Circular Resonator Based Compact Ultra-Wideband
Bandpass and Notched Filters with Rejection of
5-6 GHz Band
Thirumalaivasan K, Nakkeeran R, and Oudaya coumar S
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Pondicherry Engineering College, Puducherry-605014, India
thirumalaivasank@pec.edu, rnakeeran@pec.edu, oudaya.mtechece@pec.edu
Abstract— In this paper, a circular ultra wideband (UWB)
bandpass filter and notch filter using microstrip with wide
passband, low insertion and return loss are presented. The
proposed bandpass filter covers the UWB indoor mask
range from 3.1GHz to 10.6GHz. The filter has a circular
plate resonator with interdigital coupling has been designed
to act as bandpass filter with passband of 8.25 GHz. The
notch filter is proposed using four open stub structure in the
bandpass structure. The notch filter is derived from the
bandpass filer, the notch filter is designed to introduce
notch in the frequency range from (5-6) GHz. The designed
filters are successfully simulated by electromagnetic
simulator, IE3D. The filters exhibit low insertion loss over
the desired passband, and a good out-of-band performance.
Keywords — Ultra wideband filter, multiple-mode resonator,
microstrip coupling structure, notched filter.
I. INTRODUCTION
In 1998, the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) recognized the significance of UWB technology
and initiated the regulatory review process of the
technology. Consequently, in February 2002 the FCC
report appeared, in which UWB technology was
authorized for the commercial uses with different
applications, operating frequency bands as well as the
transmitted power spectral densities [1]. European
Commission for Post and Telecommunication (CEPT)
has released a decision on the 24th March 2006 which
allows operation of unlicensed UWB devices. UWB
technology will support a lot of new applications with
benefits for public safety and creating new business
opportunities for distributors, vendors and manufacturers
[2]. UWB technology will allow an increased usage of
spectrum resources by sharing spectrum with low
interferences to narrow band systems.
UWB technology is especially suited for radio
location because of its huge bandwidth which provides a
fine accuracy in ranging. UWB provides low-power, low-
cost communication and positioning in one technology.
These features allow a new range of applications,
including logistics, security applications, medical
applications as well as military applications [3]. UWB
communication is based on the transmission of very short
pulses with relatively low energy. UWB technique has a
fine time resolution which makes it a technology
appropriate for accurate ranging. UWB radio signal
occupies a bandwidth of more than 500 MHz or a
fractional bandwidth of larger than 20%. According to
Shannon’s capacity theorem, this large bandwidth
provides a very high capacity. Thus, high processing gain
can be achieved that allows the access of a large number
of users to the system. The impulse radio UWB is a
carrier-less (i.e., baseband) radio technology and
accordingly, in this radio technique no mixer is needed.
Therefore, the implementation of such a system is simple,
which means that low cost transmitters/receivers can be
achieved when compared to the conventional radio
frequency (RF) carrier systems [4-5]. Because UWB
systems operate in a very large bandwidth, they need to
share the spectrum with other users as well as with the
existing communication systems and consequently,
interferences may occur [6].
Because of the rapid growth in broadband systems,
the requirements for filter design have become stricter. So
the broadband filters with compact size and superior stop
band performance are designed [7]. The UWB bandpass
and notch filters proposed are based on the Roger's
RT/Duroid 5880 substrate with a dielectric constant of
2.2 and thickness of 3.125 mm. They are characterized
and optimally designed using the electromagnetic (EM)
simulator IE3D, which is part of the Zeland software
package [8].
The paper is organized as follows: In Section II the
UWB bandpass filters design using circular resonator
structure. Section III dealt with UWB notch filter using
four open stubs. Simulation results and analysis are
presented in Section IV. Section V concludes the paper.
II. CIRCULAR UWB FILTER
A compact UWB band pass filter with wide passband
of 8.25 GHz is proposed. The geometry of filter structure
is shown in Fig.1. Interdigital coupled lines are employed
to achieve strong coupling [9]. UWB filter consisted of
circular MMR at the center section and two identical
coupled-lines located at the left and right section.
Fig.1. Circular UWB bandpass filter
In addition, the UWB bandpass filter exhibit very good
selectivity in order to meet the FCC spectrum mask.
In turn UWB BPF provides good in-band and out-of-
band performance. Furthermore, the circular resonator
can easily realize a tight coupling with the feed-lines,
resulting in more resonant-peaks in the UWB passband to
realize a wide bandwidth. The interdigital feed-lines used
here can enhance the coupling degree between the
circular resonator and the feed-lines. This coupling can
be adjusted to control the bandwidth. Thereby, the
circular resonator and the symmetrical interdigital feed-
lines can work together to make up the desired UWB
passband properly [10-12].
Simulation was accomplished using IE3D, which is an
electromagnetic wave simulator. The simulated S
parameter of the proposed bandpass filter is shown in
Fig.3. It is clear from the response that the proposed filter
has better insertion loss of -2 dB and the low return loss
of about -37 dB. The 3 dB fractional bandwidth
computed from the response is about 123%. The
proposed UWB notch filter has two transmission bands.
The first passband from 2.2 GHz to 5.2 GHz has -1 dB
insertion loss and - 30 dB return loss. The second
passband within 5.8 GHz and 10.4 GHz has –3 dB
insertion loss and - 25 dB return loss.

