Microwave Band Pass Filter Design

Najeeb Haider Zaidi Lecturer, Engineering Faculty, PAF-KIET PAF Airbase Korangi Creek, Karachi, Pakistan Mobile: +92(0)3333126419 Email: Zaidi.NH@pafkiet.edu.pk Chief Executive Officer, eLink Systems, Suite No.6 Sands Appartments, Clifton Block 2, Karachi, Pakistan. Phone No.(+9221)5863769, (+9221)5824754. Email: Zaidi.NH@gmail.com

Abstract:
Band pass filters are essential part of any signal processing or communication systems, the integral part of superhetrodyne receivers which are currently employed in many RF/Microwave communication systems. At Microwave Frequencies the discrete components are replaced by transmission lines, for low power applications microstrip are used which provide cheaper and smaller solution of Band Pass Filter. This article is an effort to document the designing steps of a microstrip Band Pass Filter. The specific design discussed in the article in detail is know as Parallel Coupled Filter. In this article an example of a filter specs is given over which a filter is designed by using certain tools.

Introduction to the Microwave Band Pass Filters:

This section of the article describes about the design of the microwave Bandpass filter by using microstrip technology. There are many possible techniques used to create microstrip filters, some of them are listed below; Combline Filters: For Frequencies below 10GHz Interdigital Filter: A broadband solution for the frequencies above 8GHz

Parallel Coupled and edge coupled Filters: small sized, Light weight and low cost filters for narrow bandwidth applications.

In this article the design discussed as also mentioned earlier is known as

Parallel

Coupled Filters, due to their easy and cheaper design (Like they doesnt require any via, as in the case of Combline and Interdigital) and greater immunity to errors. The filter was designed in Agilent ADS, the design was implemented on a FR4 substrate and the final testing was done at RF VNA. The response and the steps involving the design process are discussed in the section.

Parallel Coupled Bandpass Filters:

This technique involves the parallel coupled transmission lines to construct many types of filters. It is quite easy to fabricate multisection Bandpass coupled line filters, for bandwidth less than 20%. This design cannot be used for wide bandwidth because higher bandwidth requires small spacing between the coupled lines which is difficult to fabricate [2]. These filters are mainly known for their low cost, small size and light weight. The general layout of Parallel Coupled Band Pass Filters is shown in Figure 1.

Designing of the Filter:

Desired Specifications: Center Frequency: 5.25 GHz Chebyshev response In band ripple :< 0.01 dB Bandwidth 250MHz Roll off: loss>20dB at 4.04GHz

Port Impedances: 50 Substrate: FR4 r=4.4 h=1.6mm Connectors: SMA The designing of the Parallel coupled Microwave Filter comprises on four different steps which are discussed below in details.

Step 1: Finding the fractional Bandwidth, = (f2 - f1)/fo =47x10-3 Step 2: Examining the filter Prototype specifications for 0.01dB ripple By using the following equation we can find out the transformation ratio, wi/wc = 2(fi - fo)/fo=-9.66 For the value of the transformation ratio and ripple factor of 0.01dB, the vale of N or the order of the Chebyshev filter found out is 3 (by using prototype graph can be found in many filter handbooks but in this particular case [1] is used) but in order to make the circuit more reliable, I preferred the fifth order filter N=5. Following are the coefficients for the 5th order Chebyshev filter. g0 1.0 g1 0.756 g2 1.305 g3 1.577 g4 1.305 g5 0.756

Step 3: Calculations of the inverter admittances and hence coupled-line impedances for a 50 system. Following equations were used to calculate admittance inverter parameters Jn,n+1/Yo= sqrt(/2gngn+1) In order to find the coupled line Impedances following formulae are used Zoe(n)=Zo(1+ Jn,n+1+ Jn,n+12) Zoo(n)= Zo(1- Jn,n+1+ Jn,n+12) The calculated values are shown in the following table. j 0 1 2 Ji,j+1/Yo 0.315 0.075 0.052 (Zoe)j,j+1 70.67 54.05 52.74 (Zoo)j,j+1 39.22 46.52 47.53

Step 4: Calculation of the widths and spacing between the coupled lines Line Calc tool of Agilent ADS was used for this purpose the electrical length of the line is /4 while width can be found out by the tool by simply entering the values of odd and even impedances.

Design of the System:

The values, widths are slightly changed than the calculated ones due to optimization in the software, in order to improve the simulated response; the design schematic of the system is shown in Figure 2. Agilent ADS is used for the system designing and simulation, as this software includes the optimization features, so the lengths of the microstrip are optimized slightly in order to get the simulated response right.

