4-way Power Divider Research Articles

A broadband 3-way power divider based on gap waveguide for Ka-band applications

The present study aims to design a broadband gap waveguide-based 3-way power divider in Ka-band. Gap waveguide technology is employed to remove serious challenges of fabrication in mmWave frequencies using printed and hollow waveguide technologies. The validation of proposed structure is performed with experimental measurements. There are better isolation and return loss between the output ports than around 20 dB over 27.4–35.1 GHz frequency range. There is less amplitude imbalance between the output ports than ± 0.42 dB. A close agreement exists between measured and simulated results. The results are beneficial for the design, fabrication, integration and expansion of mmWave components.

A large-transverse-size short-pulse 4-way power divider with high fidelity

A large-transverse-size short-pulse 4-way power divider with high fidelity

Inverse design of compact power divider with arbitrary outputs for 5G applications

Since the recent on-demand applications need more sophisticated circuits and subsystems, components with configurable capabilities attract attention more than before in commercial systems, specifically the fifth generation (5G). Power dividers play a crucial role in 5G phased array systems, and their role becomes more significant if the output powers ratio is adjustable. Here, we suggest a design methodology by which planar power splitters with arbitrary output power levels can be designed in light of very simple perturbations, i.e., vias. Through our design procedure, we find an optimized pattern for hybrid vias-some of them are made of PEC, and others are dielectric, e.g., air, high-permittivity materials. Thanks to deep neural networks, we demonstrate that this technique can be employed to design power splitters whose output ports have different amplitudes. In light of the proposed method, we fabricated and measured a 4-way power divider realizing Chebyshev coefficients for sidelobe reduction of a 4-element array at 28 GHz as a proof-of-concept. We believe that this methodology in which hybrid perturbation is the key spot paves a way to implement complex functions in various platforms and other structures, e.g., SIWs, ridge waveguides, rather than the one we investigated (planar/microstrip).

Electronically beam switched conformal microstrip array antenna for 5G applications

This article presents an electronically beam-switching conformal microstrip array antenna for 5G applications. The 1 × 2 array microstrip antenna is used as a radiating element. They are placed on a hexagonal shape-holding structure to form the conformal geometry. The radiating elements are excited with a six-faced feeding network. It consists of one 3-way power divider and two 2-way power dividers. These power dividers (PDs) are serially connected and formed a six-faced regular structure with 12 output ports. To obtain the beam switching mechanism, the uniform PD is then loaded with RF switched PD. Six angular separation beams (Sectors I–VI) are obtained (each 60°) with RF switches (1 SP3T and 3 SPDT). The response of the feed network is verified experimentally with a conformal array structure. The impedance bandwidth is well below −10 dB and measured for all switched sectors. The measured isolation among different output ports of the device is below −20 dB. The simple microstrip design technique makes the device suitable for beam switching in a large array configuration for 5G applications.

Omnidirectional conformal microstrip array antenna with electronically beam switching capabilities for 5G applications

This article presents an omnidirectional and electronically beam switching conformal microstrip array antenna at 3.5 GHz frequency for 5G applications. The 1×2 array microstrip antenna is used as a radiating element. It is placed on a hexagonal shape-holding structure to form the conformal geometry. The radiating elements are excited by a six-faced feeding network. It consists of one 3-way power divider and two 2-way power dividers. These power dividers are serially connected and form a six-faced regular structure with 12 output ports. The output ports of the uniform power divider feed network are connected to the conformal array and provide the omnidirectional radiation pattern. To obtain the beam switching mechanism, the uniform power divider is then loaded with an RF switched power divider and connected to the conformal array. Six angular separation beams (Sector I to VI) are obtained (60°) with RF switches. The response of the feed network along with the radiating element is verified experimentally. The impedance bandwidth is well below <−10 dB and measured isolation among different output ports are below −20 dB. The simple microstrip design technique makes the antenna suitable for omnidirectional and beam switching in a large array configuration for 5G applications.

