Radial Guided 4-Way Power Divider Using Substrate Integrated Waveguide for Satellite Communication

As a key component in microwave applications such as antenna feeding network, power distribution network, and array systems requiring beam forming network(BFN) in satellite communication, the power divider/combiner is widely designed and implemented by using various analysis methods[1,2] and various integration method[6-8]. In array systems employing microstrip feeding network, the beam forming network(BFN) becomes more complicated as a number of array element increases, resulting in a significant radiation loss caused by the conductor in microstrip line. In order to overcome the radiation loss problem on the transmission line, many researchers have studied on the novel feeding network with waveguideor cavitytyped closed boundary structure. Especially, the radial waveguide structure having low insertion loss characteristic has been adopted in many array systems[3-5]. Hence, in this paper, substrate integrated waveguide(SIW) as a highly-integrated microwave component is employed for the design of low-loss radial-guided power divider/combiner. At this time, the side walls in regular rectangular waveguide have been replaced by metalized via arrays with optimized diameters of vias and separation between the nearest vias[9].