Study of Vibration Effects on Communication Filters in Substrate Integrated Technologies

Abstract

The growing need of space communication systems forces the industry to innovate in order to provide more robust, economical and flexible solutions. The new substrate integrated technologies enable the development of on-board communications devices with less weight and volume than the traditional waveguide-based ones. However, it is necessary to analyse the performance of these devices in the particular working conditions of satellite communications. This work studies the integrity of the electrical response of advanced communication filters under mechanical stress conditions. Four realisations of a Ku-band microwave filter in different substrate integrated technologies were developed and tested. Two mechanical vibration tests were performed: sinusoidal sweep and random vibration. These tests emulate the transport and launching conditions of the satellite payload. Furthermore, the mechanical natural frequency of the filters and its variation after being exposed to the tests have been measured to evaluate the devices integrity. For all the filters, this frequency variation is lower than 5 %, the standard threshold. This proves that the developed filters can survive the launching conditions of satellite payload, thus qualifying the technology for spatial applications.