Printed sectoral horn power combiner

Abstract

In this work, it is presented a new configuration of planar power combiner/divider based on an H-plane sectoral horn antenna. This component is proposed to realise the basic building blocks of printed power-combining amplifiers. It will be shown how the sectoral horn elements can be implemented on substrate integrated waveguide and multilayer printed circuit board technologies, thus obtaining a high integration level. In the following, the design procedure will be described reporting an example of an 11-stage power divider/combiner in C-band. A prototype has been fabricated, and the measured results compared with the numerical model. Experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical expectations showing a single-stage efficiency of about 90% and a bandwidth of 40%.