ECM717

MICROWAVE PROPAGATION SYSTEMS

ASSIGNMENT #1
Coupler, Filter and Amplifier Design

MUHAMMAD SYAMSI MOHD TAUFK (2016530569)

Mohd Tarmizi Ali (Assoc. Prof. Dr.)
 MICROWAVE PROPAGATION DESIGN
Topic 1: COUPLER
Couplers and hybrids are passive components used in systems to combine or divide signals. They are commonly used
in antenna feeds, frequency discriminators, balanced mixers, modulators, balanced amplifiers, phase shifters, mono
pulse comparators, automatic signal level control, signal monitoring, and many other applications. A good coupler or
hybrid should have a:

i. good Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR),

ii. low insertion loss,
iii. good isolation and directivity, and
iv. constant coupling over a wide bandwidth.

1.1 Directional Coupler

A directional coupler is a four-port device with the property that a wave incident in port 1 couples power into ports 2
and 3 but not into 4, as shown in Figure 1. The structure has four ports: input, direct (through), coupled, and isolated.
The power P1 is fed into port 1, which is matched to the generator impedance; P2, P3, and P4 are the power levels
available at ports 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The three important parameters describing the performance of the coupler
are coupling factor, directivity, and isolation, defined by

Figure 1

In general, the performance of the coupler is specified by its coupling factor, directivity, and terminating impedance.
The isolated port is usually terminated by a matched load. Low insertion loss and high directivity are desired features
of the coupler. Multisection designs are normally used to increase the bandwidth.

Hybrid Coupler

Hybrids or hybrid couplers are commonly used as 3-dB couplers, although some other coupling factors can also be
achieved. In this section, 90° hybrid and 180° hybrid coupler is discussed.
90° hybrid coupler

The 90° Hybrid Coupler is a 4-port device, otherwise known as the quadrature coupler or branch-line coupler. Its
scattering matrix (ideally) has the symmetric solution for a matched, lossless, reciprocal 4-port device:

Figure 2

However, for this coupler we find that

Therefore, the scattering matrix of a quadrature couple is:

It is evident that, just as with the directional coupler, the ports are matched and the device is lossless. Note also, that
if a signal is incident on one port only, then there will be a port from which no power will exit (i.e., an isolation port).

Unlike the directional coupler, the power that is flows into the input port will be evenly divided between the two
non-isolated ports.

For example, if 10 mW is incident on port 3 (and all other ports re matched), then 5 mW will flow out of both port 1
and port 4, while no power will exit port 2 (the isolated port).

However, that the although the magnitudes of the signal leaving ports 1 and 4 are equal, the relative phase of the
two signals are separated by 90 degrees ( ejπ/2 = j).

We find, therefore, that if in real terms the voltage out of port 1 is:

Then the signal form port 4 will be:

There are many useful applications where we require both the sine and cosine of a signal.
We construct a quadrature hybrid with quarter-wavelength sections of transmission lines.

Note that this circuit is symmetric, we can use odd/even mode analysis.

Note that the λ/4 structures make the quadrature hybrid an inherently narrow-band device.

180° hybrid

The 180° Hybrid Coupler (sometimes know as the “ring”, “ratrace”, or “Magic-T” hybrid) is a lossless, matched and
reciprocal 4-port device, with a scattering matrix of the anti-symmetric form (D1 symmetry):

Just like the quadrature coupler, however, we find that:

So that the scattering matrix for this device is:

Hence, this coupler is likewise a 3dB coupler—the power into a given port (with all other ports matched) is equally
divided between two of the three output ports.

Note the relative phase between the outputs, however, is dependent on which port is the input.

For example, if the input is port 1 or port 3, the two signals will be in phase—no difference in their relative phase.

However, if the input is port 2 or port 4, the output signals will be 180° out of phase ( ejπ = −1 )

An interesting application of this coupler can be seen if we place two input signals into the device, at ports 2 and 3
(with ports 1 and 2 terminated in matched loads).

Note that the output of port 1 is proportional to the sum of the two inputs. Port 1 of a 180D Hybrid Coupler is thus
often referred to as the sum (Σ) port.

Likewise, port 4 is proportional to the difference between the two inputs. Port 4 a 180D Hybrid Coupler is thus often
referred to as the delta (∆) port.

There are many applications where we wish to take the sum and/or difference between two signals. The 180° Hybrid
Coupler can likewise be used in the opposite manner. If we have both the sum and difference of two signals
available, we can use this device to separate the signals into their separate components.

Hybrid couple is made of lengths of transmission lines. However, unlike the quadrature hybrid, the characteristic
impedance of each line is identical ( 2Z0 ), but the lengths of the lines are dissimilar.

Note there is one plane of bilateral symmetry (D1) in this circuit—we can use even/odd mode analysis!

However, we must perform two separate analysis—one using sources on ports 1 and 3:
While the other uses sources on ports 2 and 4:

Finally, because of the transmission line lengths, we find that the ring hybrid is a narrow-band device.

Topic 2: FILTER
Filters are two-port networks used to attenuate undesirable frequencies. Microwave filters are commonly used in
transceiver circuits.

