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A New Design Method for Unequal Dual-Band Modified Wilkinson Power

Divider
Yongle Wua; Yuanan Liua; Shulan Lia; Cuiping Yua
a
School of Electronic Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China

Online publication date: 23 March 2010

To cite this Article Wu, Yongle , Liu, Yuanan , Li, Shulan and Yu, Cuiping(2010) 'A New Design Method for Unequal
Dual-Band Modified Wilkinson Power Divider', Electromagnetics, 30: 3, 269 — 284
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/02726340903577434
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02726340903577434

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 Electromagnetics, 30:269–284, 2010
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0272-6343 print/1532-527X online
DOI: 10.1080/02726340903577434

A New Design Method for Unequal Dual-Band

Modified Wilkinson Power Divider

YONGLE WU,1 YUANAN LIU,1 SHULAN LI1 and

CUIPING YU1
1
School of Electronic Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and
Downloaded By: [Iran University of Science & Technology] At: 08:54 1 November 2010

Telecommunications, Beijing, China

Abstract A new design method for a dual-band (or dual-frequency) modified Wilkin-
son power divider with an unequal power dividing ratio is proposed in this article.
First, a dual-band transformer with a flexible transmission line stub, which can be
fabricated by a shorted-circuit stub or an open-circuit stub, for two arbitrary real
impedances is analyzed, and the rigorous design method is obtained. It is nec-
essary to apply the asymmetric structure in all unequal power dividers in order
to obtain unequal power dividing; thus, an asymmetric structure, which consists
of two equivalent asymmetric dual-band transformers with a parallel transmission
line stub in the input matching part, is developed for an unequal dual-band power
divider. A resistor is then used in this proposed power divider, as the effective
isolation structure to obtain ideal isolation between two output ports while two-section
transmission line transformers are applied to match impedances at two output ports.
In the synthesis procedure, two groups of closed-form design equations of this unequal
dual-band power divider without reactive lumped-elements are given. Furthermore,
simulations of two sample examples have verified the new structure and the design
method for this power divider in theory. Finally, a practical microstrip power divider,
which operates at both 0.95 GHz and 2.28 GHz with 3 dB power dividing ratio, is
designed, fabricated and tested. There are good agreements between the simulated
and measured results.

Keywords unequal, dual-frequency, dual-band, modified Wilkinson power divider

1. Introduction
Impedance transformers, power dividers, and combiners are widely used in wireless
communication systems. Although the conventional Wilkinson power divider (Wilkinson,
1960), based on quarter-wavelength transmission lines, has a simple circuit layout, it
cannot achieve flexible dual-band characteristics. In Wan et al. (2001) and Srisathit et al.
(2003), two simple and engineering design methods for dual-band power dividers were
presented. Based on semiloop stepped-impedance resonators, a new dual-band power
divider was proposed in Avrillon et al. (2003); however, the bandwidth is very narrow.
Recent attempts have been made to satisfy the requirement of dual-band wireless systems.

Received 27 April 2009; accepted 11 August 2009.

Address correspondence to Yongle Wu, School of Electronic Engineering, Beijing University
of Posts and Telecommunications, P.O. Box 171, Beijing, 100876, China. E-mail: wuyongle138@
gmail.com

269
 270 Y. Wu et al.