Quad-Furcated Profiled Horn: The Next Generation Highly Efficient GEO Antenna in Additive Manufacturing

A novel compact and highly efficient dual-polarized horn-like antenna is presented. It exploits a radiating aperture that is fed by four smaller waveguides via a quad-furcated junction. The antenna also comprises the full feed network for the feed waveguides including an integrated 4-way orthomode power divider. Design principles are described in detail and illustrated by means of an example involving an antenna with aperture size of 2.6λ0×2.6λ0 (λ0 the wavelength at the central frequency of operation) intended primarily for Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites. The antenna feed was designed to comply with the Additive Manufacturing rules and exhibits aperture efficiency levels close to the theoretical maximum ones over the entire transmit Ku band (10.7 -12.75 GHz), while at the same time its profile is highly compact (6.4λ0). The measured results of a prototype 3D-printed in Selective Laser Melting (SLM) verified experimentally the calculated high aperture efficiency (over 90%). The total antenna feed attains return loss > 19 dB and maximum cross-polarization isolation (XPI) > 24 dB over a bandwidth of 18%. In light of the favorable electrical performances and compact size, the proposed solution constitutes an appealing alternative to profiled (or spline) horns for satellite antenna systems used either as reflector feeds or direct radiating arrays.

H-Band InP HBT Frequency Tripler Using the Triple-Push Technique

A broadband H-band (220 GHz–325 GHz) frequency tripler using the triple-push technique is presented in 250-nm InP heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT) technology. It consisted of three identical unit-cell multipliers, which were individually pumped by the W-band input signals with 120° phase difference. For this purpose, a 120° 3-way power divider was proposed using the 1:2 and 1:1 Lange couplers with 30° phase delay lines. The fundamental and 2nd harmonic signals of each unit-cell multiplier were added out-of-phase at the output, allowing an effective harmonic suppression. On the contrast, the 3rd harmonic components were combined in-phase at the output, so that the entire circuit successfully did the function of the frequency multiplier-by-3. The fabricated frequency tripler exhibited a broadband output power of −7.4 ± 1.4 dBm from 225 GHz to 330 GHz at an input power of 9.6 ± 0.8 dBm, with an average conversion gain of −16.8 dB.

An on-Chip Planar Broadband 3-Way Power Divider for Josephson Voltage Circuits

This article presents a superconducting material based planar broadband 3-way Wilkinson power divider which can be used in the Josephson quantum voltage device for the voltage standards. The 3-way Wilkinson power divider aims to improve the integration of Josephson voltage device compared to the commonly used 2-way power divider. A two-stage λ /4 section on each branch is used to increase the bandwidth, and a π model with lumped equivalent elements are used to further decrease physical dimension in device area. Different from the conventional spatial design of N-way Wilkinson power divider, this work designs a planar broadband 3-way divider to be compatible with the on-chip fabrication process. Simulation results show that the insert loss is below 0.18 dB at working bandwidth of 16.7∼23 GHz, the division imbalance of each branch is below 0.044 dB, and the input and output reflection is better than 15 and 11.9 dB, respectively. The isolation between any of the three output ports is better than 11.8 dB. All these indexes satisfy the requirement of the Josephson voltage standard application. To further prove the validity of our design, real device based on superconducting material is realized and characterized. Devices with a 3-way power divider and three 2-stacked Josephson junction arrays with 256 junctions in each array are fabricated. The experiment results indicate the potential usage of our design in quantum voltage standard devices for high-voltage output.

Ultrawideband Flush-Mountable Dual-Polarized Vivaldi Antenna

A dual-polarized, flush-mounted, Vivaldi antenna directly integrated with all-metal cavity is introduced as an alternative to coax-fed quad-ridge (QR) horns. Eigen-mode analysis is used to demonstrate that the entire structure may resonate with degraded impact on its far-field when not properly integrated with the cavity. An approach based on shaping the side walls of the cavity is used to eliminate the occurrence of these resonances. The proposed dual-polarized resonant-free antenna has two orthogonal 2 × 1 arrays with two elements in the E-plane and one element in the H-plane and is fed using two 2-way power dividers that can be easily designed to maintain low amplitude and phase imbalances. The antenna is fabricated in a single piece and experimentally shows monotonic gain increase with low cross-polarization over 4:1 bandwidth. Symmetric far-field performance between orthogonal polarizations with gain better than 8 dBi and sidelobe levels lower than -20 dB from 2 to 8 GHz is demonstrated. VSWR <; 2, and port to port isolation greater than 35 dB is also measured over the same bandwidth.

