Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on TELECOMMUNICATIONS and INFORMATICS

Review of Different Ring Resonator Coupling Methods

Athanasios Vitas Vassiliki Vita George E. Chatzarakis Lambros Ekonomou

athvitas@gmail.com vasvita@yahoo.co.uk geaxatz@otenet.gr leekonom@gmail.com

A.S.PE.T.E. - School of Pedagogical and Technological Education

Department of Electrical Engineering Educators
Ν. Ηeraklion, 141 21 Athens, Greece

Abstract: Microstrip ring resonators can be applied in microwave filters and oscillators as well as in their
original role as tools for dielectric material characterisation. They have been widely used in satellite
broadcast reception systems, military facilities, base stations, radar detectors, wireless mobile
communications, telecommunications computer systems, PCS/PCN filters, microwave, modern medicine
and many other areas.In the absence of open ends, ring resonators have a distinctive low radiation loss when
comparing to other microwave resonators. They can be practically implemented rather easily and can be
realised as simple structures. This paper deals with the design of a simple ring resonator including the design
and implementation of a simulation model for the review of different ring resonator coupling techniques: the
Loose-coupling, the Enhanced-coupling and final the Matched-stub-coupling technique. Finally, a
comparison among the developed simulation models was performed in order to evaluate each technique and
conclusions were extracted.

Key-Words: telecommunications; ring resonator; resonator coupling.

1. Introduction coupling gaps

A microstrip ring resonator consists of a closed
loop of microstrip line. Microstrip ring resonators
have been extensively used for the measurements
of dispersion, phase velocity, and dielectric
constant. The ring resonator alone naturally acts as
a band pass filter. Resonance occurs at frequencies
for which the circumference of the ring is equal to
a whole number, n, of guided wavelengths on the
curved microstrip transmission line. It is well feed lines
known that ring resonators have low radiation loss, Figure1: Microstrip ring resonator.
high Q value and two orthogonal modes (dual
mode) [1].

where r is the mean radius of the ring that equals

2. The Ring Resonator model
The ring resonator is simply a transmission line
formed in a closed loop. The basic circuit consists
of the feed lines, coupling gaps and the resonator.
One possible arrangement is shown in Figure 1.
When the mean circumference of the ring
resonator is equal to an integral multiple of a
guided wavelength, resonance is established. This
may be expressed as:
the average of the outer and inner radii, λg is the
guided wavelength ,and n is the mode number.
This relation is valid for the loose coupling case, as
it does not take into account the coupling effects.
From this equation, the resonant frequencies for
the different modes can be calculated since λg is
frequency dependent. For the first mode, the
maxima of the field occur at the coupling gap
locations, and nulls occur 90o from the coupling
gap locations [2].

ISSN: 1790-5117 227 ISBN: 978-954-92600-2-1

 Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on TELECOMMUNICATIONS and INFORMATICS

The ring can also by fed by only one feed as shown the resonant frequencies of the circuit to deviate
in Figure 2. from the intrinsic resonant frequencies of the ring.
coupling gap Hence, to accurately model the ring resonator, the
capacitances of the coupling gaps should be
considered [4, 5].

feed line
Figure 2: Microstrip ring resonator with one feed
line.
Models of this one port circuit are used in the
dielectric constant or Q-measurements and the
ring-resonator-stabilised oscillations. In this case,
the resonances occur as:
3. Coupling methods
Employing different coupling techniques the
performance of the resonator could be enhanced or
degraded. In this section the behaviour of the
resonator was studied by using different coupling
techniques. Three different coupling techniques
were studied in order to determine the most
suitable technique for use with the simple ring
resonator. The three different techniques are:
a)Loose-coupling, b) Enhanced-coupling and c)
Matched-stub-coupling [6].

