Characteristics of quad-ridged coaxial waveguides for dual-band horn applications

H.Z. Zha ng G.L. James, FlEE

Indexing terms. Quad-ridged waveguides, Broadband diplexers, Dual-band horn, Ritz-Galerkin method

Abstract: Circular coaxial quad-ridged waveguides find application in the design of broadband diplexers for the dielectrically loaded, ultrawide, dual-band horn. The three basic structures, where the four ridges are placed symmetrically on the inner conductor, on the outer conductor or on both conductors of the coaxial waveguide, are analysed using a modified Ritz-Galerkin method. To find the optimum configuration, the cutoff wavenumbers of the first two (effective) dominant modes for each of these structures, from whilsh we deduce the bandwidth characteristics, are ciilculated and compared. The aim is to obtain the preferred coaxial ridged structure in terms of broad bandwidth and ease of fabrication.

Introduction

A dielectric cone-loaded, hybrid-mode feed horn has been developed recently for broadband applications [11.
Analysis using the mode-matching method has shown that the bandwidth of this feed horn is extremely broad, and that it can be excited by using a coaxial waveguide for dual-band applications [I], as shown in Fig. 1. However, the limited bandwidth of the exciting coaxial waveguide inhibits the full potential of the horn to be realised.
exciting coaxial
horn

7
air

band

Fig. 1 Duul-band, dielectric cone-loaded feed horn and launching Waveguide section

coaxial waveguide of appropriate dimensions. Then the output of the diplexer can be directly coupled to the input of the horn, by a gradual transformation of the coaxial waveguide section from the quad-ridged geometry at the diplexer to a conventional coaxial waveguide at the horn, as shown in Fig. 1. In this paper, we propose three basic configurations: the coaxial waveguides with four ridges placed symmetrically on the inner conductor, on the outer conductor or on both conductors, as shown in Fig. 2a, b and c, respectively. We also analyse the cutoff and bandwidth characteristics of these structures with the intention of developing the capability of analysing the performance of an entire system comprising the dielectric coneloaded horn connected to a coaxial ridged waveguide diplexing section. To seek the optimum configuration, the cutoff and bandwidth characteristics of the three waveguide structures under consideration need to be analysed and compared. There are a number of methods available for analysing the similar circular ridged waveguide structures, such as the radial mode-matching method [2], magnetic field integral equation method [3], generalised spectral domain method [4], frequency domain TLM method [5] and finite-elementmethod [6, 71. Considering the computing efficiency, in particular, the ease of connecting to the software (developed earlier for designing the dielectrically loaded horn using the modematching method) for analysing the entire system (comprising a dielectric cone-loaded horn and a coaxial ridged waveguide diplexer), we chose a modified RitzGalerkin method [8, 91 for analysing the proposed structure. This method, in principle, is a mode-matching with reduced matrix size [lo]. The program developed using this method can be easily interfaced with the existing software using the mode-matching method [l]. Hence, all the subsequent results are obtained using the modified Ritz-Galerkin and validated using the finite-element method [7].
2
Formulation

To exploit the broad dual-band capability of this

horn more fully, we propose the coaxial quad-ridged waveguide structure as the basis for a wideband diplexer. The concept 'behind this diplexer is to excite the TE, mode only over a very wideband quad-ridged
0IEE, 1998
IEE Proceedings online no. 195'81777

Paper first received 11th July and in revised form 11th November 1997 The authors are wth CSIRO Telecommmcations and Industrial Physics, PO Box 76, Eppmg, NSW 2121, Australia
IEE Proc.-Microw. Antennas Pro,?ag., Vol. 145, No. 3, June 1998

A coaxial waveguide with four ridges symmetrically placed on the inner and outer conductors (hereafter called inner and outer ridged waveguides) are shown in Fig. 2a and b, respectively. The coaxial waveguide with four symmetrically placed double ridges (hereafter called double ridged waveguide) is shown in Fig. 2c. When the height of the outer ridges reduces to zero (c = d in Fig. 2 4 , the double ridged structure becomes the inner ridged structure of Fig. 2a. Similarly, when the height of the inner ridges reduces to zero (a = b), the
225

double ridged structure becomes the outer ridged structure. Therefore, the double ridged structure is a generic one and the formulation given for this structure includes all the configurations of interest.
metal
ridged structure

- a ) at p = c 43 where D ' and D " are the amplitude coefficients of the aperture fields. Using the Ritz-Galerkin technique [8], modified for this circular cross-section application, the following matrix equation is obtained:

t2(4) =

D ~ Icos -($

9 =O

circular waveau for higher band

a
Y

where

*
M .