Simulated Response:
Simulated response of the design came up to be a good Bandpass filter response, following all the desired specifications, Figure 3 shows the response of the filter while simulated, the thing to note over here is that the ripple factor objective is achieved quite well over here, there is a slight ripple of 0.01 dB between m3 and m2, the rest of the band is ripple free. Apart from that there is a peak at about 4.88GHz which is upto -2 dB, but the thing is that after implementation such peaks becomes too small to be considered if the calculations are done properly, so at the designing phase such peaks can be neglected.

Response at Vector Network Analyzer:

The system was implemented after the design, on FR4 dielectric plate, conductor at one side of the plate was left un-etched while the conductor at the other side was etched to make the microstrip lines. Here, at this point I would like to give a slight introduction of VNA or Vector Network Analyzer. VNA is a measuring instrument which when is plugged to the circuit input and output, inputs a series of frequencies under the specified range and then calculates and presents the S-parameters of the system. Now here in this case since we are observing the S-

Parameters of the a Vector Network Analyzer, so there are only two parameters of our concern, we can ignore the rest of the two parameters, the forward gain (S21) and the input reflections (S11) the rest of the two parameters the reverse gain (S12) and the output reflections were too low to be displayed in comparison of the other values.

Figure 4 shows the response the system gave at VNA. The forward gain was supposed to be at 0dB as in the simulated results but the problem with definitely their lies difference between the simulated results and the results after the implementation most of the time, so as in this case, the reasons are discussed earlier. Another thing is the peak at about 4.88GHz is still visible at the similar frequency but its intensity is decreased quite a lot, here it does not seem much dangerous as it is in the simulated results.

Comparison between the Simulated and Obtained (VNA) Results:

The S21 shows quite reasonable narrowband Bandpass response but the with the 7dB loss, the bandwidth is quite decreased as compared to the simulated results. The major change is the significant increase in the input reflection coefficient S11 especially at the start of the band. Upto around 5.2GHz it is showing an improper response but after that it is showing nice difference between S21 and S11. In both of the responses the Roll off loss >20dB at 4.04 GHz. It seems that if the S21 is slightly shifted (increased) with respect to the frequency.

Sources of Errors:

Initially, the dielectric constant of FR4 varies a lot from batch to batch, which luckily didnt varied a lot in our case resulting in a slight shift in the response frequency as pointed in the 4th point of the Comparison.

Secondly, the loss tangent of FR4 is quite high, so it can produce around 4 dB of the loss at the output.

The third major error is generated by the right angled SMA connectors, which doesnt give better response until you pay much for them.

As far as designing process is concerned, the first mistake in the designing process, is the absence of discontinuities in the design schematic, the discontinuities should be included so that the system could be optimized for the best response along with the discontinuities between the parallel coupled lines.

The values of the width were varied slightly by optimization tool, with respect to the measured ones in order to get the layout and the response right.

The SMA connectors are needed to be tightened properly in order to get the exact 50 input and output impedances this would be helpful in order to get the desired value reflection coefficients.

The surface of the microstrip lines was not fine and smooth that can generate some errors as well.

As far as the attenuation in the forward gain is concerned upto 6.5dB is due to the 2 nd and the 4th point and the rest of the error we are left with is sourced by the rest of the points discussed in the section. The Input reflections are mainly due to the improper connections of SMA connectors which were not matched precisely.

Applications of the System:

Due to its physical characteristics like small size, light weight and low cost, it can be used in variety of applications especially in the field of RF/Wireless Communications. Figure 5 shows the actual snapshot of the Bandpass filter designed.

Since the design is quite simple, so it can be made in a batch process, decreasing the cost even more.

It can be easily placed with other sections on the same board.

Conclusion:
From the analysis, the conclusion that can be drawn is that parallel coupled line Filters are easy to design and implementation of them is far easier that their designing. As far as attenuation is concerned the system is equated with the errors, the original test was of the wideness of its band, which comes out as a very narrow, not wider as we were expecting it to be.

References:
1. TC Edwards and M B Steer, Foundations of Interconnect and microstrip designs , 3rd edition, Chichester: John Wiley, c2000 2: David M Pozar, Microwave Engineering, 2nd Edition, Chichester; NY: Wiley, c1998. 3. Editors: I.Kneppo and J.Fabian Microwave Technology; Microwave Integrated Circuits, Series 8, London, Chapman & Hall, 1994. 4. S.R Pennock and P.R Shepherd Microwave Engineering with Wireless Applications, Basingstoke; Macmillan, 1998.

5. Ralph Levy, Richard V.Snyder and George Matthaei Design of Microwave Filters IEEE Trans, Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol 50, Issue 3, Pg:783-793, March, 2002. 6. http://www.Microwave101.com

Figure 1: Parallel Coupled Band Pass Filter [7], the length of the line here is taken /4

Figure 3 Simulation Response of the Bandpass Filter.

Figure 4 Band Pass Filter Response at VNA

Figure 5 Bandpass Filter Snapshot

Figure 2 Bandpass Filter Design Schematic