volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

A novel rat-race coupler with wide adjustable range of power-dividing ratio and uncrossed input/output ports is presented by using coupling adjustable trans-directional (TRD) coupled lines, parallel coupled lines and a 180° phase shifting line. Wide adjustable range of power-dividing ratios is accomplished by varying the coupling of the TRD coupled lines. Moreover, with the combination of the TRD coupled lines and parallel coupled lines, the input and output ports of the rat-race coupler are uncrossed. The structure of the proposed rat-race coupler is analyzed, and the design equations are derived. As an example to validate the feature of the proposed rat-race coupler, a prototype operating at 1.6 GHz is devised, fabricated and measured. The measured results show that the designed coupler has a wide adjustable range (-7 ~ 15 dB) of power dividing ratio with a controlled voltage range of 3.5 to 13.5 V. 

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Professor Hongmei Liu

Prof. Shao-Jun Fang

Dr. Zhongbao Wang