IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation

Research Article

ISSN 1751-8725
Design of narrowband evanescent-mode Received on 17th March 2016
Revised on 1st June 2016
waveguide bandpass filters with closely Accepted on 22nd June 2016
doi: 10.1049/iet-map.2016.0183
spaced resonators www.ietdl.org

Wael M. Fathelbab
K&L Microwave, Salisbury, Maryland 21801, USA
E-mail: wfathelbab@hotmail.com

Abstract: This study presents the design of a novel class of narrowband evanescent-mode waveguide (EWG) bandpass
filters accommodating closely spaced resonators relative to the realised fractional bandwidth. The proposed filters
comprise a new type of resonator structure whose electrical characteristics are carefully investigated in this work. The
resonator structure is both capacitively- and inductively-loaded, which enables the new filters to be significantly shorter
in the overall length in comparison to their conventional counterparts. The presented circuit concepts are validated
through several filter models that were created utilising high frequency structure simulator (HFSS). The HFSS filter
models realise a passband centred at 1000 MHz utilising the new type of resonator structure to achieve an absolute
bandwidth of 150 MHz (15%), but with smaller overall length when compared to traditional EWG design. This is by
virtue of closely spacing the resonators in the proposed filters. Finally, a traditional EWG filter is also modelled utilising
HFSS and its electrical and physical dimensions are compared with those of the new filters.

1 Introduction narrowband EWG lters of this paper. Let us begin by studying

The urge for high performance cavity radio frequency/microwave
lters with miniaturised dimensions has been the subject of
research interest for several decades. Cavity bandpass lters are
mainly realised in evanescent-mode waveguide (EWG) technology
due to ease of mechanical construction, superior out-of-band
spurious performance and small overall size. In EWG technology
[15], the resonators are housed inside an air cavity operating
below the cutoff frequency of the dominant mode of the
waveguide and are fully coupled to one another with no apertures
existing between the resonators. The non-existence of apertures
helps reduce the energy from dissipating in the coupling regions
which consequently lowers the passband insertion loss. In recent
years, there has been renewed interest in the design of EWG lters
that are capable of realising nite-frequency transmission zeros as
demonstrated by the interesting works presented in [68].
In general, as the desired fractional bandwidth of EWG lters
decreases the weak inter-resonator couplings dictates a large
spacing between the coupled resonators which subsequently
increases the overall length of these lters [911].
This paper introduces a novel resonator structure which is both
capacitively- and inductively-loaded and demonstrates how such a
resonator can be utilised to design a new class of EWG lters
accommodating closely spaced resonators relative to the realised
fractional bandwidth. This paper is divided into four sections and
organised as follows. Section 2 presents the new type of resonator
structure which is central to this study and investigates its
electrical characteristics. Section 3 demonstrates the synthesis of
prototype networks comprising the new resonator structures. The
synthesised prototypes are subsequently modelled and simulated
utilising high frequency structure simulator (HFSS) and their
frequency performance is reported in Section 4.
the characteristics of the pair of resonator structures that are
illustrated in Fig. 1. At rst glance, it appears that the structures
look almost identical to each other, but close scrutiny reveals
that the characteristic impedance of the middle open-circuited
stub is different. Furthermore, the stub located at the far right in
the structure of Fig. 1a is open-circuited unlike the stub located
at the far right in the structure of Fig. 1b which is actually
short-circuited. However, both stubs have the same characteristic
impedance, Zoc. It is worth pointing out the difference between
the two structures illustrated in Fig. 1 in the context of this
work. The structure of Fig. 1a can be thought of as one that
comprises a short-circuited resonator (of characteristic
impedance, Zsc) that is loaded with a pair of open-circuited stubs
(of characteristic impedances, Zoc1 and Zoc) and so in a sense it
is a conventional resonator with the pair of the open-circuited
stubs capacitively loading the resonator. On the other hand, the
structure of Fig. 1b can be thought of as one that comprises a
short-circuited resonator (of characteristic impedance, Zsc) that is
loaded by both an open-circuited stub (of characteristic
impedance, Zoc2) and a short-circuited stub (of characteristic
impedance, Zoc). In this case, the resonator is both capacitively-
and inductively-loaded. It is the structure of Fig. 1b that is of
importance to this paper. However, to obtain the right level of
appreciation of what this work has to offer each of the resonator
structures of Fig. 1 will be carefully studied to determine its
resonant frequency and half power bandwidth. Furthermore pairs
of the resonator structures of Fig. 1 will be inter-coupled and
the coupling bandwidth derived. Comparison between the
characteristics of the resonator structures will help clarify the
underlying fundamental concepts of this work. The study will
now begin.

