Compact microstrip lowpass filter with wide stopband and sharp roll-off using tapered resonator

In this article, a novel microstrip lowpass filter (LPF) with specifications such as sharp cut-off, wide stopband, low insertion loss and high return loss using tapered resonator is presented. The LPF has cut-off frequency of 1.11 GHz, where unwanted harmonics are suppressed by novel tapered cells. The bandwidth is enhanced, and the size is reduced as compared to the conventional tapered filter. The transition band is approximately 0.29 GHz from 1.11 to 1.4 GHz with corresponding attenuation levels of –3 and –20 dB, respectively. The stopband with greater than –20 dB rejection is from 1.4 to 8.9 GHz, insertion loss in the passband is less than 0.1 dB, return loss is less than –18 dB and the overall size of the filter is 0.12 × 0.073 λ_g. The proposed filter is fabricated and measured. The simulation and measurement results are in good agreement. This LPF is designed for microwave communication applications, especially wireless video transmitters.