Generalized high‐isolation n‐way Gysel power divider with arbitrary power ratio and different real terminated impedances

An exact closed-form design approach for a generalized high-power n-way Gysel power divider is proposed. The power divider could be designed to achieve an arbitrary power ratio with the flexible multiway application, arbitrary real terminated impedance, excellent isolation, and easy fabrication through both planar and three-dimensional structures. Moreover, this improved power divider could maintain high power processing capacity through the coaxial cavity transmission line and grounding resistances. The exact analytical solutions related to ideal port matching and high isolation are obtained based on the circuit and transmission-line theory. To verify the proposed approach, a compact 3-way coaxial power divider with a pre-designed power ratio of 1:1.5:2 and four different real terminated impedances of 50, 55, 60, and 65 Ω is designed and fabricated. Excellent agreement is achieved between the simulated and measured results. Measurements from 4.7 to 5.7 GHz show that the return losses of all input and output ports are better than 15 dB. The maximum insertion loss is 0.5 dB, and the phase imbalance is approximately less than 6.1°. In addition, the isolation between any two output ports is better than 23 dB from 4.5 to 6 GHz. Meanwhile, the power handling capability can reach the maximum power of the commercial 50 Ω SMA connectors (2.098 kW).

A Circularly Polarized High-Gain Planar 2 × 2 Dipole-Array Antenna Fed by a 4-Way Gysel Power Divider for WLAN Applications

In this letter, a circularly polarized high-gain planar 2 × 2 dipole-array antenna for wireless local area networks, radio frequency identification, radar, and satellite communication applications is proposed. The proposed array antenna consists of four planar dipole antennas with integrated microstrip-to-parallel-stripline linear tapered balun and feeding network. The designed array antenna is fed by a modified 4-way Gysel power divider. The proposed antenna uses three stacked metal layers, and a metal reflector under the antenna boosts the overall antenna gain. The size of the designed antenna on 3.2 mm thick FR4 substrate was 150 mm × 150 mm × 20 mm including the reflector. The designed antenna had left-hand circular polarization (LHCP), and its measured LHCP gain value was 8.70–9.62 dBic at 2.4–2.6 GHz band. The measured axial ratio was 0.3–2.2 dB at the same frequency band of interest. A thorough theoretical analysis and design equations of the proposed array antenna are presented in this letter.

A multi-layer approach of orthogonally fed circularly polarized microstrip array antenna for enhanced gain

AbstractA new circularly polarized microstrip array antenna using the orthogonal feed technique is proposed in this paper. The antenna has a multi-layer structure and a new 3-way power divider employing the both-sided microwave integrated circuit technology is designed to configure the feed network of the array. Circular polarization (CP) is realized by creating a quadrature phase difference between orthogonal feed circuits of the patches. The multi-layer structure gives flexibility to adjust the patch spacing that helps to reduce the sidelobe level of the antenna. It is found that the multi-layer structure exhibits a gain of about 2 dB higher than that of a single layer structure by means of sidelobe reduction. The proposed structure also exhibits good CP performances that are verified by a good agreement of measured and simulated results. Simple and compact structure makes the antenna suitable for various wireless applications.

Versatile Conical Conformal Array Antenna Based on Implementation of Independent and Endfire Radiation for UAV Applications

This paper proposed an integrated conical conformal array antenna (CCAA) for versatile application to the unmanned aerial vehicles. The CCAA consists of five flexible linear gradient subarrays with a uniform circumferential arrangement around the conical surface. It is also embedded with a pyramid reflective back-cavity (PRBC) within the conical carrier. The implementation for the three different elements of the linear gradient subarray toward impedance match and high isolation was investigated, and their identity resonant frequency (9.8 GHz) principle was developed and demonstrated. Furthermore, the PRBC was presented to improve the radiation null of the elements. A numerical 5-bit phase shifter manipulating phase difference of 72° was then combined with an 8-way power divider to obtain a fixed beam with a half power bandwidth (HPBW) of less than 24°, which indicated the backward endfire direction ( $\theta = 180 ^{\circ }$ ) in terms of three circumferential arrays (R#X). Finally, the measurements with the aid of the designed phase shifter and power divider (model SHPDW4-040140S) were conducted. The experimental results show one omnidirectional coverage (360°) in the $H$ -plane through the switching working mode of the elements with a wide scanning solid angle ( $\geqslant 72^{\circ }$ ) when these elements of the subarray hold an identity resonant frequency and exhibit a uniform performance in the point-to-point communication. The measurements of a narrow HPBW of less than 27.5° and the gain over 10.7 dBi in the endfire direction of the three circumferential arrays show great potential in backward blind space detection simultaneously.