On the one hand, various dual-band power dividers with a rigorous design method were
researched by Wu et al. (2006, 2008b, 2009b, 2009d, 2010), Cheng and Wong (2007),
Cheng and Law (2008), Park & Lee (2008a, 2008b), Kawai et al. (2008), Mohra (2008),
and Yang et al. (2008). However, these power dividers are symmetric; thus, their power
dividing ratios are equal to one (0 dB). On the other hand, the design methods of dual-
band generalized or compact impedance transformers were studied mathematically by
Monzon (2003), and Wu et al. (2008a, 2009a, 2009g). An unequal single-band power
divider (Wu & Liu, 2009) has special applications (such as beam forming in array
antennas and unbalanced Doherty power amplifiers) in microwave and electromagnetic
(EM) fields; therefore, it may be significant to extend the equal dual-band power dividers
to those that are unequal. For example, these initial works have been accomplished by
Kampitaki et al. (2007), Feng et al. (2008), and Wu et al. (2008c). To study further the
analytical design methods of unequal power dividers for arbitrary dual-band applications,
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Wu et al. (2009c, 2009e, 2009h) proposed and analyzed three other kinds of unequal
dual-band power dividers with different isolation structures. Then, a novel unequal dual-
frequency power divider was researched in Wu et al. (2009f) as the extension of Cheng
and Law (2008). Actually, any modifications in unequal dual-band power dividers can
make different frequency characteristics. For unequal dual-band power dividers, various
structures can provide flexible options for special applications. Therefore, the purpose of
this article is to present another kind of unequal dual-band power divider extended from
Cheng and Wong (2007), which has no reactive components in the isolation structure
similar to Wu et al. (2009h).
In this article, a new circuit structure is proposed to implement an unequal dual-band
modified Wilkinson power divider. First, a modified dual-band transformer including a
transmission line stub and two-section transmission lines is developed to match two
arbitrary real impedances at two desired frequencies, and the corresponding design
details with mathematical equations, numerical parameters, and frequency responses
are presented. Then, a new modified power divider, which includes two groups of the
modified dual-band transformer and two groups of the conventional dual-band transformer
in two sections (Monzon, 2003), is proposed. This power divider satisfies the unequal
and matching characteristics at the dual-band and avoids using reactive components,
such as inductors and capacitors, in the isolation structure. For convenience in design
process, the final closed-form design equations with flexible parameter selection are
given. The validity of the proposed structure and these design equations is verified by
two simulated examples using ideal transmission line models. Finally, an unequal (3 dB)
power divider operating at 0.95 GHz and 2.28 GHz is designed, simulated, fabricated in
microstrip technology, and tested to verify the proposed power divider experimentally.
It is interesting to point out that the preceding equal dual-frequency Wilkinson power
divider (Cheng & Wong, 2007) is a special case of this proposed unequal dual-band
power divider when the power dividing ratio equals one.

2. The Proposed Structure and Analytical Design Method

The proposed circuit structure of this unequal dual-band power divider is illustrated in
Figure 1. Two-section transmission lines are required to match impedance at both the
output port 2 and port 3 in the unequal case. The input matching structure (the front
end of Figure 1) consists of four-section transmission lines and a parallel transmission
line stub that can be realized by a shorted-circuit stub or an open-circuit stub. In
addition, a single resistor R without other reactive components is applied to improve
 New Unequal Dual-Band Modified Power Divider 271

Figure 1. Proposed structure of unequal dual-band power divider.

the isolation characteristic of this unequal dual-band power divider while maintaining the
ideal matching and perfect unequal power dividing.
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2.1. Design and Analysis of the Dual-Band Transformer

To simplify the analyzed procedure of the proposed power divider shown in Figure 1,
a basic dual-band transformer for two arbitrary real impedances, shown in Figure 2,
is analyzed in this section first. This dual-band transformer includes two-section trans-
mission lines and a flexible transmission line stub, which can be fabricated in terms
of a shorted-circuit stub or an open-circuit stub (Cheng & Wong, 2007). The matched
impedances are denoted as R0 and R1 , which represent two arbitrary real impedances.
The two center frequencies are f1 and f2 D df1 , (d > 1), which are the same with
Eq. (7).
After simplifying the matching condition and using the most compact size, the
analytical design equations of this dual-band transformer can be obtained as
p
R0 R1 p
ZAT D ; ZBT D R0 R1 tan./; (1)
tan./

cos.2/
YT D p ; (2)
R0 R1 cos2 ./

where electrical length  must adopt the value at the first frequency f1 to assure that the
values of Eqs. (1) and (2) are positive, which is given by

D : (3)
1Cd
As shown in both Figures 1 and 2, the parallel stub YT can be implemented using
a shorted-circuit stub when the electrical length is  or an open-circuit stub when the

Figure 2. Dual-band transformer for two real impedances R0 and R1 .

