JOURNAL OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS, VOLUME 25, ISSUE 1, MAY 2014

1

Design and Realisation of Planar Star Mi-
crostrip Diplexer for Wireless Applications
A. Zakriti
1
, N. Amar Touhami
2
, and M. Lamsalli
2

AbstractIn this paper, a high performance diplexer is designed and fabricated for wireless applications. The diplexer mainly
comprises two dual-mode Star Bandpass Filters (BPFs), operated at 1.8GHz and 2.3GHz, respectively. Several transmission
zeros are located at the passband edges, thus improving the passband selectivity. Due to the impedance matching between two
BPFs, a high isolation greater than 30dB between two channels is obtained.
Index TermsMicrostrip filters, Resonator filters, Passband filters, Diplexer.

!

1 INTRODUCTION
ecenlIy, lhe need of inlegraling more lhan one com-
municalion slandard inlo a singIe syslem increased
lhe rogress in mobiIe and vireIess communicalion
lechnoIogy |1-2j. ConsequenlIy, differenl slandards may
use differenl frequency bands. In lhese communicalion
syslems, lhe diIexers are essenliaI comonenls lhal can
be used lo connecl a singIe anlenna lo severaI receivers
and lransmillers or lo rovide lhe coexislence of differenl
vireIess sub-syslems in muIli-service and muIliband
communicalion syslems. DiIexers are lhe key lo achieve
high comaclness, high veighl, and high isoIalion. There-
fore, lhere has been much research focused on deveIoing
various kinds of diIexers |3-6j.
A diIexer is a lhree-orl nelvork, lhal usuaIIy con-
sisls of lvo fiIlers connecled in a seciaI vay in order lo
rovide lhe assband and sloband characlerislics of
each fiIler from lhe common conneclion |7-8j. Microslri
diIexers are Iov cosl devices lhal can be easiIy mounled
on lhe dieIeclric subslrale and can rovide a more fIexibIe
design of lhe circuil Iayoul |9j. Much efforl has been aid
lo reduce lhe size and imrove lhe erformance of lhese
diIexers.
Microslri diIexer/fiIler based on lhe common reso-
nalor seclion |10j, modified sleed-imedance resona-
lors |11,12j and defecled ground slruclure |13-14j reaIize
a good seIeclivily, high isoIalion and vide sloband. Ior
a diIexer vilh vide sloband, il is easy lo conlroI lhe
frequency ralio of lhe lvo assbands, because lhe har-
monic of lhe Iover assband is far avay from lhe higher
assbands and viII nol affecl lhe high assband vhen lhe
Iover assband moves dovn.
In lhis aer, Slar-shae microslri resonalors are
roosed lo be lhe main arl of lhe bandass fiIlers. The
designed diIexer is based on a combinalion of lvo ro-
osed bandass fiIlers vilh lhe cenler frequency al
1.8GHz and 2.3GHz, resecliveIy.
2 DIPLEXER THEORY
2.1 Coupled Resonator Filters
The derivalion of lhe generaI couIing malrix of a cou-
Ied resonalor fiIler has been resenled in |15-16j. IIeclric
and magnelic couIings have been considered searaleIy
in lhe derivalion of lhe couIing malrix, and a soIulion
has been generaIized for bolh lyes of couIing. In lhe
case of magnelicaIIy couIed resonalors, using Kirchoff's
voIlage Iav, lhe Ioo equalions are derived from lhe
equivaIenl circuil shovn in figure 1(a), and reresenled in
imedance malrix form. SimiIarIy, for eIeclricaIIy couIed
resonalors, using Kirchoff's currenl Iav, node equalions
are derived from lhe equivaIenl circuil in figure 1(b), and
reresenled in admillance malrix form. The derivalions
shov lhal lhe normaIized admillance malrix has idenlicaI
form lo lhe normaIized imedance malrix |15-16j. Ac-
cordingIy, regardIess of lhe lye of couIing, a generaI
normaIized malrix |!j in lerms of couIing coefficienls
and exlernaI quaIily faclors is derived as given in equa-
lion (1).








