TITLE:
Reconfigurable 3/6 dB Novel Branch Line Coupler
AUTHORS:
Tamer Gaber Abouelnaga, Ashraf Shawky Mohra
KEYWORDS:
Branch Line Coupler, Microstrip Lines, Asymmetric Coupled Microstrip Lines, 3/6 dB Coupler
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation,
Vol.5 No.1,
February
28,
2017
ABSTRACT: In this paper, a new idea of reconfigurable 3/6 dB branch line coupler is proposed. The proposed coupler is tuned through a simple open and short circuit at the coupler’s branches’ edges. At the short edges case, a 3 dB branch line coupler is obtained. In this case, the coupler’s branches are considered as microstrip transmission lines with 0.3 mm slot width which is etched in each coupler’s branch. At the open edges case, the coupler’s branches are considered as asymmetric coupled microstrip lines. In this case, a 6 dB branch line coupler is obtained. Both CST and IE3D simulators are used to optimize the reconfigurable 3/6 dB branch line coupler dimensions. As a prototypes, two BLCs are designed, analyzed and tested at the “on” and “off” states at 2.5 GHz. The measured S-parameters confirm the proposed concept of the reconfigurable 3/6 dB branch line coupler.