RF Wide-Band Bandpass Filter With Dynamic In-Band Multi-Interference Suppression Capability

A class of RF multi-functional bandpass filter with multiple frequency-reconfigurable rejected bands that are embedded into its broad transmission frequency range is reported. This filter concept exploits an original tunable multi-band quasi-bandstop section as constituent block. In this manner, unprecedented levels of spectral adaptivity are obtained for its in-band notches. Among them: 1) independent control of center frequency and rejection level; 2) notch-combination capability to conform wider rejected bands and make their number dynamically selectable; and 3) generation of dual-band bandpass responses with adjustable bandwidth and inter-band transmission zeros. This results in controllable in-band stopbands with reconfigurable bandwidth, attenuation level, and filtering-profile type. The devised filter architecture, which is appropriate for dynamic multi-interference mitigation in broad-band RF receivers, is scalable to any number of arbitrary-order in-band notches. For proof-of-concept purposes, a UHF-band microstrip prototype with up to two tunable in-band second-order stopbands is manufactured and measured.