Novel compact dual‐narrow/wideband branch‐line couplers using T‐Shaped stepped‐impedance‐stub lines

This article presents a compact model to reduce the physical size and increase the frequency ratio between the second and first resonance frequencies of a dual‐function stepped‐impedance‐stub (SIS) line, which was subsequently employed in the realization of dual‐band branch‐line couplers. The proposed model comprises of a loaded spiral T‐shaped SIS that reduces the size of a conventional SIS line as well as improving its frequency ratio. The proposed model behaves exactly similar to the recently developed dual‐band resonators with the advantage of size reduction of ～35% as well as having a wide range of realizable frequency ratios between 1.4 and 3.7 compared to 1.7–2.7 and 1.8–2.3 for the conventional SIS and T‐shaped transmission‐lines, respectively. Dual‐narrowband and wideband branch‐line couplers were developed based on the spiral T‐shaped SIS lines. The dual‐wideband device's bandwidth was enhanced by 2.7% accompanied by a size reduction of 58.6% in comparison with the conventional dual‐wideband couplers operating at the same frequencies. The theoretical results were verified by measurement. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2011.     

Dual‐band dual‐polarized hybrid aperture‐cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna for wireless applications

A dual‐band dual‐polarized hybrid aperture‐cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (CDRA) is examined in this article. Inverted regular pentagon shaped aperture is not only used to launch two radiating hybrid modes (HEM_11δ and HEM_12δ mode) in CDRA but also act as a radiator. Out of two frequency bands, the lower frequency band is linearly polarized while upper frequency band is the combination of both circular and linear polarization. A circular polarization (CP) characteristic in upper frequency band is created by loading quarter annular stub with microstrip line. LHCP/RHCP can easily be controlled by alternating the position of quarter annular stub. It is operating over two frequency ranges i.e. 2.48‐2.98 GHz and 4.66‐5.88 GHz with the fractional bandwidth 18.31% and 23.14% respectively. Axial ratio bandwidth (3‐dB) is approximately 8.78% (4.9‐5.35 GHz) in upper frequency band. The proposed antenna design is suitable WiMAX (2.5/5.5 GHz) and WLAN (2.5/5.5 GHz) applications.     

Miniaturized wide‐band rat‐race coupler

New designs of wide‐band rat‐race couplers are proposed. The wide‐band operation is achieved with the use of the microstrip nonuniform transmission line sections for the branches of the conventional rat‐race coupler. The design formulas are developed using ABCD matrix and the even‐ and odd‐mode analysis. The theoretical analysis has been verified by measurements of the two manufactured wideband rat‐race couplers, one operate within 0.85–1.92 GHz and other within 1.55–3.55 GHz frequency range with the equal normalized characteristic impedance functions. For both fabricated couplers, the isolation parameter is better than 15 dB over a 77% relative bandwidth. Also, it is shown that the designed wide‐band rat‐race coupler can be realized in higher frequency bands with the fixed fractional bandwidth. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 23: 675–681, 2013.     

Independently controllable dual‐band microstrip bandpass filter using quadruple‐mode stub‐loaded resonator

In this article, a quadruple‐mode stub‐loaded resonator (QM‐SLR) is introduced and its four modes are excited using a simple approach, which can provide a dual‐band behavior. By changing the length of the loaded stubs, independently tunable transmission characteristics of the proposed quadruple‐mode stub‐loaded resonator were extensively described for filter design. Moreover, microwave varactors were adopted to represent the length variation of the loaded stubs for the dual‐band tunability. The equivalent circuit modeling of the open stub with microwave varactor was given and discussed. Then, adopting the compact quadruple‐mode stub‐loaded resonator with three varactors, an independently controllable dual‐band bandpass filter (BPF) was designed, analyzed, and fabricated. Its separated bandwidths and transmission zeros can be tuned independently by changing the applying voltage of the microwave varactors. A good agreement between simulated and measured results verified the design methodology. The proposed filter possesses compact size, simple structure, and excellent dual‐band performances. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 26:602–608, 2016.     

