Design of a fully integrated wideband six-port network on a single layer microstrip substrate

• Published in: Microwave and optical technology letters 2012-08, Vol.54 (8), p.1796-1803
• Main Authors: Ibrahim, Siti Zuraidah, Bialkowski, Marek E., Karim, Mohd Nazri A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: planar elliptical coupler; single layer technology; six-port network; Wilkinson power divider; wireless via phase shifter
• ISSN: 0895-2477; 1098-2760
• DOI: 10.1002/mop.26976

The design of a novel wideband six‐port network on a single layer microstrip substrate is presented.Two different configurations of the single‐layer six‐port networks, one conventional and the other nonconventional, are designed, fabricated, and measured. The six‐port network based on the conventional configuration is formed by one Wilkinson divider and three couplers, with one unused port terminated with a coaxial match termination. The nonconventional six‐port network, proposed here, is constructed using a similar configuration except one of the couplers is replaced by a quadrature power divider eliminating the need for match termination. To obtain fully planar device with wideband operation, the six‐port networks use double‐stage Wilkinson dividers, disk type couplers, and a wireless via 90° phase shifter. Their performances are assessed via full‐wave electromagnetic simulations and measurements. Both the simulated and the measured results show a wide bandwidth of the two six‐port configurations in terms of amplitude and phase characteristics across the frequency band of 4.5–8.5 GHz. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:1796–1803, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26976