Decade Bandwidth, Ultra-Compact, 2-Way Equal Power Divider for Space Applications

This paper presents a compact ultra-wide band 2-way equal power divider in the frequency range of $0.1-1 \mathrm{G H z}$. The proposed design employs 3 -section power divider in meandered microstrip configuration with optimum impedances for each stage in order to attain decade bandwidth in a compact size of $0.09 \lambda_{\mathrm{g}} \times 0.075 \lambda_{\mathrm{g}}$. Isolation performance is improved by judiciously optimizing isolation resistors. The overall dimension of the designed power divider is $25.4 \mathrm{~mm} \times 19.4 \mathrm{~mm}$ and simulated using 25 mil thick Alumina substrate. The fabricated prototype exhibits close matching with simulated ones. The measured return losses are better than 11 dB (for input port) & better than 18 dB (for output ports) and insertion loss is 0.45-0.9 dB over the frequency of operations. Realized power divider provides an isolation better than 20 dB over the frequency range of $0.27-1 \mathrm{GHz}$. To the best of authors’ knowledge, power divider with microstrip configuration exhibiting decade bandwidth in an ultra-compact size of $0.09 \lambda_{\mathrm{g}} \times 0.075 \lambda_{\mathrm{g}}$ has not been reported at this frequency band.