An ultra-wideband three-way power divider based on spoof surface plasmon polaritons

In this paper, an ultra-wideband spoof surface plasmon polaritons’ (SSPPs) power divider with simplest odds ratio (1:3) composed of hexagonal ring unit cells is proposed. The creation of electromagnetic waves with high confinement in a collision between periodically decorated metal and dielectric is a fundamental property of SSPPs. Flexibility, low loss, decreasing cross coupling, and ability for integration are other advantages of SSPP transmission lines. In order to realize the proposed 3-way power divider, first, a novel low loss and compact subwavelength hexagonal unit cell is presented. Next, a plasmonic waveguide is designed. To decrease the dielectric losses, the effect of different substrates on transmission coefficient is investigated too. In the best condition, we have a transmission line with an excellent operation in the frequency range of 3 to 11.8 GHz with a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 119%. Then, an equal and in-phase 3-way power divider with good isolation between three output ports is designed in a wide frequency range of 2.5–8 GHz with an FBW of 105%. Finally, the proposed 3-way power divider is fabricated and tested in the laboratory. A good agreement between simulations and measurement results proves the functionality of design properly. The ultra wide-bandwidth, low loss, flexibility, and stable performance of this power divider prove its high capability compared with the state-of-the-art references. The proposed power divider can be utilized in developing an integrated plasmonic feeding network of antenna arrays in microwave and millimeter wave frequency bands.

결함 마이크로스트립 구조를 이용한 적층형 4-Way 전력분배기의 설계

본 논문에서는 결함 마이크로스트립 구조(DMS, Defected Microstrip Structure)를 이용하여 적층형 4-way 전력분배기를 소형화하여 설계한 결과를 제시한다. DMS는 전송선로의 패턴면에 주기구조가 삽입된 구조로서, 특성 임피던스의 증가, 선폭의 증가, 전기적 길이 증가로 인한 회로의 소형화와 같은 주기구조의 일반적 장점이 그대로 유지된다. 또한 DMS는 전송선로의 접지면을 건드리지 않기 때문에 설계와 구현이 간편하다는 장점이 있다. 회로 설계에 응용하는 예로서 결함 마이크로스트립 전송선로 구조를 이용하여 4-way 전력분배기를 적층구조로 설계하고, 제작 및 측정한 결과가 제시된다. 종래에 제안된 회로들에 비하여 설계와 제작이 훨씬 간편하고, 측정값과 설계값과 매우 유사하면서도 성능이 우수한 전력분배기의 설계 예를 보여준다.

2D circularly polarized antenna array fed by spoof surface plasmonic waveguide

A two-dimensional high-gain circularly polarized (CP) patch array antenna operating in Ku band is proposed in this article. To excite a novel spoof surface plasmonic transmission line (SSP-TL), which is mounted vertically on the ground, a waveguide with a transition are used for the momentum and impedance matching. A SSP-TL 4-way power divider is then used to feed a 4 × 7 circular patch array by travelling waves. Therefore, the CP radiation is generated on the patches located between the parallel SSP-TLs. Avoiding the deterioration in axial ratio, 90° phase difference between adjacent SSP-TLs is designed by tuning the height of the SSP-TLs, as the dispersion property is influenced by the height of the corrugations obviously. The simulated maximum gain of 20.6 dBi is achieved at 15.2 GHz, together with the axial ratio of 0.8 dB. A prototype is fabricated and measured to validate the proposed antenna array.