Figure 3

If port 2 of this device is terminated in a matched load, then we can relate the incident and output power as:

We define this power transmission through a filter in terms of the power transmission coefficient T:

Since microwave filters are typically passive, we find that:

Two possibilities of missing power: the power is either absorbed (Pabs) by the filter (converted to heat), or is
reflected (Pr) at the input port.
Thus, by conservation of energy:

Pinc  Pr  Pabs  Pout

Now ideally, a microwave filter is lossless, therefore Pabs = 0 and:

Pinc  Pr  Pout
which alternatively can be written as:

Pinc Pr  Pout

Pinc Pinc
Pr Pout
1 
Pinc Pinc
Recall that Pout/Pinc = Τ , and we can likewise define Pr/Pinc as the power reflection coefficient:

Pr
  S11
2

Pinc
We again emphasize that the filter output port is terminated in a matched load. Thus, we can conclude that for a
lossless filter:

1 
Which is simply another way of saying for a lossless device that 1 = |S11|2 + |S21|2.

For a microwave filter, the coefficients Γ and Τ are functions of frequency, Γ(ω) and T(ω) which describe the
behaviour of a microwave filter.

We find that for most signal frequencies, ωs , these functions will have a value equal to one of two different
approximate value, either

  s   0 and T   s   1 or
  s   1 and T   s   0
In the first case, the signal frequency, ωs is said to lie in the pass-band of the filter. Almost all of the incident signal
power will pass through the filter.

In the second case, the signal frequency, ωs is said to lie in the stop-band of the filter. Almost all of the incident signal
power will be reflected at the input-almost no power will appear at the filter output.
Consider then these four types of the function of Γ(ω) and T(ω):

1. Low-Pass Filter

For this filter

This filter is a low-pass type, as it “passes” signals with frequencies less than ωc, while “rejecting” signals at
frequencies greater than ωc . Frequency ωc is a filter parameter known as the cutoff frequency which is a value
that approximately defines the frequency region where the filter pass-band transitions into the filter stop band.
Accordingly, this frequency is defined as the frequency where the power transmission coefficient is equal to ½ or
T (ω = ωc) = 0.5.
For the lossless filter, ωc is likewise the value where the power reflection coefficient is ½ or Γ (ω = ωc) = 0.5
2. High-Pass Filter

For this filter:

This filter is a high-pass type, as it “passes” signals with frequencies greater than ωc , while “rejecting” signals at
frequencies less than ωc.

3. Band-Pass Filter
 For this filter:

This filter is a band-pass type, as it “passes” signals within a frequency bandwidth ∆ω , while “rejecting” signals
at all frequencies outside this bandwidth.
In addition to filter bandwidth ∆ω , a fundamental parameter of bandpass filters is ω0, which defines the centre
frequency of the filter bandwidth.
4. Band -Stop Filter

For this filter:

This filter is a band-stop type, as it “rejects” signals within a frequency bandwidth ∆ω , while “passing” signals at
all frequencies outside this bandwidth.

Topic 3: AMPLIFIER DESIGN

Microwave amplifiers are a common and crucial component of wireless transceivers. They are constructed around a
microwave transistor from the field effect transistor (FET) or bipolar junction transistor (BJT) families.

A general microwave amplifier can be represented by the 2-port S-matrix network between a pair of impedance-
matching networks. The matching networks are necessary to minimize reflections seen by the source and to
maximize power to the output.
There are three standard ways of defining amplifier gain:

1. Power Gain
Power gain is defined as:
PL
G
Pin
Thus, it describes the increase in delivered (absorbed) power from input to ouput. From our power definitions,
we find that:

Where,

2. Available Gain
Available gain is defined as:
Pavn
GA 
Pavs
Thus, it describes the increase in available power from input to output. From our power definition, we find that:

3. Transducer Gain
Transducer gain is defined as:
 PL
GT 
Pavs
Thus, it relates the power available from the source to the power delivered to the load. It in effect describes how
effectual the amplifier was in extracting the available power from the source, increasing this power, and then
delivering the power to the load.

There are likewise a few special cases that we need to be aware of. If both the source and the load impedance
are Z0, then we find Γs = ΓL = 0, and then not surprisingly:

GT  S21
2

Additionally, we often find that S21=0 (or least approximately so), and as a result Γ = in S11, so:

We call this gain the unilateral transducer power gain GTU.

Maximum gain amplifier

To design amplifier such that the source is matched to the input of the gain element, the output of gain element
is matched to the load, we find the transducer gain for the matched case is:

And the unilateral transducer gain for the matched case is:
There of course are the maximum transducer gain possible, given a specific gain element, and a source and load
impedance of Z0.

The magnitude of scattering parameters of resulting amplifier can be determined. If a matching network
establishes a match at its output, then a match is likewise present at its input.

As a result, we know that the input impedance of the input matching network must be Z0:

Meaning that the scattering parameter S11 of the matched amplifier is zero.
S11amp  0
Likewise, the output impedance of the output matching network must be also be Z0:

As a result, the scattering parameter S22 of the match amplifier is also zero.
S22amp  0
Now, since bith ports of the amplifier are matched, we can determine that the magnitude of the amplifier
scattering parameter S21 is simply the transducer gain GTmax.

The scattering parameter S12 and S21 in the expression above are those of the gain element. From this result,
we can likewise conclude that for the remaining scattering parameter: