A device load variation protection circuit connected to an output side of a device to protected the device from a variation in a load includes a detection circuit, a protection load, and a switch. The detection circuit detects the variation in the load. The protection load is connected to the output side of the device so as to be switchable between connection and disconnection. The switch switches between connection and disconnection of the protection load on the basis of a detection result from the detection circuit.

A noise-suppressing circuit suitable for insertion between a receiving antenna and an RF receiver to suppress noise in the RF signal received by the receiving antenna includes a bandpass filter circuit connected to receive as an input the RF signal received by the antenna, and connected in series to a blanking circuit which employs a JFET to remove from the filtered RF signal the unwanted noise spikes. The bandpass filter attenuates the components of the RF signal that have frequencies outside of the passband, and after the blanking circuit has removed the noise spikes, it passes the remainder of the filtered RF signal to the RF receiver. In a preferred embodiment, the bandpass filter circuit includes a parallel resonant circuit, and the blanking circuit includes a series resonant circuit connected between the drain and the gate of JFET of the blanking circuit.

The invention pertains to a method and apparatus for generating and radiating electromagnetic energy for use in heating the upper atmosphere. For such an application, the cost per watt is a dominant design factor. The invention minimizes the cost per watt by minimizing the number of active devices utilized. A single active device is used to charge and discharge a short circuited antenna at a rate which is essentially the same as the antenna's resonant frequency.

An inventory management system which includes a transponder, an interrogation transceiver and control devices utilized therewith. The control devices operate to minimize the power consumption of the transponder while permitting selected, coded operation of the inventory management system. The interrogation transceiver provides linkage to the transponder by means of a modulated radio frequency (RF) carrier during system operation. A transmit/receive switch is also included in the invention to prevent harmful coupling between the transponder receiver and the transponder transmitter. This could occur during data exchanges between the transponder and the interrogation receiver.

A radio receiver having a narrow effective beamwidth includes a receiver antenna, a receiver and a receiver transmission line interconnecting the two, and an interference cancellation system having an auxiliary antenna, a first directional coupler connected to the auxiliary antenna, a second directional coupler connected to the receiver transmission line, a synchronous detector connected to the first and second directional couplers, a signal controller and a subtractor connected to the signal controller and to the receiver transmission line. The receiver antenna is selected to exhibit an omni-directional antenna pattern, while the auxiliary antenna is selected to exhibit a null in its antenna pattern. The null is directed toward the desired signal such that any signals outside of a predetermined angle from the center of the null will be cancelled by the interference cancellation system, and the desired signal which is received within a predetermined angle from the center of the null will be substantially unaffected by the interference cancellation system.