DESIGN, ANALYSIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF EQUIVALENT WILKINSON POWER DIVIDER

Abstract

The Wilkinson_power divider is a well known device in the RF/microwave community used for splitting or combining signals. It is composed of simple transmission lines and a resistor, and takes advantage of the properties of quarterwavelength transmission line sections to provide ideal power divider characteristics. The power divider feature a unique design to help determine how the microstrip layout can impact isolation and return loss. In particular and contrary to what is typically claimed within the RF/microwave community, a power divider featuring straight, parallel quarter-wavelength sections showed no degradation in isolation (or negligible effects of coupling) when compared to a power divider with curved quarter-wavelength sections. In this thesis a circuit analysis of the general Wilkinson power divider schematic is performed to provide insight into the device characteristics as well as present a clear derivation of the correlating scattering matrix. This thesis introduces designing. Simulation, fabrication of a microstrip 3:1 Wilkinson Power Divider. The divider is fabricated after achieving desired specifications, Ads software is used for smilulation. RO4003 substrate is used to fabricate the simulated Divider