2.1 Resonant frequencies and half power bandwidth

2 Proposed resonator structure The resonant frequency of the resonator structure illustrated in
Fig. 1a is the frequency that forces its input impedance to
This section is devoted to analysing a new type of resonator approach innite value. A detailed derivation of the expression of
structure which is a key element in the design of the proposed the resonant frequency is given in Section 7.1.1 of Appendix 1

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leading to

 
2 1 Z Z
foI = + f tan  oc oc1  ; (1)
p r Zsc Zoc + Zoc1

and similarly the resonant frequency of the resonator structure of

Fig. 1b (also derived in Section 7.1.1 of Appendix 1) is found
as follows


 


2 Z Z + Z
foII =+ f tan1 oc2 oc sc . (2) Fig. 1 Proposed resonator structures
p r Zoc Zsc
(lr is the free space wavelength at the commensurate frequency, fr)
a Comprising a single short-circuited stub and a pair of open-circuited stubs
b Comprising a pair of short-circuited stubs and a single open-circuited stub
In (1) and (2), fr is the commensurate frequency, i.e. the frequency at
which the stubs of each resonator structure are quarter-wavelength
long. Equating (1) and (2), i.e. forcing the two resonant
frequencies, foI and foII to become identical imposes the following Similarly, the lower and upper 3-dB frequencies of the resonator
condition on the characteristic impedance, Zoc2 structure of Fig. 1b are found as follows

2
Zoc Z  
Zoc2 =  oc1 . (3) a = Zsc Zoc Zoc2 ;
Zoc1 + Zoc Zsc + Zoc 
 
b = Zsc 2 Z 2 Z 2 +Z 2 Z 2 Z
oc oc2 o oc oc2 Zsc + Zo Zoc Zoc2 Zsc ;
2 2

Now the half power frequencies (also known as the 3-dB  

frequencies) of each resonator structure of Fig. 1 will be derived to c = Zo Zsc Zoc ;
help us obtain a full understanding of their electrical characteristics.




2 a+ b 2 a+ b
We will pursue a similar approach as was done in [12]. To do so f3dBL II = fr tan1 and f3dBU II = fr tan1 .
p c p c
each resonator structure will be driven by a source and terminated
by a load of the same characteristic impedance, Zo. Half of the (7)
incident power at the input to the loaded resonator is reected
back to the source at a pair of frequencies
 when  the admittance
  of
the unloaded resonator appears as +j 2/Zo or j 2/Zo . It is The 3-dB bandwidth of each resonator is dened as the absolute
relatively easy to check that this is indeed true by evaluating the difference between the 3-dB frequencies. It can be shown that
input impedance looking at the loaded resonator seen from the the half power bandwidth of the resonator structure of Fig. 1b is
source. The result is equal to actually smaller in value than the half power bandwidth of the
resonator structure of Fig. 1a. However, both resonator structures
resonate at the same resonant frequency, fo by virtue of
Zo satisfying (3). The following subsection derives expressions for
Zin = ; (4)
1 + j2 the coupling bandwidth between pairs of resonators of the types
shown in Fig. 1.
which leads to a reection coefcient of
2.2 Coupling bandwidth
1 1
Gin = + j ; (5) At this stage, we will consider the pairs of coupled resonators that are
2 2 depicted in Fig. 2 with the objective of evaluating the coupling
bandwidth for each pair [9, 10]. Fig. 2a depicts a pair of coupled
showing that half of the input power is actually reected back to the resonators of the type shown in Fig. 1a, whereas in Fig. 2b, the
source. Therefore, the lower and upper 3-dB frequencies of the coupled resonators are of the type shown in Fig. 1b. The
resonator structure illustrated in Fig. 1a are derived leading to expression of the input impedance at either port for the coupled
resonator pair of Fig. 2a is found as (see (8))
 
a = Zsc Zoc Zoc1 ; and similarly for the coupled resonator pair of Fig. 2b the input
 impedance is (see (9))
b = Zsc 2 Z2 Z2 + Z2Z2 Z
oc oc1 o oc oc1 Zsc + Zo Zoc Zoc1 Zsc ;
2 2

   where in (8)  and (9) S is the Richards variable dened as

c = Zo Zsc Zoc + Zoc1 ; j tan(u) = j tan (p/2)(f/fr ) and fr is the commensurate frequency




 as previously dened. Either of the impedance functions of (8) or
2 a + b 2 a+b
f3dBL I = fr tan1 and f3dBU I = fr tan1 . (9) will approach innite value at frequencies which forces the
p c p c
denominator of either function to go to zero. These frequencies are
(6) known as the poles of the impedance function. For the function of

