IEEE Wireless Conference and Networking Conference (WCNC 2016) Track 1: PHY and Fundamentals

Millimeter-Wave Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Bandpass

Filter (BPF) Using Microstrip Parallel Coupled Lines

Hussein Shaman, Ahmed AlAmoudi, Sultan Almorqi

National Centre for Sensors and Defense Systems Technologies
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
hshaman@kacst.edu.sa

Abstract—A compact millimeter-wave bandpass filter for

automotive radar systems is developed and proposed in this
paper. The filter is designed to select the UWB spectrum (22-
29GHz) to meet the FCC specifications. The filter consists of two
of parallel-coupled line sections that are quarter-wavelength long Inp
ut
at a center frequency of about 25.5 GHz. In order to improve the
filter performance and to allow the filter to exhibit a new
transmission zero at each side of the passband, a shunt ring p
stri
resonator and a shunt stepped-impedance open-circuited stub are cro
Mi line
loaded at the center between the coupled line sections. As a
t
result, the filter can exhibit a high selectivity filtering Ou
tpu
Pla
ne
nd
characteristic. The filter design is realized using RT/duroid 6002 Gr o u

substrate and the design is verified by the EM simulation and the

experiment. The filter design is successfully fabricated and
measured and a very good agreement between the simulated and
measured results is attained. The fabricated filter is compact in
size and has low insertion loss, high selectivity and excellent out-
of-band performance.
Keywords— Millimeter-wave; UWB filter; bandpass filter;
coupled-line filter; microstrip filter
I. INTRODUCTION
Compact and high-performance bandpass filters with ultra-
wideband (UWB) passband are in demand in the development
of modern millimeter-wave (MMW) communication
applications that require small size and light weight such as
inter-satellite communications, microwave imaging and
automotive radar systems. Numerous millimeter-wave
bandpass filters using various topologies have been developed
and proposed in [1] – [15]. In [1], a MMW bandpass filter
using the sinuous-shaped thin film microstrip (TFMS) line
structure is introduced. The filter is compact in size and it
exhibits low insertion loss. However, the filter shows poor
selectivity at both edges of the passband. In [2]-[5], a standard
0.18-um CMOS technology is implemented to develop
different types on millimeter-wave filters. On the other hand,
low temperature co-fired ceramic technology (LTCC) has been
used to develop MMW bandpass filters [6]-[8]. In [9], a MMW
bandpass filter is proposed using a rectangular waveguide
employing microstrip-to-waveguide transducer. Recently,
planer structures are implemented to develop different types of
MMW bandpass filters such as, hairpin structures [10]-[11],
Fig. 1. Proposed millimeter-wave UWB bandpass on microstrip substrate.
dual-mode ring resonators [12]-[13], microstrip slow-wave
resonators [14], and edge-coupled line structure [15].
In this work, a compact millimeter-wave bandpass filter is
proposed. The filter consists of two of parallel-coupled line
sections, a shunt ring resonator, and a shunt stepped-impedance
open-circuited stub are loaded at the center between the
coupled line sections. The filter design is realized using
RT/duroid 6002 substrate and the design is verified by the EM
simulation and the experiment. The expected and measured
results are demonstrated in this paper.
II. FILTER ANALYSIS
Fig. 1 displays a 3-D view of the proposed millimeter-wave
bandpass filter. The filter comprises of two sections of parallel-
coupled lines at the input and output feed lines, a shunt
stepped-impedance open-circuited stub and a shunt ring
resonator at the center as shown in Fig.1. The equivalent circuit
of the proposed millimeter-wave filter is depicted in Fig. 2. The
even- and odd-mode impedances of parallel coupled lines at
the input and output feed lines are defined by Ze and Zo,
respectively. The electrical length (Ɵ) of the parallel-coupled
lines is a quarter-wavelength at the mid-band frequency. The

This work is sponsored by National Centre for Sensors and Defense

Systems Technologies (NCSDST), King Abdulaziz City for Science and
Technology (KACST).

978-1-4673-9814-5/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

 1.4
Z4, θ4 Unit: mm
2.5 0.72
Z4, θ41 Z4, θ41
0.4
Input Output

Z1, θ1
0.1 0.3
Input Output
G = 0.07 0.57
Ze, Zo, θ Ze, Zo, θ L= 2.1
W= 0.06 0.75

Z2, θ2 Fig. 4. Microstrip layout of the proposed millimeter-wave UWB

bandpass filter.
Z3, θ3

-10

Magnitude (dB)
-20
Fig. 2. Circuit model of the proposed millimeter-wave UWB bandpass
filter. -30

-40
S11
S21
TABLE I. OPTIMIZED PARAMETERS OF THE CIRCUIT MODEL IN FIG. 2. -50

Impedances Values
Electrical lengths at
Values -60
the center frequency 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Frequency (GHz)
Ze 123 Ω Ɵ 90˚