Multisection branch line couplers as dual‐band crossovers using coupled lines for wideband applications

This article presents multisection branch line couplers as dual‐band crossovers using coupled lines (CLs) for wide bandwidth (BW) applications. The efficiency of the CL as a dual‐band impedance transformer and its closed form design equations has also been explored. Specifically, dual‐band crossovers having three and four sections have been designed using the advanced design system software and then implemented on a Rogers 5870 substrate with a dielectric constant of 2.33 and thickness of 0.787 mm. The designs have been developed for 1 and 2.6 GHz operating frequency bands. A much wider BW and interband suppression, of 225/218 MHz and 86.45% for the three‐section prototype and 269/260 MHz and 85% for the four‐section prototype respectively, have been achieved. It is concluded that the proposed crossovers exhibited a much wider BW as compared to the existing dual‐band crossovers.     

A compact dual‐band filtering antenna for wireless local area network applications

A printed dual‐band filtering antenna with decent frequency selectivity at 2.45 and 5.2 GHz for wireless local area network (WLAN) applications is developed. The filtering antenna is compact, which comprises a tapped feed line, two dual‐band stub‐loaded open‐loop resonators, and a dual‐band bended monopole. It can be easily printed on a single layer PCB substrate with low profile and low cost. The entire structure is very simple compared with the previously reported dual‐band filtering antennas that requiring multi‐layer structures. The monopole functions as not only a radiator, but also the last resonator of a dual‐band filter. The developed antenna exhibits good frequency selectivity and out‐of‐band suppression. In addition, the two operation bands can be adjusted relatively individually. The proposed antenna is optimized and fabricated. The experimental results show it has good frequency selectivity at both 2.45 and 5.2 GHz, wide bandwidth 11.8% and 7.8%, and excellent out‐of‐band suppression.     

Dual‐band Gysel power dividers with large frequency ratio and unequal power division

In this article, a dual‐band Gysel power divider is proposed based on the topology of finite‐ground microstrip line. The general design method for the large frequency ratio and unequal power division is derived and the detailed design rules are provided. It is shown that the frequency ratio can be achieved from 1 to 10, and the power division ratio of each frequency band can be separately determined. Moreover, the phase differences at two operating bands could be designed to be either in‐phase or out‐of‐phase. Finally, two prototypes are designed, implemented, and experimented to validate this proposal. The measured results of the first design show the frequency ratio of 4 with power division ratios of 2:1 in both passband, while the second example is designed with the frequency ratio of 10 with power division ratios of 2:1 and 1:1 in the first and second passband, respectively. Both results show a good agreement between the simulated and measured results.     

Analytical method for optimal design of RF dual‐band rat‐race couplers for arbitrary frequency ratios

This article presents an analytical method to design a hybrid structure dual‐band rat‐race coupler at microwave frequencies. The proposed structure uses six identical cells of which each is engineered to work as a quarter wavelength transmission line with proper characteristic impedance at two distinct frequencies having arbitrary frequency ratio. The performances of the π‐ and T‐cells are studied to assess their ability to provide the required electrical parameters for dual‐band operation. It is demonstrated that the single‐section π‐topology can only lead to a suboptimal design for a dual‐band rat‐race cell at two nonharmonic frequencies. In contrast, the proposed double‐section π‐cell structure allows achieving an optimal dual‐band cell design. A dual‐band rat‐race coupler designed at 2.14 and 3.6 GHz has been simulated and fabricated in hybrid microstrip technology. Measurement results agree well with analytically based simulation results, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed structure for dual‐band operation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 22: 690–700, 2012.     