1
Zin I (S) =     ; (8)
(S/Zoc ) + (S/Zoc1 ) + (1/SZsc ) + 1/ K 2 (S/Zoc ) + (S/Zoc1 ) + (1/SZsc )

1
Zin II (S) =     ; (9)
(1/SZoc ) + (S/Zoc2 ) + (1/SZsc ) + 1/ K 2 (1/SZoc ) + (S/Zoc2 ) + (1/SZsc )

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Fig. 2 Pairs of coupled resonators utilising impedance inverters
(lr is the free space wavelength at the commensurate frequency, fr)
a of the type shown in Fig. 1(a)
b of the type shown in Fig. 1(b)

(8), the poles are frequency, fr is selected as 3000 MHz. To achieve this task, two
  2  different cases will be considered. Case I presents the design of
a = 2Zsc Zoc1 Zoc Zoc1 + 2Zoc Zoc1 + Zoc 2
; the lter with resonators spaced for 30% fractional bandwidth,
 
b = 2Zoc1 K + 2K Zoc + Zoc1 Zsc Zoc ;
2 2


c= 2 Z K 2 Z + 4Z 2 Z K 2 Z
4Zoc1 sc oc oc sc oc1 + Zoc Zoc1 Zsc ;
2 2 2

  2 
d = 2KZsc Zoc1 + 2Zoc Zoc1 + Zoc 2
;
 
a(b c) a(b + c)
SCBI 1,2 = + ; SCBI 2,3 = + . (10)
d d
whereas for the function of (9) the poles are found as
 
a = 2Zoc Zsc Zoc2 ;
 
b = 2K 2 Zsc + 2K 2 Zoc + Zoc Zoc2 Zsc ;

c= 2 K 2 Z + 4Z 2 Z K 2 Z
4Zoc2 Zsc oc oc sc oc2 + Zoc Zoc2 Zsc ;
2 2 2

 
d = 2Zsc KZoc ;
 
a(b c) a(b + c)
SCBII 1,2 = + ; SCBII 1,2 = + . (11)
d d

The coupling bandwidth [9] of either of the pair of coupled

resonators depicted in Fig. 2a or Fig. 2b is dened as the absolute
difference between the pair of positive poles dened in either (10)
or (11). It can be shown that the coupling bandwidth of the pair of
resonators of Fig. 2b is actually smaller in value than the coupling
bandwidth of the pair of resonators of Fig. 2a. The following
section serves to numerically demonstrate these interesting circuit
concepts.

Fig. 3 Synthesised fth-order prototype network realising a passband

3 Circuit synthesis and HFSS implementation
This section is aimed at designing a fth-order Chebyshev EWG
lter utilising the resonator structure shown in Fig. 1b. The
passband of the lter is centred at 1000 MHz and is required to
exhibit an absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz (15%) corresponding
to a return loss level of about 20 dB. The commensurate
ripple of 0.01 dB and an absolute bandwidth of 300 MHz (30%) centred at
1000 MHz with a commensurate frequency, fr of 3000 MHz
a With distributed resonators (K0 = 54.2895 ; K1 = 77.4279 ; K2 = 111.8149 ;
Zo1 = 50 ; Zo2 = 16.3908 )
b With resonator structures adhering with Fig. 1a (K0 = 54.2895 ; K1 = 77.4279 ;
K2 = 111.8149 ; Zsc = 50 ; Zoc1 = 24.7657 ; Zoc = 48.4697 )
c Its frequexncy characteristics (X X is the plane of symmetry and the system
impedance is 50 )

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 Table 2 Coupling bandwidths for the transformed network of Fig. 4b
Resonator pair Coupling bandwidth, MHz

12; 45 150.98335
23; 34 104.66412

and 4a are

Zo1 = 50 V; Zo2 = 16.3908 V; Zo3 = 24.6115 V;

(12)
Zo4 = 8.06803 V.