 272 Y. Wu et al.

electrical length is 2. The design equations for a shorted-circuit stub and an open-circuit
stub are expressed, respectively, as follows:
p
1 R0 R1 cos2 ./
ZSC T D D ; (4)
YT tan./ cos.2/ tan./
p
tan.2/ tan.2/ R0 R1 cos2 ./
ZOC T D D : (5)
YT cos.2/

To assure that the value of Eq. (4) is positive when a shorted-circuit stub is applied,
by combining Eq. (3) with Eq. (4), the frequency ratio d should satisfy the following
relationship:
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1 < d < 3: (6)

Thus, when d is larger than three, the open-circuit stub is necessarily employed. Based
on Eqs. (1) through (5), the sample design parameters are listed in Table 1, and the
corresponding frequency responses of five cases are illustrated in Figure 3. Obviously,
the limitation in Eq. (6) is verified by the design parameters presented in Table 1, while the

Table 1
Design parameters of the dual-band transformer
(impedances at terminals are R0 D 50  and R1 D 150 )

d ZAT () ZBT () ZSC T () ZOC T ()

1.5 28.1389 266.5352 3.3213 7.4267

1.6 32.8440 228.3521 5.5176 12.8890
1.7 37.3567 200.7673 8.5400 20.9845
1.8 41.7056 179.8320 12.5925 32.7893
1.9 45.9138 163.3497 17.9508 49.9381
2.0 (Case 1) 50.0000 150.0000 25.0000 75.0000
2.1 (Case 2) 53.9798 138.9409 34.2959 112.1713
2.2 (Case 3) 57.8660 129.6099 46.6725 168.6338
2.3 (Case 4) 61.6694 121.6163 63.4414 257.4115
2.4 (Case 5) 65.3992 114.6803 86.7890 403.9271
2.5 69.0632 108.5962 120.6520 662.8574
2.6 72.6682 103.2089 172.9055 >1,000
2.7 76.2198 98.3996 261.9260 >1,000
2.8 79.7233 94.0754 442.8454 >1,000
2.9 83.1829 90.1628 991.3271 >1,000
3.7 109.6662 68.3893 <0 965.4965
4 119.1982 62.9204 <0 564.5306
5 150.0000 50.0000 <0 225.0000
6 179.8320 41.7056 <0 141.3854
7 209.0770 35.8719 <0 104.5385
8 237.9385 31.5207 <0 83.7649
Boldface indicates that the corresponding design data has been used in calculating
the frequency responses shown in Figure 3.
 New Unequal Dual-Band Modified Power Divider 273
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(a)

(b)

Figure 3. Frequency responses of dual-band transformers in five cases with: (a) a shorted-circuit
stub and (b) an open-circuit stub.

rigorous impedance matching at the two desired frequencies can be observed from
Figure 3. From Figures 3(a) and 3(b), both a shorted-circuit stub and an open-circuit stub
are useful for this dual-band transformer in most cases. In addition, as shown in Figure 3,
the bandwidth of transformers at each band will increase when the frequency ratio
becomes larger. However, this phenomenon may only be observed when the frequency
ratio is in the range of Eq. (6). In the following section, Eqs. (1) through (5) will be
directly used in the design of the proposed power divider.
 274 Y. Wu et al.

2.2. Design Method for Unequal Dual-Band Power Divider

Basically, when a microwave source is connected at port 1 of the power divider shown
in Figure 1, there should be no current through the isolation resistor R; thus, the lossless
signal divides and transmission can be achieved. Therefore, in this situation, the structure
shown in Figure 1 can be simplified that in Figure 4, which enables using Eqs. (1)
through (5) directly. For this power divider, the unequal power dividing ratio and the
center frequencies f1 and f2 of the desired dual-band are defined or written as follows:

k 2 D P3 =P2 ; d D f2 =f1 ; (7)

where P3 and P2 are the output power at ports 3 and 2 in Figure 1, respectively. Therefore,
the input impedances shown in Figure 4 must satisfy the following equations (Wu et al.,
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2008c, 2009c, 2009e, 2009f, 2009h):

1 C k2
Zin2 D .1 C k 2 /Z0 ; Zin3 D Z0 : (8)
k2

Meanwhile, the fixed relationship of R2 D k 2 R3 should be satisfied for internal equivalent

impedances R2 and R3 shown in both Figures 1 and 4. Usually, R2 and R3 are defined
as (Wu et al., 2008c, 2009c, 2009e, 2009f, 2009h)

Z0
R2 D kZ0 ; R3 D : (9)
k
Using the design equations (Eqs. (1), (4), and (5)), the final closed-form design equations
can be obtained as follows:
p
.1 C k 2 /kZ0 p
ZA1 D ; ZB1 D .1 C k 2 /kZ0 tan./; (10)
tan./
p p
.1 C k 2 /kZ0 .1 C k 2 /k
ZA2 D ; Z B2 D Z0 tan./: (11)
k 2 tan./ k2

The two parallel stubs shown in Figure 4 can be combined to a single stub shown
in Figure 1, and the characteristic impedances for a single shorted-circuit stub and an

Figure 4. Equivalent structure of unequal dual-band power divider.