(a) (b)
Iig. 1. (a) Equivalent circuit of magnetically n-coupled
resonators, (b) Equivalent circuit of electrically n-coupled
resonators.






vhere "#$ is lhe scaIed exlernaI quaIily faclor ("#$&#$'()*)
of resonalor $, +$, is lhe normaIized couIing coefficienl

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The transmission and reflection scattering parameters are
expressed in terms of the coupling matrix and the exter-
nal quality factors as follows [15-16],

(3)

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2.2 Coupled Resonator Diplexers
The equivalent circuit of a diplexer consisting of two
bandpass filters with T-junction is shown in figure 2,







Iig. 2. Architecture of diplexer .
The S parameters of a three-port coupled resonator circuit are
expressed in terms of the coupling matrix (Eq. 1) and the
external quality factors as follows:
(5)

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Where it is assumed that port 1 is connected to resonator
1, ports 2 and 3 are connected to resonators ! and # re-
spectively.
The formulae of the remaining scattering parameters $
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derivations, and they are given by,

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The proposed coupled resonator components may be syn-
thesized using different ways: analytic solution to calcu-
late the coupling coefficients, or full synthesis using EM
simulation tools, whereby the dimensions of the physical
structure are optimized, or optimization techniques to
synthesize the coupling matrix.
3 TREE-POLE STAR BAND-PASS FILTER
The designed diplexer is based on a combination of two
Star-shape microstrip bandpass filters. The two filters are
designed independently to achieve the desired passbands
characteristics with the center frequency at 1.8GHz and
2.3GHz, respectively.

3.1 Design of 1.8GHz Band-Pass Filter Resonator
Filters
The basic configuration of the three-pole microstrip
bandpass star filter considered in this paper is illustrated
in figure 3. The bandpass filter consists of three microstrip
star resonators and feeding lines. The coupling between
mictrostrip stars and each of the feed lines is by a cou-
pled-line structure. The proposed filter structure has a
1.58mm thick dielectric substrate with a relative dielectric
constant of 4.3. The overall response of the BPF is deter-
mined by the coupling between the resonators, thus the
coupling coefficient is directly related to the spacing be-
tween the resonators.








Iig. 3. Layout of 1.8 GHz three-pole microstrip Star BPF
(W1=3.1mm, W2=1.2mm, W3=0.4mm, S1=S2=0.2mm,
L1=L2=26.4mm).
Figure 4 depicts the filters response obtained using simu-
lation tools. The plot shows a 3dB bandwidth of 70 MHz
with a center frequency of 1.8 GHz. An insertion loss of
less than 0.2dB has been obtained.












Iig. 4. Simulation response of 1.8 GHz three-pole Mi-
crostrip Star BPF.

3.2 Design of 2.3GHz Band-Pass Filter Resonator
Filters

The Star-shape basic structure shown in figure 3 to the
feeding method used for the 1.8GHz filter can be used
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with some adjustment for the 2.3GHz bandpass filter. As
with the 1.8GHz BFF design, a substrate with relative die-
lectric constant of 4.3 and a thickness of 1.58 mm was
used.
Figures 5 shows the simulated S-parameters of mi-
crostrip star filter structures. The plot shows a 3dB band-
width of 140 MHz with a center frequency of 2.3 GHz. An
insertion loss of less than 0.2dB has been obtained.












Iig. 5. Simulation response of 2.3 GHz three-pole Mi-
crostrip Star BPF (W1=3.1mm, W2=1.2mm, W3=0.4mm,
S1=S2=0.2mm, L1=L2=20.6mm)
4 APPLICATIONS FOR DIPLEXER
Design of a diplexer consists of two steps. First step
is the design of microwave filters which are usually
bandpass/bandstop structure sometimes combined
with lowpass/highpass filters. Second step is the
combination of both designed filters using some
matching networks. One port of the circuit should
be matched at the center frequency of the filter and
the other port should be open-circuit. Thus, only
one open condition is needed for diplexer design.
For the design of diplexers the most popular option
of combining circuits is the T-junction [17-18].T-
junction is combined with the branch lines, which
are optimized to meet the condition of no reflection
at the center frequency of one passband and total
reflection at the center frequency of the other pass-
band. The main requirement for any diplexer is a
high isolation between filters and a low VSWR on
the common port. Very often a connection of differ-
ent filters to common port causes interaction and
degradation of initial transfer characteristics of fil-
ters in which case additional reconfiguration of fil-
ters is required.
The diplexer designed in this article involves T-
junctions and two channel filters (figure 7). First, the
two filters are designed independently to achieve
the desired passbands characteristics with the cen-
ter frequency at 1.8GHz and 2.3GHz, respectively.
Next, the two filters and the T-junction are com-
bined together to synthesize one planar diplexer.
Even though the two bandpass filters meet the de-
sign specification, the optimization process is still
necessary to get the impedance matching and the
high isolation between the two channels without
distortion of the bandpass performance [19-21]. The
optimization process is implemented through ad-
justing the parameters L
3
, L
4
, L
5
, L
6
and W
4
shown in
figure 7.