The goal at this point is to transform the conventional resonator

structure of the network shown in Fig. 3a to adhere with the
resonator structure shown in Fig. 1a. This is achieved upon
substitution of part of (12) into the following equations

Zsc = Zo1 = 50 V; (short-circuited stub)

Zo1 Zo3
Zoc = = 48.4697 V . Zo2 ; (open-circuited stub)
Zo1 Zo3
Zoc Zo2
Zoc1 = = 24.7657 V; (open-circuited stub) (13)
Zoc Zo2

leading to the desired elements values and the network depicted in

Fig. 3b. To transform the conventional resonator structure of the
Fig. 4 Synthesised fth-order prototype network realising a passband
network shown in Fig. 4a to adhere with the resonator structure
ripple of 0.01 dB and an absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz (15%) centred at
shown in Fig. 1b we simply have to substitute (13) into (3)
1000 MHz with a commensurate frequency, fr of 3000 MHz
leading to
a With distributed resonators (K0 = 54.2895 ; K1 = 77.4279 ; K2 = 111.8149 ;
Zo3 = 24.6115 ; Zo4 = 8.06803 ) Zoc2 = 8.06803 V; (open-circuited stub) (14)
b With resonator structures adhering with Fig. 1b (K0 = 54.2895 ; K1 = 77.4279 ;
K2 = 111.8149 ; Zsc = 50 ; Zoc2 = 8.06803 ; Zoc = 48.4697 )

c Its frequency characteristics (X X is the plane of symmetry and the system
leading to the transformed network illustrated in Fig. 4b. The
impedance is 50 ) resonant frequencies and the 3-dB frequencies will now be
computed for the resonator structures of the transformed networks
shown in Figs. 3b and 4b. The element values obtained from (13)
whereas Case II presents the design of the same lter, but with the are substituted into (1) and (6) resulting in the following frequencies
resonators being spaced for 45% fractional bandwidth.
Implementation of the lters utilising HFSS is presented and foI = fo = 993.11271 MHz;
simulation results are compared with the performance of a (15)
f3dBL I = 612.10409 MHz and f3dBU = 1488.05907 MHz.
conventional EWG lter realising the same fractional bandwidth. I

The design process will now begin.

In a similar fashion, the element values of (13) with Zoc2 from (14)
replacing Zoc1 are substituted into (2) and (7) resulting in

3.1 Circuit synthesis Case I foI = fo = 993.11271 MHz;

(16)
f3dBL II = 781.21612 MHz and f3dBU II = 1236.57254 MHz.
We will rst design a lter to realise an absolute bandwidth of 300
MHz (30%) centred at 1000 MHz utilising the resonator structure as
It is evident from (15) and (16) that each resonator structure
shown in Fig. 1a. The ends of all the Zoc stubs in the lter will be
resonates at the same frequency, but has a different half power
transformed from open-circuits to short-circuits to subsequently
bandwidth. The half power bandwidth of the resonator structure of
achieve the desired absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz (15%). Hence
the network shown in Fig. 4b is smaller than the half power
two inverter-coupled networks are synthesised one realising an
absolute bandwidth of 300 MHz and the other realising the desired
absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz. Appendix 2 provides an outline
of the synthesis procedure [13] for the network with the absolute
bandwidth of 150 MHz leading to the networks of Figs. 14 and
4a. The network shown in Fig. 3a is also synthesised for an
absolute bandwidth of 300 MHz in an identical fashion. The
characteristic impedances of the stubs of the networks of Figs. 3a

Table 1 Coupling bandwidths for the synthesised network of Fig. 3b

Resonator pair Coupling bandwidth, MHz Fig. 5 Approximation of an impedance inverter by a lumped low-pass
matching circuit at the frequency, fo [911]
12; 45 301.94394
23; 34 209.99484 a Impedance inverter of value, K
b Matching circuit