III. UWB NOTCHED FILTER

An ultra-wideband notch filter with 5-6 GHz rejection

band is proposed which is the modified version of
circular filter. The multiple coupled line structure is
incorporated with multiple-mode resonator to provide
wide transmission band and enhance out-of band
performance [13-16].

Fig.2. UWB notch filter with open stubs Fig.3. Response of circular UWB bandpass filter

The rejection is achieved between 5-6 GHz with

To inhibit the signals ranged from 5-6 GHz, four
better insertion loss of -40 dB. This filter can be
stepped-impedance open stubs are implemented on the
integrated in UWB radio systems and efficiently enhance
MMR is shown in Fig 2. IEEE 802.11a operates in three
the interference immunity from WLAN. The simulated
distinct 100 MHz regions with different power limitations
frequency responses of the wide bandpass filter are
in the 5-6 GHz band. The lower band ranges from 5.15 to
shown in Fig. 4.
5.25 GHz and it has power limitation of -3.01 dBm/MHz.
the mid band is from 5.25 – 5.35 GHz and is limited by
3.98 dBm/MHz and the upper band is from 5.725- 5.825
GHz and is limited by 10 dBm/MHz. The interference is
significant since the 802.11a signals are drastically higher
at -3dBm/MHz in the lower band to 10 dBm/MHz in the
upper band. For this reason, this paper proposes a notch
filter to effectively reject the entire 5-6 GHz band of
WLAN.
Several techniques for providing transmission zero or
rejection band microstrip structure have been
demonstrated, such as Defect Ground Structure (DGS)
[17], Photonic Band Gap (PBG) [18], split ring resonator
(SRR) [19], spur-line structure [20], and slot resonator
[21]. However, if narrow bandwidth rejection and
reduction of fabrication complexity are concerned, the
quarter wave length open stub is a good solution to
achieve. So the high performance and compact UWB
notch filter based on multiple coupled line structure and Fig.4. Response of UWB notch filter
multiple mode resonators is demonstrated. The electrical Flat group delay or linear phase is necessary to avoid
coupled line length is close to 900 and the coupling gap is distortion in the baseband signals. In the microwave
0.3 mm for both structures. domain, group delay equalizers are used to compensate
for group delay variations mostly introduced by filters or
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
amplifiers [22]. The group delay measurement for the
UWB bandpass and notch filter are simulated and shown
in Fig. 5and Fig. 6. Group delay variation of the bandpass
filter is about 0.3ns and for notch filter the group delay is
measured about 0.45 ns.
Fig.7 shows the simulation result of phase of S21 for
UWB bandpass filter whereas Fig.8 shows the simulation
result of phase of S21 for UWB notch filter. Linear phase
is a property of a filter, where the phase response of the
filter is a linear function of frequency, excluding the
possibility of wraps at ± 1800 and linear phase filter will

Fig.7. Phase measurement of UWB bandpass filter

Fig.5. Group delay measurement of UWB bandpass filter

Fig.8. Group delay measurement of UWB notch filter

The UWB bandpass and notch filter with 5-6 GHz

rejection band performance parameters like insertion loss,
return loss, fractional bandwidth, passband of the filters,
Group Delay, Phase and dimensions are collectively
tabulated in Table I
TABLE I
SIMULATED FILTER PARAMETERS
Fig.6. Group delay measurement of UWB notch filter
FILTER BANDPASS NOTCH
have constant group delay. Plot is shown that the phase of PARAMETERS FILTER
S21 throughout the passband of presented filter is Insertion loss (dB) -2 -1.20 & -1.4
acceptably linear for UWB applications. Return loss (dB) - 37 -30 & -25
Passband (GHz) 8.25 3 & 4.6
Fractional bandwidth 123 133.33 and
(%) 152.72
Group Delay (ns) about 0.3 about 0.45
Phase at passband linear linear
Size (mm3) 4x39.2x1.6 6x39.2x1.6
 V. CONCLUSIONS
A circular resonator based UWB bandpass filter and
notch filter using microstrip with wide passband, low
insertion loss and return loss are demonstrated in this
paper. The bandpass filter with circular plate has the
passband of 8.25 GHz with insertion loss of -2 dB, return
loss of -37 dB and -10dB fractional bandwidth of 123 %.
In order to achieve 5-6 GHz notch, four open stubs are
included in the circular resonator. The notch filter has
two passbands of 3 GHz & 4.6 GHz, each passband
has insertion loss of -1.20 & -1.4 dB, return loss of -30 &
-25 dB and -10dB fractional bandwidth of 133.33 %
&152.72 %. The group delay obtained for bandpass filter
is about 0.3 ns and for notch filter it is about 0.45 ns. The
dimension of the designed bandpass and notch filters are
4 x 39.2 x 1.6 mm3 & 6 x 39.2 x 1.6mm3 respectively.
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