3.1 Loose-coupling
For the first mode, the maximum field occurs at the Loose coupling technique is the simplest form of
opposite side. The first mode occurs when the ring coupling. Loose coupling is a manifestation of the
circumference is equal to half of a guide negligibly small capacitance of the coupling gap
wavelength. For a microstrip ring, λg can be related (Figure 4) [7]. An investigation took place in order
to a frequency by: to determine the optimum values for which the
resonator gives a good compromise between the
loss and the Q-factor. The simulation results
recorded for varying the gap size are shown in
Table 1.
where c is the speed of light and εeff is the effective
dielectric constant. Table 1: Simulation results varying the gap size.
g S21 in QL fresonance in
2.1 Coupling gap dB Ghz
The coupling gap is the separation between the 1 -4.987 158.05 3.082
feed lines and the ring. This can be represented 3 -5.44 171.47 3.0865
by the arrangement shown in Figure 3. 5 -5.439 169.58 3.0864
7 -7.577 209.43 3.0995
9 -8.829 229.96 3.1044
C1 C2 C1 11 -10.197 250.69 3.1086
13 -11.672 265.99 3.1121
15 -13.243 283.2 3.1152
17 -14.06 289.91 3.1165
Figure 3: Equivalent circuit of the coupling gap. 19 -14.9 296.93 3.1178
21 -16.633 308.91 3.12
Power is coupled into and out of the resonator 23 -18.43 318.56 3.1219
through feed lines and coupling gaps. If the
distance between the feed lines and the resonator is The first mode was expected at 3 Ghz. The
large, then the coupling gaps do not affect the simulation results are the following:
resonant frequencies of the ring. This type of fresonance=3.1165 GHz
coupling is referred to in the literature as ‘loose S21= - 14.06 dB
coupling’ [3]. Loose coupling is a manifestation of Q= 289.91
the negligibly small capacitance of the coupling S11= - 1.906 dB
gap. If the feed lines are moved closer to the
resonator, however, the coupling becomes tight A slight diversion of the resonance can be noticed
and the gap capacitances negligible. This causes but it is in within an acceptable range. The

ISSN: 1790-5117 228 ISBN: 978-954-92600-2-1

 Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on TELECOMMUNICATIONS and INFORMATICS

following Figure demonstrates the response of the Upper Path

return and insertion loss for the first mode.

Lower Path
Figure 7: Layout for the enhanced coupling.

The schematic used for the simulation is shown in

Figure 8.

Figure 4: Schematic of the loose-coupling.

Figure 8: Schematic of the enhanced coupling.

The simulation results recorded for the enhanced
coupling technique by varying the gap size are
shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Enhanced coupling simulation results.
Figure 5: Return loss S11.
g S21 in dB QL S11 in fresonance
dB in Ghz
16 -12.95 279 -1.11 3.184
17 -13.77 287 -0.93 3.185
18 -14.6 290 -1.04 3.186

A behaviour similar to as the loose coupling case is

Figure 6: Insertion loss S21.
3.2 Enhanced coupling
Figure 7 shows the arrangement for the enhanced
coupling method. There are two coupling gaps on
each port which are formed between the enhanced
feed lines and the ring. The enhanced coupling is
implemented by punching the feed lines into the
annular ring element [8].
observed. Both the insertion loss and the Q-factor
increase with increasing the gap size. However the
results indicate that for the same gap size of 16
mils used for the loose coupling the enhanced
coupling method provides better insertion loss
(about 2 dB better) but with slightly degraded Q-
factor (279). Adjusting the gap size (18 mils) to
give a Q-factor of 290 (approximately equal Q-
factor to the one obtained for the loose coupling
technique) the enhanced coupling technique gave
an improvement of only 0.6 dB. An advantage of
using the enhanced coupling technique comparing
with the loose coupling technique is that the
resonant frequency did not change significantly by
changing the gap size. Figures 9 and 10
demonstrate the simulation results for a gap size of
16 mils.

ISSN: 1790-5117 229 ISBN: 978-954-92600-2-1

 Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on TELECOMMUNICATIONS and INFORMATICS

Matched stubs
Figure 10: Layout for the matched stubs coupling.

Figure 8: Return loss S11

Figure 11: Matched-stubs coupling schematic.

