Analysis and Designing of New Broadband Power Divider Using Stepped Impedance for WLAN and 5G Applications

Abstract The development of radio frequency circuits is currently guided mainly through two objectives, which are size reduction and performance improvement of devices. Within a reception or transmission channel, the division and/or combination of power are the most delicate stages due to their large dimensions and high insertion losses, particularly in the case of dividers/combiners based on planar technologies. In this context, this study proposes an analysis and design of a new broadband power divider and combiner using stepped impedance. The power divider/combiner developed is designed to cover a broad frequency spectrum ranging from 1 GHz to 4 GHz, including wireless applications such as Global Mobile Communications Systems (GSM), Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM), and Sub-6 GHz 5th Generation (5G) applications. The proposed circuit was analyzed using the stepped transmission line impedance method and designed by Advanced Design System (ADS) on an Epoxy-FR4 substrate with a dielectric constant of 4.4 and a thickness of 1.58 mm. The achieved results showed excellent characteristics in terms of transmission across the input and output terminals, mismatches at all three terminals, and isolation among output terminals. A prototype was built and the measured results showed good agreement with those obtained by simulation.