In this video, Brian discusses TRL calibration and its applications. TRL (Thru, Reflect, Line) represents a family of calibration techniques that measure two transmission standards and one reflection standard to determine the 2-port 12-term error coefficients. For example, TRM (Thru, Reflect, Match), LRL (Line, Reflect, Line), LRM (Line, Reflect, Match) are all included in this family.

The traditional SOLT calibration measures one transmission standard (T) and three reflection standards (SOL) to determine the same error coefficients.

TRL calibration is extremely accurate, in most cases more accurate than an SOLT cal. However, very few calibration kits contain TRL standards. TRL Cal is most often performed when you require a high level of accuracy and do not have calibration standards in the same connector type as your DUT. This is usually the case when using test fixtures or making on-wafer measurements with probes. Therefore, in some cases you must construct and characterize standards in the same media type as your DUT configuration. It is easier to manufacture and characterize three TRL standards rather than the four SOLT standards.