Design method for quasi‐optimal multiband branch‐line couplers

In this article, the design approach, the implementation, and experimental results of multiband branch‐line couplers operating at arbitrary frequencies are presented. The conventional branch‐line coupler structure is adapted to multiband operation by shunting its four ports with multiband reactive networks. The performance of the proposed multiband couplers is theoretically analyzed and optimized through the even‐odd mode circuit analysis. Dual‐band (2.4–3.5 GHz), triple‐band (1.5–2.4–4.2 GHz), and quad‐band (1.5–2.4–3.5 GHz) microstrip branch‐line couplers have been realized and tested to verify the design method. The good experimental results (input return loss greater than 15 dB and amplitude imbalance lower than 0.7 dB) show excellent agreement with theoretical and simulated ones, thus validating the proposed approach. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:117–129, 2014.     

A dual‐band branch line coupler for LTE 0.7 GHz and LTE 2.6 GHz frequencies

In this paper, a dual‐band branch line coupler (BLC) for Long Term Evolution (LTE) 0.7 GHz and LTE 2.6 GHz frequencies is designed and developed. A dual‐band quarter wave transmission line (DBQWTL) capable to perform dual band operation for frequency ratio >3 is also proposed. The dual band BLC is designed by replacing the quarter wave transmission line of the conventional single band BLC with the proposed DBQWTL. By means of even and odd mode analysis, the closed form design equations of the proposed DBQWTL are obtained. Considering the implementation viewpoint of the proposed BLC, the circuit parameter analysis is carried out. The proposed BLC performs dual band operation with maximum amplitude imbalance of 0.26 dB and phase deviation of 3.07°. It is found in the comparative analysis that the proposed BLC has novelty in terms of its operating frequency ratio range.     

A novel dual‐band ring coupler based on dual‐band phase inverter

A novel dual‐band ring coupler based on dual‐band phase inverter is proposed. And two types of dual‐band phase inverters (Type I and Type II) are designed in this article. The design method of dual‐band ring coupler is simpler than the traditional ways like replace the single‐band λ/4 transmission line with dual‐band λ/4 transmission line. Its main idea is replacing the wide‐band phase inverter with dual‐band phase inverter. Two dual‐band ring couplers (0.9/2.88 and 0.9/2.43 GHz) using the two types of dual‐band phase inverter, respectively, are simulated and measured. The measured results validate the proposed method.     

A thin‐layer dielectric and metamaterial unit‐cell stack loaded miniaturized SRR‐based antenna for triple narrow band 4G‐LTE applications

This article presents the design of a miniaturized dual‐band antenna for long‐term evolution (LTE) application is presented. In the basic antenna design, split ring resonator was loaded in the radiating plane of the patch and frequency of resonance was further modified with the help of E‐shaped stub. The antenna has been fabricated using FR‐4 substrate and the measured dual bands at 2.11 and 2.665 GHz are found in a close match with the simulated data. By placing a thin dielectric resonator of permittivity ε _r = 10.2 and thickness of 1.27 mm, two closely spaced narrow bands are obtained at 2.217 and 2.28 GHz. A novel metamaterial unit‐cell having near‐zero refractive index is designed and mounted above the dielectric resonator. This stack configuration generates triple narrow frequency band in the LTE 2 GHz spectrum range. The overall size of the proposed antenna is 20 × 25 mm².     

A broadband out‐of‐phase gysel power divider based on a dual‐band circuit with a single fixed isolation resistor

Based on the double‐sided parallel‐strip lines with an inserted conductor as a virtual ground, a high power divider with dual‐band/broadband response and frequency‐independent 180° phase difference between the output ports is implemented in this paper. The circuit topology employs a single commercially available external isolation resistor as well as moderate line impedances (15–100 ohm), making it suitable for high‐power applications. Precise closed‐form design equations on the basis of even‐ and odd‐mode analysis are derived. In addition to the wide range of frequency band ratios from 1 to 2.65, broadband response is also obtained by selecting the proper value of frequency band ratios. To substantiate the design equations and theory, a circuit with 2:1 frequency ratio and 84.5% bandwidth referring to 16 dB isolation and 12 dB return loss values is developed. To the authors' knowledge, this is the widest bandwidth reported for out‐of‐phase high power dividers. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2016.     

