An Improved Filtering Power Divider Using Substrate Integrated Waveguide for Ku-Band Satellite Applications

Abstract

This paper presents an improved design of a Ku-band power divider (PD) based on a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. The design is aimed at using the block upconverter (BUC) of the Ku-band satellite communication system. The PD has been developed to operate in the frequency range of 13.75–14.5 GHz for low-loss, good isolation, and good amplitude and phase imbalances for both power dividing and combining. To increase the isolation between output ports, TE₁₀₂ mode is selected to operate in the main cavity while the coupled cavity operates in the TE₁₀₁ mode. Low insertion loss of the PD can be achievable by determining Q factor of the SIW cavities. In addition, good phase and amplitude imbalances can also be obtained by making a suitable arrangement of the input and output ports. The measured results at the center frequency of 14.12 GHz exhibit an insertion loss of 1.3 dB, return loss of 16.9 dB, isolation of 16 dB, amplitude imbalance of 1.2 dB, and phase imbalance of 2.8°. The simulations are consistent with the measurements, validating the accuracy of the proposed method. The proposed PD can be a promising candidate for use in the BUC of the Ku-band satellite systems.