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& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016 45
bandwidth of the resonator structure of the network shown in Fig. 3b. Likewise the poles of the rst pair of resonators from the far left of
These facts are conrmed by the frequency performance plots the network of Fig. 4b are evaluated upon utilising (11) resulting in
illustrated in Figs. 3c and 4c.
Now our attention is diverted to the coupling bandwidth between SCBII 1,2 = +j0.52281  fCBII 1,2 = +920.04482 MHz;
the different resonator pairs of the synthesised networks shown in (19)
Figs. 3b and 4b. The poles of the rst pair of resonators from the SCBII 2,3 = +j0.62701  fCBII 2,3 = +1069.61481 MHz;
far left of the network shown in Fig. 3b are evaluated upon
utilising (10) resulting in and similarly for the second pair of resonators from the far left of the
network the poles are

SCBI 1,2 = +j0.476407  fCBI 1,2 = +849.11669 MHz; SCBII 1,2 = +j0.53760  fCBII 1,2 = +942.09709 MHz;
(17) (20)
SCBI 2,3 = +j0.688098  fCBI 2,3 = +1151.06063 MHz; SCBII 2,3 = +j0.60976  fCBII 2,3 = +1045.77936 MHz.

and similarly for the second pair of resonators from the far left of the
network the poles are

SCBI 1,2 = +j0.503929  fCBI 1,2 = +891.496803 MHz;

(18)
SCBI 2,3 = +j0.650518  fCBI 2,3 = +1101.491649 MHz.

Fig. 6 HFSS model of EWG lter realising absolute bandwidth of either

300 MHz (30%) with the resonators loaded by open-circuited stubs or 150
MHz (15%) with the resonators loaded by short-circuited stubs Fig. 7 Simulated electrical performance of the HFSS structure of Fig. 6
a Top view a Realising an absolute bandwidth of 300 MHz (30%) with the resonators loaded by
b Side view 1 open-circuited stubs
c Side view 2 b, c Realising an absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz (15%) with the resonators loaded by
d Isometric view short-circuited stubs (narrow and broad frequency performances)

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Table 3 Values of capacitive loadings of the resonators
Resonators Absolute Co, pF C1, pF C2, pF C3, pF
loaded by bandwidth, MHz

open-circuited 300 0.0362 2.0072 1.3471 1.2087

stubs
short-circuited 150 1.4126 5.3519 4.8883 4.8091
stubs

Upon evaluating the coupling bandwidth for each resonator pair in

the two networks the data listed in Tables 1 and 2 is obtained. It is
evident that the coupling bandwidths between the different
resonator pairs in the network shown in Fig. 4b are smaller in
value in comparison to their counterparts in the network shown in
Fig. 3b. This means that should the network shown in Fig. 3b is to
be realised and then all its Zoc stubs are to be subsequently
terminated as short circuits then the lter would realise the desired
absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz with resonators being spaced to
realise an absolute bandwidth of 300 MHz. This is essentially the
subject of the following subsection where two HFSS models were
created to prove this point.

3.2 HFSS implementations Case I

The prototype network of Fig. 3b representing the lter realising an

absolute bandwidth of 300 MHz was transformed into a physical
EWG lter and modelled utilising HFSS based on the values of
the coupling bandwidths listed in Table 1. The HFSS model is
illustrated in Fig. 6 where each resonator is loaded with the Zoc
open-circuited stub as well as a lumped capacitor that
approximates the Zoc1 stub. The value of each lumped capacitor is
evaluated utilising (39) from Section 7.1.2 of Appendix 1. The
input and output inverters in the prototype shown in Fig. 3b were
realised as lowpass matching sections utilising the approximation
demonstrated in Fig. 5 and each series inductor in the matching
circuit is then realised as a high impedance transmission line. This
led to the HFSS structure shown in Fig. 6 with the frequency
response depicted in Fig. 7a clearly showing an absolute Fig. 9 HFSS model of EWG lter realising an absolute bandwidth of 150
bandwidth of 300 MHz (30%) centred at 1000 MHz. The ends of MHz (15%) with the resonators loaded by short-circuited stubs
all the Zoc stubs were subsequently short circuited and the a Top view
capacitor values altered appropriately leading to the frequency b Side view 1
c Side view 2
response shown in Fig. 7b as well as the broadband frequency d Isometric view
characteristics depicted in Fig. 7c. It is clear from the plot of
Fig. 7b that the EWG lter realises the desired absolute bandwidth
of 150 MHz (15%) and thus automatically achieves the values of
the coupling bandwidths listed in Table 2. The spacing between resonator structure shown in Fig. 1b the lter achieves the values
the resonators of the HFSS lter model correspond to an absolute of the coupling bandwidths listed in Table 2 and hence realises the
bandwidth of 300 MHz (30%), but due to utilising the new prototype network shown in Fig. 4b which has a passband of 150