Table 3: Matched-stubs coupling simulation results

L S21 in QL S11 in fresonance
Figure 9: Insertion loss S21 dB dB in Ghz
10 -14.27 290 -1.87 3.08
20 -14.47 290 -1.13 3.04
3.3 Matched-stubs coupling 40 -14.86 292 -0.94 2.97
The physical arrangement representing the 60 -15.25 291 -1.36 2.91
matched stubs coupling technique is shown in 80 -15.62 290 -0.83 2.84
Figure 10. For the matched stubs coupling
technique the gaps are formed between the feed
lines and the matched stubs. Using the same width
for the matched-stubs as that of the feed lines, the
simulated results for different stub lengths are
presented in Table 3. The results indicate that
resonant frequency and the loss are affected by the
length of the stubs. The increase in insertion loss
with increasing the stubs length is marginal but the
resonant frequency appears to be greatly affected
by the change in stub length. Figures 12 and 13
show the insertion and return losses for mode 1
using a stub length of 40 mils.
Figure 12: Insertion loss S21.
4. Results
Comparing the three coupling methods it is constant and consequently the coupling remains
concluded that each one has its advantages and constant. However the frequency change is
disadvantages. More specifically the enhanced significant and the insertion loss is not greatly
coupling has an insignificant frequency change by affected by changing the stubs length. With this
changing the gap size whereas its insertion loss is conclusion, it appears that this technique is the
greatly increased. The matched-stub technique has least suitable technique to use. Finally the loose-
the advantage of keeping the Q-factor constant coupling method appears to be the most suitable
when changing the stubs’ length. This is not really technique to use for the ring resonator. The
an advantage because in fact the gap remains simulation results show that the performance of the

ISSN: 1790-5117 230 ISBN: 978-954-92600-2-1

 Proceedings of the 9th WSEAS International Conference on TELECOMMUNICATIONS and INFORMATICS

ring resonator employing loose coupling is slightly
inferior to that of the enhanced coupling method.
However the fact that the loose coupling method is
the easiest to implement in practice, makes it the
most preferable coupling technique.
[5] D.M. Pozar, Microwave engineering, Addison-
Wesley Publishing Company, 1990.
[6] G.T.S. Martin, F. Wang, K. Chang, Theoretical
and experimental investigation of novel
varactor-tuned switchable microstrip ring
resonator circuits, IEEE Trans Microw. Th.
Tech., Vol. MTT-36, No. 12, 1988, pp.1733-
1739.
[7] D.K. Paul, M. Michael, K. Konstantinou,
MMIC tunable bandpass filter using a ring
resonator with loss compensation, IEEE MTT-
S Digest, 1997.
[8] P. Gardner, D.K. Paul, Transmission line
analysis of asymmetrical ring resonators, IEE
Proc. Microw. Ant. Prop., Vol. 143, No. 2,
1996.

Figure 13: Return loss S11.

5. Conclusions
In this paper, an analysis on ring resonators, that
are used for the measurements of dispersion, phase
velocity, and dielectric constant, is made. By the
use of a simulation model, different ring resonator
coupling techniques were reviewed: the Loose-
coupling, the Enhanced-coupling and final the
Matched-stub-coupling technique. The matched-
stub technique is the least suitable technique to
use. The performance of the ring resonator
employing enhanced coupling method is slightly
superior. On the other hand, the loose-coupling
method appears to be the most suitable technique
to use for the ring resonator, as it is the easiest to
implement in practice.

References:
[1] P. Saeung, P.P. Yupapin, Generalized analysis
of multiple ring resonator filters: Modeling by
using graphical approach, Optik-Int. Journal
for Light and Electron Optics, Vol. 119, No.
10, 2008, pp. 465-472.
[2] Y. Sun, L. Xu, C. Peng, Z. Li, Incident light
influence on the transmission of coupled ring
resonators, Tsinghua Science & Technology,
Vol. 15, No. 2, 2010, pp. 198-201.
[3] F. Vollmer, P. Fischer, Frequency-domain
displacement sensing with a fiber ring-
resonator containing a variable gap, Sensors
and Actuators A: Physical, Vol. 134, No. 2,
2007, pp. 410-413
[4] K. Chang, Microwave ring circuits and
Antennas, John Wiley & Sons, 1996.

ISSN: 1790-5117 231 ISBN: 978-954-92600-2-1