MADREMIA · Modelling and analysis of dielectric resonators for microwave applications

Final Activity Report Summary - MADREMIA (Modelling and analysis of dielectric resonators for microwave applications)

Passive microwave devices, namely high-frequency filters, are key components in most communication systems. The requirements on such devices are especially demanding in satellite communications, since not only specifications on the electrical properties have to be obeyed, but also mass and volume are obviously rare resources on a satellite and the components have to be optimised accordingly. All this mean an increase in the complexity of the design and manufacturing processes of passive microwave and mm-wave devices such as dielectric-loaded filters. Therefore, the existence of new Computed aided design (CAD) tools for designing passive microwave circuits is a requirement of great importance in order to reduce producing costs in industry. The implementation of this kind of software has been the main objective of our research group in the Technical University of Valencia, our last publications indicate the scientific and technical relevance of the work performed. In particular, the main goal of this project is the characterisation of dielectric resonators in order to design filters in dielectric technology. Filter components in waveguide technology have been the first choice in satellite communications since its beginning until a few years ago, when filters in dielectric technology have taken the lead in an increasing number of applications. Dielectric filter technology offers a significant reduction in mass and volume and good thermal stability for high-power applications. Our work is based on the application of a very efficient method developed at the University of Pavia (Italy) by the research group of Prof. Giuseppe Conciauro. This method is called Boundary integral-resonant mode expansion (BI-RME). The BI-RME method has proved during last years to be a great contribution to the electromagnetic theory being a very flexible and accurate tool for the electromagnetic characterization of microwave devices. So far, as it was foreseen in the work plan of the project, we have developed a novel formulation of 3D BI-RME method for the calculation of the full modal spectrum of a metallic resonator with a dielectric obstacle. In particular, it has been implemented a software tool which calculates the resonant modes (TE, TM and hybrid modes) of a rectangular cavity with perfect electric walls containing a cylindrical dielectric resonator. This software is nowadays under test. The next step will be the computation of the transmittance response of the dielectric-loaded metallic cavity and then the design of new filters based on this technology.

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