ridged structure
C

Fig.2

Three proposed circular coaxial ridged waveguides

The coaxial waveguide with four double ridges is symmetric with respect to the x and y axes (see Fig. 2c), and hence, only one quarter of the structure needs to be considered. This quarter of the structure can be divided into three regions I, I1 and 111, as shown in Fig. 2d. The Hertzian potential for the TE modes can then be described as [2, 8, 91

with

where

fL/, (kP) = JA+

IIU f(2m-1)
f(zm-1)

(ka)Y&J (kP)
Jn7r/,

(kP)YA/, (ka)

The eigenvalues can be obtained by finding the roots of

('P)

J(2m-1)

( k ~ )
(kP)

DetlH(k)l = 0 (see [8] for details).

3

IIb

( ' P )
=

== Y(zm-1) ( ' P )
J;T/p

Numerical results

f;,,@P)

(")Y,T/,

- J,T/,(b)Y;,/, J and Y are Bessel functions of the first and second kind, respectively, and k is the transverse wavenumber with respect to the z axis. A, B and C are amplitude coefficients. The expressions for the E-fields at the interfaces between the various regions are assumed as follows:

(W

The cutoff and bandwidth characteristics of the three coaxial ridged waveguide structures were calculated using eqn. 2. Fig. 3 shows the variation of the normalised cutoff wavelength of the dominant TEll mode as a function of the angle a (defined in Fig. 2 4 for all three coaxial ridged structures. It is seen that the cutoff wavelength of these three structures increases and then decreases with the increase in the width (2a) of the ridge. We note that the inner ridged structure has the
IEE Proc-Microw. Antennas Propug.. Vol. 145, No. 3, June 1998

226

longest cutoff wavelength, whereas the cutoff wavelength of the double ridged structure is longer than that of the outer ridged structure. We also note that the cutoff wavelengths of all the three coaxial ridged structures are significantly longer than those (dcll/d= 4.078) of the coaxial waveguide without ridges.

these quantities are plotted in Figs. 5 and 6 as a function of inner-to-outer conductor ratio ald. In Fig. 5 we see that the cutoff wavelength of the inner ridged structure is significantly longer than those of the other two structures. This is because this structure attracts a high intensive field to its outer conductor and thus fully uses the dimension of this conductor. Similarly, we found the cutoff wavelength of the double ridged structure to be longer than that for the outer ridged structure. For the inner ridged structure, the smaller the inner conductor, the longer the cutoff wavelength.

(VI

10

15

20 a

25

30

35

40

Fig.3

aid = 113 (i) (c - b)/d = 1/12, (ii) double ridged waveguide, (iii) inner ridged waveguide, (iv) (e - b)/d = 116, (v) outer ridged waveguide

Variation of the normalised cutoff wavelength (Ac,,/d)or the three coaxial ridged waveguide structures as a function o f cr(degreef

t
(iii)
(ii)

51 1I6

113

1I2

213 dd
U

516

Inner ridged structure: = 60", c = d, (c h)/d = 1/12 Outer ridged structure: p = So", a = b, ( c b)/d = 1/12 Double ridged structure: 9, = 50", b - a = d e, (c - b)/d = 1/12 x x inner ridged waveguide 0 outer ridged waveguide A A double ridged waveguide
~ ~ ~

ratio d d

Fig.5

Variution o f the normalised cutosf wavelength as

function o f

10

15

20 a

25

30

35

40

aid = 113 double ridged waveguide, (iii) inner ridged waveguide, (i) (c - b)/d = 1/12, (ii) (iv) (c - b)/d = 116, (v) outer ridged waveguide

Fig.4 Variation of the bandwidth (Acll/Ac31) for the three coaxial ridged waveguide structures as a function of a(degree)

Fig. 4 shows that the bandwidth of these three structures (defined as the ratio of the cutoff wavelengths of the first two propagating modes of interest; in this case the TE,, and TE,, modes) also increases and then decreases with the increase in the width ( 2 4 of the ridge. In comparison to the cutoff wavelength of the TEll mode (Fig. 3), the change of bandwidth with the variation of the ridge width a is more significant. The maximum bandwidth of the inner ridged structure is where a = 15" while the bandwidth of the remaining structures reaches a maximum when a = 20". The bandwidth of the double ridged structure is comparable with that of the inner ridged waveguide, whereas the bandwidth of the outer ridged structure is narrower. Fig. 4 also shows that the bandwidth of all the three coaxial ridged structures are significantly broader than those (Acll/Ac31 = 2.702) of the coaxial waveguide without ridges. To show the influence of the radius (a) of the inner conductor on the cutoff and bandwidth characteristics.
IEE Proc.-Microw. Antennas Propag., Vol. 145, No. 3, June 1998

