing the network currently analized  can
       be  generated,  it’s  only  needed  that  a  minimum file permission is
       allowed, if not the program will work but data could not be saved.

       Data file (.gdt) contain a copy of internal data structures in a  quite
       human  readable format; by inspection one can recognize and modify some
       parts using a text editor. For more details compare a  .gdt  file  with
       smcdata struct defined in source file main.h.

LIMITATIONS

       Porting  can  be  very  very difficult, since all is based on X windows
       programming and GTK library, but for other platform a plenty of similar
       program are available, free and good one too.

BUGS

       Help me to find.

TODO

       · Improve autotune algorithm

       · Target settting (not alwais one want to match to z0) for autotune.

       · Auxiliary window for error reporting instead of stderr.

COPYING

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published  by  the
       Free  Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
       option) any later version.

AUTHOR

        Lapo Pieri  (IK5NAX)

        Home address: via A. dei Corbizi 9  I-50127 Firenze Italy
        Phone: +39 055 410209
        e-mail: ik5nax@amsat.org, lapo_pieri@virgilio.it
        website: www.qsl.net/ik5nax

SEE ALSO

       spice3(?), gnucap(1), ngspice(1)