This paper presents a novel assessment method that minimizes test-fixture-induced errors in non-coaxial power combiner measurement by extending the port reduction method. This method involves terminating certain ports to acquire the scattering matrix of an N-port network from the scattering matrix measured at a reduced port order. The entire DUT scattering matrix is obtained from multiple scanning measurements, which are taken from partial coaxial accessible ports, based on a set of configurable terminating states. This advantage is leveraged to exclude a major portion of coaxial launch structures that would otherwise be incorporated in the conventional multiport test fixture. An analogous concept here is applied to measure a waveguide traveling-wave power combiner. A sandwiched twin structure, containing a divider/combiner pair with certain auxiliary through-type components cushioned between them, is utilized to assess the combiner characteristics. A theoretical framework of the proposed method was established to test its potential precision. Thereafter, an in-situ implementation was conducted to test its practical application on a traveling-wave combined amplifier prototype operating at the Q-band (33–39 GHz).

A modified compact Y-junction substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) four-way power divider (PD)/combiner is proposed in this paper. The proposed approach is based on the traditional Y-junction waveguide. By using direct transition structure from SIW to half-mode SIW, four-way PD that provides equal power split to all four output ports is achieved. The even- and odd-mode equivalent circuits are given to analyze and design the PD. The measured results validate the proposed design methodology and show good agreement with the simulation results. The measured 17 dB return loss bandwidth and 1.2 dB insertion loss bandwidth of this four-way PD are both about 2.5 GHz.

In this paper, a new configuration embedded with two filters and one resistor is proposed, which has the dual function of power splitting and filtering. The filter is based on stepped impedance ring resonator. All the even- and odd-mode resonant frequencies and transmission zeroes of the stepped impedance ring resonator are derived based on the even- and odd-mode analysis. Three interdigital-coupled lines are applied at the input port and output ports to achieve a bandpass response and suppress the second harmonic. For verification, a sample operating at the central frequency of 2 GHz is fabricated and tested. The measured results show the power divider has good performance on impedance matching, frequency selectivity, and isolation over the operating band.