Design guidelines for single and dual wide band leaky periodic microstrip line antennas

Leaky wave antennas using periodic microstrip lines are natural choices for versatile beam scanning applications. In this work, a shorted stub and an open stub are simultaneously used in the same unit cell to generate resonant frequencies dependent on the stub dimensions. Placing one such resonant frequency at the second Bragg stop band, a single wideband response is obtained. Next, the stub lengths are tuned to obtain two resonant frequencies which are placed at the second and fourth Bragg stop bands, respectively to obtain a dual wideband response. Design guidelines are outlined for obtaining these wide bands and corresponding radiation regions. Two such geometries with single and dual‐band nature are fabricated. The single wide‐band antenna has a pass‐band from 5.89 to 11.57 GHz with a beam scanning range of ?56° to 33°. The dual‐band antenna has two pass‐bands radiating in the frequency range 5‐6.5 GHz and 10.7‐14.7 GHz. Beam scanning range in the first pass‐band is ?72° to ?5°. The second pass‐band, in part, demonstrates a dual‐beam nature with the forward beam scanning from 28.9° to 54.5° and backward beam scanning from ?54.5° to 14.76° as the frequency varies from 12 to 14.5 GHz.     

Dual extended composite right/left‐handed transmission line metamaterial

The new concept of dual extended composite right/left‐handed transmission line (D‐ECRLH TL), with 2 right handed and 2 left handed frequency bands is presented. The D‐ECRLH TL and extended composite right/left handed transmission line are structurally dual. Therefore, the proposed TL shows the dual properties of the ECRLH TL. The D‐ECRLH indeed behaves as a dual‐band bandstop filter, in opposition to the ECRLH which is a dual‐band bandpass one. In contrast, the D‐ECRLH creates an unlimited LH bandwidth. In this article, the transmission parameters and the fundamental properties of the D‐ECRLH TL (dispersion and impedance diagrams) are investigated. The results show that the proposed structure is suitable to design the quad‐band microwave circuits and systems. A prototype of the proposed D‐ECRLH unit cell is realized by the microstrip technology. The good agreement between the measurement and simulation results confirms the realizability of the proposed structure.     

Complementary meander‐line‐inspired dielectric resonator multiple‐input‐multiple‐output antenna for dual‐band applications

The communication presents a simple dielectric resonator (DR) multiple‐input‐multiple‐output (MIMO) dual‐band antenna. It utilizes two “I”‐shaped DR elements to construct an “I”‐shaped DR array antenna (IDRAA) for MIMO applications. The ground plane of the antenna is defected by two spiral complementary meander lines and two circular ground slots. In the configuration, two “I”‐shaped DR elements are placed with a separation of 0.098λ. The antenna covers dual‐band frequency spectra from 3.46 to 5.37 GHz (43.26%) and from 5.89 to 6.49 GHz (9.7%). It ensures the C‐band downlink (3.7‐4.2 GHz), uplink (5.925‐6.425 GHz), and WiMAX (5.15‐5.35 GHz) frequency bands. Each DR element is excited with a 50‐Ω microstrip line feed with aperture‐coupling mechanism. The antenna offers very high port isolation of around 18.5 and 20 dB in the lower band and upper band, respectively. The proposed structure is suitable to operate in the MIMO system because of its very nominal envelope correlation coefficient (<0.015) and high diversity gain (>9.8). The MIMO antenna provides very good mean effective gain value (±0.35 dB) and low channel capacity loss (<0.35 bit/s/Hz) throughout the entire operating bands. Simulated and measured results are in good agreement and they approve the suitability of the proposed IDRAA for C‐band uplink and downlink applications and WiMAX band applications.     