i
113
112

1I6

2 1 3

516

aid
Inner ridged structure: p = 60", c = d, (c - b)/d = 1/12 Outer ridged structure: 'p = 50", a = b, (c - b)/d = 1/12 Double ridged structure: 'p = SO", b U = d e, (c - b)/d = 1/12 x inner ridged waveguide outer ridged waveguide A A double ridged waveguide
~ ~

Fig.6

Variation ofthe bandwidth

(AclI/Ac3,) as a function o f ratio d d

Fig. 6 indicates that the bandwidths of the three structures are comparable when the ratio ald is in the range 5/12 to 11/12. The Figure also shows that the bandwidth within this range decreases with increased ratio uld. However, when aid is smaller than about 51 12, the bandwidth of the outer ridged structure appears significantly shorter than those of other two structures. In contrast, the bandwidth of the inner ridged structure increases continuously with reduced a/d ratio. The
227

maximum bandwidth of the double ridged structure appears at ald = 113. Figs. 7 and 8 show the variation of cutoff and bandwidth of the structures as a function of the gap ( e - b)/d along the radial direction. Both Figures show that the cutoff wavelength and bandwidth increase when the gap decreases. Figs. 7 and 8 also indicate that the cutoff and bandwidth characteristics of the inner ridged structure are better than those of the other two structures.

Table 1: Comparison of normalised cutoff wavelength for ridged coaxial waveguide obtained using two different methods
a/d
Dimensions ( p = 4 5 " ) 113 7/12 9/12 3.539 3.545 5/12 7/12 9/12 3.639 3.646 113 113 213 4.276 4.277 112 112 213 5.443 5.450

b/d

c/d
Ritz-Ga lerkin Finite element [71

1 " " " " 2/24 4124

'

" " 6/24

8/24
(c-b)ld

10124

12/24

14/24

x x

f Fig.7 Vartution of the normalised cutoff wavelength us a function o ratio (c - b)/d Inner ndged structure' 9 = 60", c = d, aid = 113 Outer ridged structure 'p = So", a = 6, aid = 113 Double ridged structure 'p = 50", b a = d - c, aid = 113
~

A A -

inner ridged waveguide o u t a ridged waveguide double ridged waveguide

bandwidth characteristics of a coaxial waveguide can be made significantly longer and broader with the inclusion of ridges. (As a check, results obtained using the modified Ritz-Galerkin method have shown excellent agreement with those obtained using the finite-element method.) The improvement of the cutoff and bandwidth characteristics increases with the reduce in the gap between the ridges (or between ridge and inner or outer conductor) along the radial direction. The cutoff and bandwidth characteristics of the waveguide with four ridges placed symmetrically on the inner conductor are better than those of the structures with ridges placed on the outer conductor and on both conductors. The inner ridged structure with 30O-wide ridges (2a) and infinite small inner conductor has the broadest bandwidth. Moreover, this structure is the most easily machined and excited for the required mode. The results presented here are to form the basis of a wideband diplexer for coupling the incomingloutgoing signals from a dielectrically loaded, ultrawide dualband horn. Currently, we are extending the analysis presented here with the software (developed earlier for designing the dielectrically loaded horn using the modematching method) for analysing and designing the entire system, comprising a dielectric cone-loaded horn and the diplexer described above.

5
L l

2
a m

5
5 -

References

4 -

3-

2/24

4124

6/24

8/24
(c-b)id

10124

12\24

14/24
-

blqd

Fi .8

Vuriation ofthe bandwidth (AcTlll/Ac3,) as a junction of ratio (c

Inner ridged structure 'p = 60", c = d, ald = 1/3 Outer ridged structure 'p = 50", a = b, aid = 113 Double ridged structure. m = 50", b a = d - e, aid = 113 x x inner ridged wavegutde outer ridged waveguide A A double ridged waveguide
~

The computational results obtained using the modified Ritz-Galerkin method have been verified using the finite-element method [7]. As shown in Table 1, the agreement of the results obtained using these two methods is excellent.
4

Conclusion

The numerical results obtained using the modified Ritz-Galerkin method show that the cutoff and
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IEE Proc -Microw Antennas Propag Vol 145 No 3 June 1998