Fig. 8 Synthesised fth-order prototype network realising a passband with ripple of 0.01 dB centred at 1000 MHz with a commensurate frequency, fr of
3000 MHz achieving absolute bandwidths of
a 450 MHz (45%) (Ko = 43.7381 ; K1 = 50.2556 ; Ko = 72.5749 ; Zsc = 50 ; Zoc1 = 50.6591 ; Zoc = 23.4742 )
b 150 MHz (15%) (X X is the plane of symmetry and the system impedance is 50 ) (Ko = 43.7381 ; K1 = 50.2556 ; Ko = 72.5749 ; Zsc = 50 ; Zoc2 = 5.1249 ; Zoc = 23.4742 )

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Table 4 Values of capacitive loadings of the resonators of the HFSS lter structure with all the ends of the Zoc stubs being
set to short circuits, i.e. realising absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz
Resonators Absolute Co, pF C1, pF C2, pF C3, pF
loaded by bandwidth, MHz (15%) is illustrated in Fig. 10.

short-circuited 150 3.4611 7.4414 6.1142 5.9388

stubs 3.4 Circuit synthesis and HFSS implementation of a
conventional EWG filter

MHz (15%) centred at 1000 MHz. Table 3 summarises the values of
the capacitive loadings of the resonators in the two cases.
3.3 Circuit synthesis and HFSS implementations Case II
A conventional EWG lter realising absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz
(15%) centred at 1000 MHz with a passband ripple of 0.01 dB and a
commensurate frequency of 3000 MHz was also implemented on
HFSS. The HFSS model is depicted in Fig. 11. Table 5

We will now perform identical steps as previously pursued in

Section 3.1, but to realise a lter with an absolute bandwidth of
450 MHz (45%) centred at 1000 MHz utilising the resonator
structure shown in Fig. 1a. The ends of all the Zoc stubs in the
lter will be transformed from open-circuits to short-circuits to
subsequently achieve the desired absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz
(15%). Hence two inverter-coupled networks are synthesised [9
11] one realising an absolute bandwidth of 450 MHz and the other
realising the desired absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz. These
networks are inter-related to each other as illustrated in Fig. 8. The
prototypes shown in Fig. 8 were then converted into HFSS models
leading to Fig. 9. Table 4 summarises the values of the capacitive
loadings of the resonators. The simulated frequency performance

Fig. 11 HFSS model of a conventional EWG lter realising an absolute

Fig. 10 Simulated electrical performance of the HFSS structure of Fig. 9 bandwidth of 150 MHz (15%)
realising an absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz (15%) with the resonators
a Top view
loaded by short-circuited stubs b Side view 1
a Narrow c Side view 2
b Broad frequency spans d Isometric view

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Table 5 Values of capacitive loadings of the resonators
Absolute bandwidth, MHz Co, pF C1, pF C2, pF C3, pF

150 0.0296 2.6950 2.2251 2.1704

summarises the values of the capacitive loadings of the resonators.

An inductor was added externally to the structure to represent the
magnetic cross-coupling between the second and fourth resonators
in order to generate a nite frequency transmission zero above the
passband. Two cases were considered with the objective to match
the high side selectivity of the HFSS lter models of Sections 3.2
and 3.3. The results are shown in Fig. 12.

4 Discussion of results

To highlight the signicance of the new design approach a

comparison of the electrical performance and the physical
dimensions and will be made between the new lters and the
conventionally designed EWG lter presented in Section 3.

4.1 Electrical performance

In all the HFSS structures presented in Section 3, the width and height
of the EWG cavity housing the ve resonators are 20 29 mm. The
resonators are square bars whose cross-section is 4 4 mm. Each
resonator is loaded by a square stub of cross-section that is also
4 4 mm which is partially housed in the main cavity, but mainly
housed in a separate housing. The stubs realise the characteristic
impedance of 48.4697 for the EWG lter of Case I of Section
3.1 and 23.4742 for the EWG lter of Case II of Section 3.2.
Each resonator is loaded by a lumped capacitor of quality factor of
1000. Based on the eigenmode solver of HFSS, the unloaded
quality factor computed at 1000 MHz for the stand-alone
resonators in each of these three cases is

