High levels of mismatch, for example in a transmitter or any output power device, can sometimes cause catastrophic failure of the device and its associated subsystem. Depending on the application this can be a severe problem. An interesting approach to prevent or control these types of failures is the use of an on chip integrated power detector. The power detector is used to estimate reflected power and if the VSWR (matching) gets really bad ( due to aging, component failure or other such causes) the power detector either signals a problem before it reaches irreversible levels, or executes automatic control of VSWR. Please visit our website at http://www.signalpro.biz for other interesting articles or just information.