Broadband 4-way power divider with 45° phase differences between output ports

This paper presents broadband 4-way power divider with 45° phase differences between output ports. The divider is developed by combining a broadband 45° power divider and 90° power dividers, and is implemented on a 4-layer FR4 substrates, by using inner-layer crossovers, instead of conventional bonded crossovers. Over the frequency range from 400 to 700MHz, the fabricated power divider exhibits power splits of−6.8 ± 0.9dB and return losses of greater than 14dB Furthermore, isolation between the output ports is greater than 16dB, and the phase differences between output ports are within 5° of the desired values (90°, −45°, and −135°).

Design and Fabrication of Unequal Power Divider using Impedance Limitation Method

Objectives: In this letter, the achievability of an unequal power divider utilizing a microstrip innovation as a part of the P/UHF band is designed. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Unequal power divider with 3-alternatives/approaches is composed in this research work, these are traditional microstrip configuration, power divider with input transformer and discretionary outline impedance (A-arbitary) is acquainted with control high impedance values and Power divider with general outline comparisons (Determination of Z1 or Z2 with required Impedances). Findings: At long last Power divider with general outline comparisons is figured it out. In this case the impedance of any one of the quarter wave impedance transmission line chosen is 30/35Ω which is most appropriate for impedance confinement of 10-60 ohm with a large power partitioning proportion radar applications where the side projection levels are most negative required. The unequal amplitudes of the 8-way power divider is designed utilizing Taylors 1-parameter method to get the side projections levels – 17 dB down from the fundamental beam. Application/Improvements: The 2-way and 8-way power divider was simulated using Method of Moments based Zealand IE3D software (MOM) an aggregate bandwidth of 40MHz was accomplished at an resonant frequency 0.43GHz. The simulated 2-way and 8-way unequal power divider is simulated and results are given. A prototype of 2-way unequal power divider with power levels P1 and P2 are 0.79622 and 0.89352 with power ratio of 1.1222 is fabricated to verify our proposed design. Measured results are given good agreement with simulated results to confirm our proposed design.

Design of a 4-Way Power Divider Using the Multi-Layered Stripline and Defected Ground Structure

본 논문에서는 적층 스트립라인 전송선로 구조와 공통 결함접지구조를 이용한 4-way 전력분배기의 설계에 대하여 기술한다. 스트립라인 전송선로에서 전자기파의 전송모드는 순수한 TEM 모드여서 quasi-TEM 모드를 사용하는 마이크로스트립 전송선로보다 손실과 전자기파의 누설이 더 적다. 따라서 스트립라인 선로구조는 적층구조의 무선통신용 부품 설계에서 마이크로스트립보다 더 유리하다. 본 연구에서는 적층된 스트립라인의 공통 접지면에 결함접지구조를 삽입하고, 인접하는 양쪽 스트립라인 전송선로에 결함접지구조의 장점을 결합시켜 전력분배기를 설계한다. 적층 스트립라인 구조가 적층 이전에 비하여 이미 자체적으로 소형화된 상태이지만, 여기에 공통 결함접지구조를 삽입하므로 회로는 더욱 소형화되어 표준형 구조를 갖는 평면형 회로의 약 1/3에 불과하다. 크기가 줄어도 회로의 성능은 동일하게 유지된다. 측정된 4-way 전력분배기의 전력분배비는 -6.27~-6.5dB이고, 위상차는 1.01°~2.14°에 불과하며 예측 결과와 매우 유사하다.

Dual-band 3-way power divider and combiner based on CRLH-TLs

In this paper, by using composite right and left handed transmission lines and non-radiating CRLH-TLs, a dual-band 3-way series power divider (SPD) is presented. The proposed dual-band divider is designed and fabricated on an inexpensive FR4 substrate of thickness h = 0.79 mm and a relative dielectric constant of εr = 4.4 to work at 0.915 and 2.440 GHz. Also, in order to improve the isolation characteristics of this divider, three isolation resistors are implemented among output ports. Derived formulas are presented in details. The dual-band nature of the designed SPD, good input return loss, as well as equal power split among the three output ports, flexibility of spacing the output ports arbitrarily apart, and easy integration with planar devices make the proposed divider well suited for feeding many dual-band microwave circuits, such as multipliers, mixers, and planar array antennas. In addition, due to its excellent return-loss at the output ports and its high isolation, the proposed divider in this paper can be used as a power combiner.