Directional‐coupler‐based microwave sensors for differential angular‐displacement measurement

The novel application of microwave directional couplers to develop angular‐displacement microwave sensors is reported. The proposed sensor approach employs as stator a branch‐line‐type coupler arranged in transversal mode by loading its direct and coupled ports with two distinct‐length open‐ended stubs. Thus, by taking the isolated port of the coupler as the stator output node, a bandpass filtering transfer function with transmission zeros (TZs) is created. Then, a rotor made up of an angularly‐moveable open‐ended stub is attached to a curved section of the longest loading stub of the stator through physical contact, so that their interconnection point varies with the angular‐displacement of the rotor. In this manner, the sensor transfer function is altered with the stub rotation through TZ reallocation, angular‐displacement sensing capabilities are achieved. The theoretical operational foundations of the conceived branch‐line‐coupler‐based microwave angular‐displacement sensor, which features single/multi‐band sensing properties in terms of inter‐TZ spacing and stop band attenuation levels, along with design examples and curves are provided. The extrapolation of this sensor principle to other classes of power‐distribution circuits, such as the rat‐race‐type directional coupler, is also demonstrated. Finally, for experimental‐validation purposes, two 920 MHz microstrip prototypes of the conceived branch‐line‐coupler‐based angular‐displacement microwave‐sensor approach are built and measured.     

Dual‐band rotary standing‐wave voltage‐controlled oscillator

In this article, a dual‐band rotary standing‐wave oscillator (RSWO) is introduced that generates sinusoidal signals by the formation of a standing wave on a ring (closed‐loop)‐distributed composite right/left‐handed (CRL) Inductor‐Capacitor (LC) transmission line network. The LC network consists of four unit cells of CRL LC resonator stacked in series, and two pairs of cross‐coupled transistors are used to compensate for the loss of LC resonator. Varactors are used as the control to switch on/off the high‐ or low‐frequency bands. In the fundamental mode, the RSWO operates at the high‐frequency band. In the harmonic mode, the oscillator provides low‐frequency band outputs. The dual‐band function exploits the multiple oscillation modes of the CRL RSWO. The proposed RSWO has been implemented with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited (TSMC) 0.18‐μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. It can generate differential signals in the high‐band frequency range of 6.73–8.60 GHz and in the low‐band frequency range of 3.68–3.73 GHz. The die area of the RSWO is 1.123 × 1.123 mm². © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:536–543, 2014.     

Dual‐band branch‐line hybrid with distinct power division ratio over the two bands

This article presents a novel methodology for the design of transmission line‐based dual‐band branch‐line hybrid with distinct power division over any two specified frequencies. These distinct power divisions at specified frequencies are achieved while keeping the quadrature relation intact at both the frequencies. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique, a prototype of dual‐band uneven branch‐line hybrid operating at 1960 and 3500 MHz has been designed for use in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) applications. The designed hybrid possesses equal power division in the WCDMA band and 3‐dB unequal power division in the WiMax band. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.     

A novel compact planar ultra‐wideband antenna with dual band‐notched characteristics

A novel planar ultrawideband monopole antenna with dual notched bands is presented. The antenna mainly consists of a radiation patch and a modified ground plane. To realize dual band‐notched characteristics, a U‐shaped stub embedded in the rectangular slot of the radiation patch and a novel coupled open‐/shorted‐circuit stub resonator are used on the backside of the substrate. The bandwidth of the dual notched bands can be controllable by adjusting some key parameters. The simulated and measured results indicate that the proposed antenna offers a very wide bandwidth from 2.6 to 18 GHz with Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) < 2, except the dual notched bands of 3.3–3.7 GHz (World Interoperability for Microwave Access [WiMAX]) and 5.15–5.825 GHz (Wireless Local Area Network [WLAN]). Furthermore, good group delay and stable gains can be achieved over the operating frequencies. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:48–55, 2015.