Iig. 6. Layout of 1.8 GHz/2.3 GHz microstrip Star di-
plexer (W
4
=2.3mm, L
3
=11.5mm , L
4
=17mm, L
5
=14mm,
L
6
=17mm)
The simulated S-parameters of the diplexer after
optimization are shown in figure 8. The isolation
between the two channels is better than 30dB. The
bandpass insertion loss is less than 0.5dB for both
bands, and the return loss is better than 10dB for
each of the three ports of the diplexer.














(a)













(b)
Iig. 7. Simulation results of the proposed diplexer
(a) Return loss of P
1
and Transmission responses, (b) Re-
turn loss of (P
2
and P
3
) and Isolation.
Iigures 8(a) and (b) shov lhe simuIalion currenl dislribu-
lion for lhe diIexer oeraled al 1.8GHz and 2.3GHz. The
currenl dislribulion gives direcl insighl lo undersland lhe
direclion of lhe couIing alhs and lhus lo easiIy make
olimum design of lhe roosed diIexer slruclure.
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When oeraling al 1.8 GHz more currenl dislribulion is
Iocaled on lhe firsl II since lhe inul imedance seen
inlo lhe second II is infinile, and lhe alh lo lhe second
II is oen. SimiIarIy, vhen oeraling al 2.3 GHz more
currenl dislribulion is Iocaled on lhe second II since lhe
inul imedance seen inlo lhe firsl II is infinile, and lhe
alh lo lhe firsl II is oen.










(a)










(b)
Iig. 8. SimuIaled currenl dislribulion and couIing alhs
osciIIaling of lhe diIexer al lhe cenlre frequency al (a) 1.8
GHz and (b) 2.3 GHz.
5 CONCLUSION
This paper presents the design of a high performance di-
plexer for wireless applications. At the first step, a new
three-pole microstrip Star bandpass filter is designed.
Secondly, two dual-mode BPFs at 1.8GHz and 2.3GHz
using Star filters are used as main blocks to form the pro-
posed diplexer.
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Alia ZAKRITI was born in ElHoceima, Morocco. She received the
the Ph.D. degree in Electronic at the Abdelmalek Essaadi University,
Morocco in 2001. During 2004-2010, she is professor assistant at
Caddi Ayad University, Morocco. Since 2010, she joined the De-
partment Of Engineering Technologies:Telecommunications and
Mecatronics (TITM) as an associate Professor of Telecommunica-
tions Engineering, National School of applied Sciences, UAE,
Ttouan, Morocco. Currently his interests are printed microwave
passive and active circuits, Filters and antenna designs.


Naima AMAR TOUHAMI, was born in Tetuan, Morocco. She re-
ceived Bachelor in physics, DESA in Instrumentation and electronics
and PhD degrees in electronics and Telecommunication from Uni-
versity Abdelmalek Essaadi, in 1996, 2002 and 2009 respectively.
She received the AECID scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of
Foreign Affairs (2005-2008) and participated in several research
5

projects in the University of Cantabria (2004-2010) (PCI -121-04-R-E
, PCI-31-P-03, PCI-A-3566-05A et PCI-A-7411-06, PROFIT-FIT-
330210-2006-07, IST-1-507893-NOE and TTI-Norte-S-L). Since
2011, she is Assistant Professor of electronics and Telecommunica-
tion at University Abdelmalek Essaadi. His research interests include
active antennas and planar circuits.

Mohammed LAMSALLI was born in Kenitra, Morroco. He received
the Master Degree in electronic and telecommunication at the Uni-
versity Abdelmalek Essaadi, Morocco, in 2010. He is currently work-
ing toward the Ph.D. degree in Telecommunications Engineering
with the electronic and instrumentation group at Abdelmalek Essaadi
University. His research interests include antenna design and RF
filters.