Apparatus for degrading Q in a high-Q RF pulse transmitting system and the like
The present invention relates to apparatus for selectively degrading the Q of high-Q circuits and the like, being more particularly concerned with apparatus for lowering the Q of RF pulse transmitting circuits during quiescent periods to mitigate against the effects of atmospheric disturbances such as lightning, producing oscillations in the high-Q circuit that interfere with the timed transmitted pulse information. 
     RF pulse-transmission antennas, as of the Loran C or D navigation type, are usually high-Q circuits vulnerable to atmospheric disturbances, such as lightning, that, during quiescent periods, can excite in the antenna spurious random current oscillations at the Loran frequency. To reduce the resulting interference with the regular periodic Loran pulse transmissions, it has been proposed to quench and filter such spurious currents with the aid of a large number of series-connected transistors that effect resistance insertion in the antenna during quiescent periods between transmitted pulses, thereby to lower the antenna Q as described, for example, in &#34;Loran D Solid State Transmitter,&#34; Report No. 4221-5, Sperry Gyroscope Division of Sperry Rand Corporation. Such techniques not only require a large number of, high-power active transistors, but are further unreliable in the necessity for complex control gating. 
     An object of the present invention, accordingly, is to provide a new and improved Q-modifying apparatus, void of the necessity for such pluralities of active devices, such as transistors, and operable with mostly passive, inherently high-current and relatively inexpensive elements for effecting lowering or degrading of the antenna circuit Q during periods between transmitted pulses. 
     Another object is to provide such a system in which a lossy element is introduced into and removed from the antenna circuit in a highly reliable fashion. 
     These and still further objects are discussed hereinafter and are more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 
     In summary, from one of its view points, the invention enables a lossy element to be introduced into the antenna circuit and effectively removed therefrom in the period between successive RF transmitted pulses, with the aid of a passive bridge circuit. 
    
    
     The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram, partly in block diagram form of a preferred pulse-transmitting system of the present invention; and 
     FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate voltage and current waveforms generated in the system of FIG. 1. 
    
    
     Referring now to FIG. 1, a transmitter, so-labelled, such as a Loran C navigation periodic pulse transmitter as of the type described for example, in U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,832,573, is shown generating and feeding successive RF pulses (current i A ) to a high-Q antenna circuit, so-labelled, schematically represented by the inductance-capacitance-resistance circuitry designated L A , C A  and R A . 
     As above noted, transient oscillations can be set up in the high-Q antenna circuit by spurious signals generated in the quiescent period between pulses, which can be particularly troublesome in the Loran-type system. To obviate the same, a Q-modifying (lowering or degrading) circuit, labelled &#34;De-Quing Circuit&#34;, is provided comprising a solid-state switch containing preferably a passive-element bridge of successively oppositely poled diodes D 1 , D 2 , D 3 , and D 4 , the horizontal vertices of which are connected to opposite terminals of a lossy resistive element R D  and between the transmitter and antenna, and with an electronic gating switching element, shown as SCR 1 , connected between the opposite or vertical, vertices of the bridge, as illustrated. The &#34;De-Quing Circuit&#34; also includes a turn-on circuit comprising a DC resonant charging and discharging power supply E 1  including series resonant charging and discharging inductors L 1  and L 2 , a shunt capacitor C 2  and a check diode D 5 . The operation of this circuit will now be explained with reference to the voltage and current waveforms of FIGS. 2A and 2B. At time  t o  in FIG. 2(A), just prior to the start t o  &#39; of the transmission of a Loran or similar RF pulse, FIG. 2B, a trigger or gating pulse is applied via conductors 6 to the gate electrode of SCR 1 , causing it to conduct. The turnon of SCR 1  causes capacitor C 2 , charged as shown, to discharge through the inductor L 2  and SCR 1  as a result of the connection of the right-hand terminal of L 2  to the upper vertex of the bridge and the connection of the lower terminal of C 2  to the lower bridge vertex. This discharge current is labelled i 2  in FIGS. 1 and 2A; and in view of the resonant circuit formed by C 2 , L 2  and SCR 1 , is designed to have a relatively high Q so that the voltage e c2  stored in C 2  reverses in polarity from value E c20 , FIG. 2A, to the value E c21  in the time period t o  to t 2 . The current i 2  that flows through SCR 1  during this time interval t o  to t 2  turns the passive diode bridge switch D 1  -D 4  &#34;on&#34;, causing the antenna exciting pulse current from the transmitter to by-pass the lossy element R D . Outside this time interval t 2 , as later explained, the resistor or other lossy element R D  is effectively connected in series between the transmitter and the antenna, causing the resulting antenna circuit Q to be low or degraded or &#34;de-qued&#34; and thus rendered insusceptible to resonance from spurious signals in the quiescent period between Loran pulse transmissions. 
     At time t 1  (FIG. 2A), the voltage e c2  on capacitor C 2  decreases below the power supply voltage E 1 , causing a current, shown at i 1  in FIGS. 1 and 2A, to flow through inductor L 1 . By adjusting the value of L 1  to a greater value than L 2 , the current i 1  will increase slowly as compared to current i 2  until the two currents are equal in magnitude, at time t 1  &#39;. The capacitor charging circuit is thus of greater time constant than the capacitor discharging circuit. At the slightly later time t 2  (after the termination of the Loran pulse, FIG. 2B), the current i 2  goes to zero, and a reverse voltage builds up on SCR 1  causing it to recover during the quiescent time interval from t 2  to t 3 . It will not be until near the end of the quiescent interval between transmitted pulses t 4  that the voltage e c2  of the capacitor C 2  , charged resonantly from the supply E 1  through inductor L 1  and diode D 5 , will become fully charged to the value E c20  again, a value larger in magnitude than E 1 , as shown, in view of such resonant charging. The check diode D 5  prevents the capacitor C 2  from discharging back into the power supply; and after time t 4 , the next Loran or similar RF pulse transmission can be generated. 
     It will be noted that the presence of voltage on C 2  in the quiescent period between transmitted pulses, back-biases the diodes of the bridge D 1  -D 4  so that a spurious AC voltage of peak value up to that bias value can appear in the antenna circuit L A  -C A  -R A  without exciting resonance and generating an undesired impulse, in view of the rendering of the antenna circuit of low Q during such period. This operation occurs reliably and simply with minimum components and principally passive elements. While it has been described with reference to Loran pulse operations, moreover, the invention is clearly also useful in similar systems wherein the same or similar problems may arise that require modification of the Q of the circuits; and modifications will accordingly suggest themselves to those skilled in this art, being thus considered to fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.