 New Unequal Dual-Band Modified Power Divider 275

open-circuit stub are given by

p
ZSC1 ZSC 2 1 kZ0 cos2 ./
ZSC D D D p ; (12)
ZSC1 C ZSC 2 .Y1 C Y2 / tan./ cos.2/ .1 C k 2 / tan./
p
ZOC1 ZOC 2 tan.2/ kZ0 cos2 ./ tan.2/
ZOC D D D p : (13)
ZOC1 C ZOC 2 .Y1 C Y2 / cos.2/ .1 C k 2 /

Next, based on Monzon’s theory (Monzon, 2003) in the compact case, the characteristic
impedances of the other section transmission lines in Figure 1 can be calculated by the
following equations (Wu et al., 2008c, 2009c, 2009e, 2009f, 2009h):
v
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u s
 2
u k k
Z3 D Z0 .1 k/ C .1 k/ C k3; (14)
t
2 tan2 ./ 2 tan2 ./
v s
u  2
u k k
Z0 .k 1/ C .1 k/ C k 3
t
2 tan2 ./ 2 tan2 ./
Z4 D p ; (15)
k
v s
u
.1 k/ 2
u .k 1/  
Z0 C Ck
t
2 tan2 ./ 2 tan2 ./
Z5 D ; (16)
k
v s
u
1 k 2
u .1 k/  
Z0 C Ck
t
2 tan2 ./ 2 tan2 ./
Z6 D p : (17)
k
To obtain the ideal isolation between port 2 and port 3 (here, the complete rigorous
analysis method in Wu et al. [2008c, 2009c, 2009e, 2009f, 2009h] can be applied easily),
the value of the isolation resistor R is calculated by

1 C k2
RD Z0 : (18)
k
Therefore, when Eq. (9) is assumed, the values of characteristic impedances in this
proposed unequal dual-band modified Wilkinson power divider can be calculated directly
by Eqs. (10) through (17), while the value of the isolation resistor R can be obtained
from Eq. (18).

2.3. Analysis of Available Frequency Ratio Range

Using the analytical design equations (Eqs. (3) and (10)–(13)), the available ranges
of the frequency ratio d for the different power dividing ratio k when the equivalent
impedance at all of ports is Z0 D 50  can be obtained. The details are shown
in Figure 5. It is assumed that the available impedances for the common microstrip
are in the range of 10  < ZAvail < 145 . As can be seen from the left side of
 276 Y. Wu et al.
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(a)

(b)

Figure
p 5. Analysis
p of front-end impedances
p in unequal dual-band power dividers with (a) k D
1:2, (b) k D 1:5, and (c) k D 2. (continued)

Figure 5(a), the available frequency ratio range of the power divider with a shorted-
circuit stub .d jkDp 1:2 D Œ2; 2:76/ is wider than that of power divider with an open-circuit
stub .d jkDp 1:2 D Œ1:92; 2:37/ when the frequency ratio is relatively small (d < 3). It is
very interesting that the open-circuit stub can be applied again when the frequency ratio
becomes larger, and the available range of the frequency ratio d is from 4.4 to 5.39 in
Figure 5(a). Obviously, from Figures 5(b) and 5(c), it is expected that the corresponding
available frequency ratio range will become smaller when the power dividing ratio k
 New Unequal Dual-Band Modified Power Divider 277
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(c)

Figure 5. (Continued).

becomes larger. Since the values of Eqs. (14) through (17) are always in the available
impedances range (Wu et al., 2008c, 2009c, 2009e, 2009f, 2009h), their curves against
the frequency ratio d are not given in this article.