Zo 67 Ω Ɵ1 8.0˚
Fig. 5. EM simulated performance of the millimeter-wave UWB BPF.
Z1 113 Ω Ɵ2 17.6˚

Z2 70 Ω Ɵ3 27.8˚

Z3 21.5 Ω Ɵ4 90˚ impedance and electrical length of the low-impedance line of

the stepped-impedance resonator are defined by Z3 and Ɵ3,
Z4 55 Ω Ɵ41 = Ɵ42 45˚ respectively.
The filter is designed to select the UWB spectrum (22-
29GHz) to meet the FCC specifications for automotive radar
systems. In order to achieve this, the filter is designed to have a
fractional bandwidth of about 22%. At a mid-band frequency
of about 25.5 GHz. The required circuit parameters of the
designed filter are demonstrated in Table 1. These values are
calculated using the transmission line theory [16]. In addition,
the values of the circuit parameters are optimized using
Microwave Office Software [17]. The filter performance of the
circuit model using the parameters values in Table 1 is plotted
in Fig. 3. As can be seen, the filter shows three attenuation
poles inside the desired passband. In addition, the filter
exhibited a single transmission zero at each side of the UWB
passband. The transmission zero at the lower edge is generated
and controlled by the shunt stepped-impedance resonator while
the transmission zero at the upper edge is generated and
controlled by the shunt ring resonator. These two transmission
zeros increase the selectivity of the filter at both edges of the
Fig. 3. Calculated insertion loss and return loss of the circuit model with passband.
the values in Table 1.

III. MICROSTRIP REALIZATION AND MEASUREMENTS

characteristic impedances of the ring resonator are defined by
Z1 and Z4. The total electrical length of the ring resonator
(Ɵ41 + Ɵ42 + Ɵ4) is half-wavelength long at the mid-band
frequency. The characteristic impedance and electrical length
of the high-impedance line of the stepped-impedance resonator
are defined by Z2 and Ɵ2, respectively while the characteristic
The filter is implemented using RT/duroid 6002 substrate
with an effective dielectric constant of 2.94, a thickness of
0.127 mm, and a loss tangent of 0.0012. The final layout with
the physical dimensions of the microstrip design is illustrated
in Fig. 4. The physical parameters are calculated using the
microstrip design equations [16]. The filter layout is simulated
 0
-10
Magnitude (dB)
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
0 5 10
Fig. 6. Measured performance of the millimeter-wave UWB BPF.
0
-10
Insertion Loss (dB)
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
0 5 10
Fig. 7. Comparesion between simulated and measured insertion
lossesof the proposed UWB BPF.
using commercially available software [18]. The full-wave EM
simulated performance is illustrated in Fig 5. As can be seen in
the EM simulation results, the filter exhibits a transmission
zero at each side of the desired passband. Hence, high
selectivity at both edges of the UWB passband is achieved
without increasing the degree of the filter. The designed
millimeter-wave bandpass filter is successfully fabricated and
measured. The measured magnitudes of the insertion and return
losses are demonstrated in Fig. 6. The measured insertion loss
is less than 3.7 at the mid-band frequency. The measured return
loss is better than 12 dB over the entire passband. The filter
exhibited 3 poles inside the passband and two transmission
zeros close to the edges of the passband. As result, the filter
shows excellent performance with high selectivity. Fig. 7
shows a comparison between the measured and simulated
insertion losses. Excellent agreement between the measured
and simulated performances is attained.
In this paper, a compact millimeter-wave bandpass filter
has been developed and proposed for automotive radar
systems. The filter has been designed to select the UWB
spectrum (22-29GHz) to meet the FCC specifications. The
filter consists of two of parallel-coupled line sections that are
quarter-wavelength long at a center frequency of about 25.5
GHz. In order to improve the filter performance and to allow
the filter to exhibit a new transmission zero at each side of the
passband, a shunt ring resonator and a shunt stepped-
impedance open-circuited stub were loaded at the center
between the coupled line sections. As a result, the filter
exhibited a high selectivity filtering characteristic. The filter
design has been realized using RT/duroid 6002 substrate and
the design has been verified by the EM simulation and the
experiment. The filter design has been successfully fabricated
and measured and an excellent agreement between the
expected and measured results was attained. The filter has the
advantages of low insertion loss, compact size, high selectivity
S11
and excellent out-of-band performance. Therefore, the filter
S21 appears attractive for use in millimeter-wave applications.
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Frequency (GHz)
This work is sponsored by National Centre for Sensors and
Defense Systems Technologies (NCSDST), King Abdulaziz
City for Science and Technology (KACST).
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