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MTT-17 announces the first student balun design contest that will take place at IEEE IMS 2011. The competition is open to all students registered at an educational institution. The competitors are required to design, construct and test a wideband balun at a frequency band starting from a minimum of 1 MHz to as high as possible.

The design should be constructed and brought to IMS2011, where it will be measured and tested by appointed judges to verify its performance. A representative of the design group should be present to assist with the testing and evaluation. The winner will receive a substantial cash prize and will be invited to submit an article to the IEEE Microwave Magazine. Questions should be sent to Prof. Robert Caverly, r.caverly@ieee.org

Rules:

1. The balun must meet the following specifications (explanations can be found in the appendix)
1. Female SMA connectors used to terminate all ports.
2. Minimum impedance transformation ratio of 2 (must be specified by the student before measurement).
3. Maximum VSWR of 2:1 at all ports.
4. Insertion loss of less than 1 dB.
5. Common mode rejection ratio of more than 25 dB.
6. Imbalance of less than ><1 dB and 2.5 degrees.
7. The balun must be completely passive.
8. The design and fabrication must be a 100% student effort.
9. The balun must be packaged in such a way so that its physical details can be visually examined by the judges.
10. The design must be documented, including schematics and a bill of materials. All the main components need to be identified by manufacturer and part number. If ferrites are used, their main characteristics must be included.
2. The winner will be the design that can meet all the specifications above and the rules listed here from at least 1 MHz or below to the highest possible frequency.
3. The judge's decision will be final and solely based on the official testing. The winner will be announced at the Student Awards Luncheon.
4. In the notice of intention to participate, entries must include all institutional affiliation data, names of the students, contact person, faculty advisor name and performance goals must all be clearly indicated. Further information may be found at the MTT-17 website.

Additional requirements are listed on the main Student Design Competition page.