2.4. Analysis of Unequal Dual-Band Power Divider with Adjusting

Equivalent Impedances
In Section 2.2, the equivalent impedances R2 and R3 can obviously be defined manually.
In this section, the values of R2 and R3 are modified as follows:
Z0
R2 D Z0 ; R3 D : (19)
k2
According to Eqs. (1), (4), (5), (8), and (19), the modified closed-form design equations
of the proposed power divider are obtained as follows:
p
.1 C k 2 /Z0 p
ZA1 D ; ZB1 D .1 C k 2 /Z0 tan./; (20)
tan./
p p
.1 C k 2 /Z0 .1 C k 2 /
ZA2 D 2
; ZB2 D Z0 tan./; (21)
k tan./ k2

Z0 cos2 ./
ZSC D p ; (22)
cos.2/ .1 C k 2 / tan./

Z0 cos2 ./ tan.2/

ZOC D p ; (23)
cos.2/ .1 C k 2 /

Z3 D Z4 D Z0 ; (24)
 278 Y. Wu et al.
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Figure 6. Analysis of front-end impedances

p in dual-band power dividers with adjusted equivalent
impedances and power dividing ratio k D 1:2.

v s
u 2
u .k 2 1/  2
.k 1/
Z0 C C k2
t
2 tan2 ./ 2 tan2 ./
Z5 D ; (25)
k2
v s
u 2
u .1 k 2 / 
.k 2 1/
Z0 C C k2
t
2 tan2 ./ 2 tan2 ./
Z6 D ; (26)
k
 2  
2 1Ck 1
R D .1 C k /R3 D R2 D 1 C 2 Z0 : (27)
k2 k
The characteristic impedances of a practical microstrip are also considered in the range
of 10  < ZAvail < 145 . The left side of Figure 6 shows that the available frequency
ratio range of this power divider with a shorted-circuit stub is modified to the range of
2.01 to 2.77, while the available frequency ratio range for an open-circuit stub is modified
to the range of 1.87 to 2.38. In addition, the available range of the frequency ratio d is
from 4.35 to 5.64 when an open-circuit stub is used in the relatively large frequency ratio
case. Therefore, compared with the analyzed results of Section 2.3, the available range of
the frequency ratio d in this power divider with adjusted parameters is enhanced slightly.

3. Simulations of Two Examples

Based on the closed-form design equations (Eqs. (10)–(18) and (20)–(27)), two simulated
examples with different power dividing ratios are presented in this section. It is necessary
to point out that all parameters (i.e., ZA1 D ZA2 , ZB1 D ZB2 , R D 2Z0 , Zi D Z0 ,
i D 3, 4, 5, 6) obtained from Eqs. (10) through (18) and (20) through (27) are the same
as the results in Cheng and Wong (2007) when k D 1, which actually represents the
equal dual-band power divider. Note that these two examples are simulated based on
ideal transmission line models, and the impedance Z0 at three ports equals 50 .
 New Unequal Dual-Band Modified Power Divider 279

In example A, the power dividing ratio is assumed as k D 1:2589 ! 2 dB, and

the frequency ratio d equals 2.3. Taking 1 GHz as the first frequency, the following
parameters based on Eqs. (10) through (18) can be obtained (Unit: ): ZA1 D 64:229,
ZB1 D 126:66, ZA2 D 40:526, ZB2 D 79:919, ZSC D 25:562, ZOC D 103:72,
Z3 D 57:713, Z4 D 54:534, Z5 D 43:318, Z6 D 45:843, and R D 102:66. The
S-parameters of example A with a shorted-circuit stub and an open-circuit stub are
illustrated in p
Figures 7(a) and 7(b), respectively. In example B, let the power dividing
ratio be k D 2 ! 3 dB, and the frequency ratio d equals 2.4. Similarly, taking 1 GHz
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(a)

(b)

Figure 7. S-parameters of example A when power dividing ratio is k D 2 dB with: (a) a shorted-
circuit stub and (b) an open-circuit stub.
 280 Y. Wu et al.

