Microwave crossovers using cascaded couplers for switching applications

The paper describes a passive solution for the implementation of transparent paths within a reconfigurable switch matrix for satellite communications, to improve its availability in case of power failure. The performance of four cascaded identical reduced-length couplers distributed across embedded layers of a ceramic multi-layer substrate has been presented, fulfilling return-loss, isolation and dimensional requirements. The simulated performance parameters will be verified by measurements in due course.