Design study of multistage low-pass type NGD circuit with RC-network for time-advance electronic function

Purpose The implementation and test of electronic circuit able to operate with significant negative delay remain an open challenge for design engineers. This study aims to design an innovative multistage low-pass (LP) type negative group delay (NGD) active circuit. The considered LP-NGD topology is constituted by RC-network. After the proof-of-concept (POC) design and simulation, a printed circuit board (PCB) of LP-NGD active topology prototype was fabricated. The LP-NGD PCB was tested to confirm the possibility to propagate arbitrary waveform signal. The time-advance measurement result enables to verify the simulation one. Design/methodology/approach After the NGD value, bandwidth choice and number of cells, this innovative design method of multi-stage LP-NGD circuit is established under the following phases: the first phase is the calculation of resistors and capacitors constituting the considered topology. The second phase is the schematic simulation of the LP-NGD POC in the frequency domain. In the third phase, the obtained LP-NGD POC must be optimized. In the fourth phase, the available R, C and operational amplifier are chosen the PCB prototype. In the last phase, the test signal must be chosen to demonstrate the output in time-advance. Findings An innovative design theory, including the analytical and algorithm, to determine the multistage RC-circuit parameters is established in function of targeted LP-NGD specifications. The validity of the multistage RC-circuit design theory is verified by the PCB prototype experimentation showing measurement of −0.3 s signal advance. Originality/value This research work originality is the analytical and routine algorithm design methodology of multistage LP-NGD electronic circuit. The transient result obtained by considering arbitrary waveform signal tested with a PCB prototype confirm the relevance of the developed multistage LP-NGD RC-circuit design.