as the first frequency, the design parameters based on Eqs. (20) through (27) can be
obtained as follows: (Unit: ): ZA1 D 65:399, ZB1 D 114:68, ZA2 D 32:700, ZB2 D
57:340, ZSC D 28:930, ZOC D 134:64, Z3 D 50:000, Z4 D 50:000, Z5 D 32:862,
Z6 D 38:038, and R D 75. The S-parameters of example B with a shorted-circuit stub
and an open-circuit stub are illustrated in Figures 8(a) and 8(b), respectively. It can
be observed from Figures 7 and 8 that the ideal input and output matching, unequal
power dividing, and perfect isolation can be satisfied simultaneously at the dual-band
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(a)

(b)

Figure 8. S-parameters of example B when power dividing ratio is k D 3 dB with: (a) a shorted-
circuit stub and (b) an open-circuit stub.
 New Unequal Dual-Band Modified Power Divider 281

(namely, the dual-frequency), which verifies the proposed structure and the analytical
design method in theory.

4. Comparison of Simulation and Measurement

In this section, a microstrip power divider that contains simulation and measurement re-
sults is presented to experimentally demonstrate this new design method for the proposed
unequal dual-band power divider. Note that the simulation results are also based on ideal
transmission line models, while the measurement results are collected from an Agilent
E5071C network analyzer (Agilent
p Technologies).
In this example, k D 2, f1 D 0:95 GHz, and f2 D 2:28 GHz are defined.
Thus, the frequency ratio d equals 2.4. From Eq. (3), the value of the physical length
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of each section transmission line equals 1 =.6:8/. Here, to avoid the little frequency
offset, the value of the wavelength 1 should be modified to the one at frequency
f1  1 GHz during implementation. Let Z0 be 50, then based on Eqs. (10) through (18),
the following values can be calculated (Unit: ): ZA1 D 77:773, ZB1 D 136:38,
ZA2 D 38:887, ZB2 D 68:189, ZSC D 34:403, ZOC D 160:12, Z3 D 61:706,
Z4 D 57:297, Z5 D 40:515, Z6 D 43:633, and R D 106:07. The power divider with a
shorted-circuit stub is fabricated on F4B substrate with 0.8-mm thickness and 2.65 relative
permittivity, and the corresponding photograph is shown in Figure 9. The simulation and
measurement results are shown in Figure 10. From Figures 10(a) and 10(b), the simulation
and measurement values of matching and isolation parameters are all below 15 dB at
both two frequencies. From the measurement results of Figure 10(c), the values of jS21 j
are equal to 5.1 dB at 0.95 GHz and 6.6 dB at 2.28 GHz, while the values of jS31j are
equal to 1.9 dB at 0.95 GHz and 4.0 dB at 2.28 GHz. Therefore, the power dividing
ratios are equal to 3.2 dB at 0.95 GHz and 2.6 dB at 2.28 GHz. Note that the transmission
values at the higher frequency (2.28 GHz) are smaller than those at the lower frequency
(0.95 GHz), which may be caused by the loss characteristic of the substrate at high
frequency and engineering errors. In summary, there are good agreements between our
design objective and the actual performance of this fabricated power divider.

Figure 9. The fabricated Wilkinson power divider for 0.95 GHz and 2.28 GHz with 3 dB power
dividing ratio.
Downloaded By: [Iran University of Science & Technology] At: 08:54 1 November 2010

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 10. S-parameters of the fabricated power divider: (a) simulation results of match and
isolation parameters, (b) measurement results of match and isolation parameters, and (c) comparison
of simulation and measurement results of transmission parameters.

282
 New Unequal Dual-Band Modified Power Divider 283

5. Conclusions
This article presents a new design method for an unequal dual-band modified Wilkinson
power divider with both theoretical design procedure and practical implementation. To
begin with, a modified impedance transformer that is suitable for two flexible frequencies
is analyzed. Then, two groups of closed-form equations for this proposed power divider
are obtained based on the ideal transmission line model, and the available frequency ratio
range in special cases is provided. Finally, the proposed structure and the corresponding
analytical design method are verified through two simulated examples and a fabricated
microstrip power divider. Actually, the proposed unequal dual-band modified power
divider can be regarded as an extension of the equal dual-band Wilkinson power divider
in Cheng and Wong (2007).
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Acknowledgments
The authors want to express their gratitude to the partial financial support of National
High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, no.
2008AA01Z211), Sino-Swedish IMT-Advanced Cooperation Project (no. 2008DFA11780),
and BUPT Excellent Ph.D. Students Foundation (CX200901).

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