QCase I = 635; QCase II = 604; QConv = 732. (21)

The above results assume that material utilised for the housing as
well as the resonators is copper with electrical conductivity of
58 106 S/m leading to the frequency performance shown in
Fig. 7b for Case I, Fig. 10a for Case II and Figs. 12a and c for the
conventional design. In summary, from Fig. 7c the passband
insertion is

I.L.lower = 0.362 dB; I.L.upper = 0.592 dB (Case I);

  (22)
QCase I = 635 ;

and from Fig. 10a the passband insertion loss is

I.L.lower = 0.249 dB; I.L.upper = 0.582 dB (Case II);

  (23)
QCase II = 604 ; Fig. 12 Simulated electrical performance of the HFSS structure of Fig. 11
realising an absolute bandwidth of 150 MHz (15%)
and from Fig. 12a we have (see (24)) a Narrow
b Broad frequency spans with the high side selectivity matching the performance of the
new EWG lter of Case I
and nally from Fig. 12c we obtain (see equation (25) at the bottom c Narrow
of the next page) d Broad frequency spans with the high side selectivity matching the performance of the
It is observed from the gures that the new EWG lters have a nite new EWG lter of Case II

I.L.lower = 0.229 dB; I.L.upper = 0.545 dB

    (24)
conventional EWG filter matching the high side selectivity of Case I ; QConv = 732 ;

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& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016 49

Fig. 13 Comparison between the internal spacing between the resonators
of the synthesised EWG lters
a Conventional design (S1 = 7.770 mm; S2 = 10.735 mm; St = 57.011 mm)
b Proposed design of Case I (S1 = 4.223 mm; S2 = 5.834 mm; St = 40.114 mm)
c Proposed design of Case II (S1 = 2.744 mm; S2 = 3.792 mm; St = 33.074 mm)
frequency transmission zero on the high side of the passband. This
zero is most likely due to stray magnetic couplings between
non-adjacent resonators in the cavity. Comparison of (22) with
(24) for Case I and comparison of (23) with (24) for Case II
reveal that the passband insertion loss of the new lters is very
comparable with conventional design. These results conrm the
comparable values of the unloaded quality factors as presented in (21).
The broadband stopband performance of the proposed lters in
both Cases I and II is spurious-free all the way to around 4.5 times
the fundamental frequency. This is also very comparable to the
performance of the conventional EWG lter which extends to around
ve times the fundamental frequency. See Figs. 7c, 10b, 12b and d.
4.2 Physical dimensions
Some key physical dimensions of the three HFSS lter models are
illustrated in Figs. 6, 9 and 11, but shown in Fig. 13 is a close-up
comparison of the internal spacing between the resonators of
lters. The input and output matching circuits of the lters were
excluded in this comparison since there are multiple ways to
shrink their size, for example by meandering the high impedance
lines or by simply tapping into the rst and last resonators of the
 
I.L.lower = 0.245 dB; I.L.upper = 0.647 dB conventional EWG filter matching the high side selectivity of Case II ;
50
lter. The total length of each lter is found from Fig. 13 leading to
StConv = 57.011 mm; StCaseI = 40.114 mm; StCaseII = 33.074 mm.
(26)
It is evident from (26) that the new lters achieve noticeable length
reduction when compared with conventional EWG lter design.
Specically, there is a reduction in the overall length of 29.63%
for the lter of Case I and a reduction of 41.98% for the lter of
Case II. This greatly highlights the value of the work presented in
this paper.
5 Conclusions
This paper has presented the design of a class of EWG lters
realising narrow fractional bandwidth with closely spaced
resonators. This is achieved by virtue of a new type of resonator
structure that is both capacitively- and inductively-loaded and
whose electrical characteristics were thoroughly investigated in this
work. This paper has also demonstrated the necessary steps
required to synthesise EWG bandpass lters comprising the new
resonator structures.
The proposed lters comprise resonators that are spaced to
traditionally realise a wider fractional bandwidth. It is concluded
from this study that the desired fractional bandwidth of the lter,
the overall size requirement, the cross-section of the waveguide,
the length and impedance of the resonators, the Q factor and so on
are all parameters which will set a limit on how much the
resonators of the new lters can be closely spaced for a given
specication. Two cases were studied showing an overall length
reduction of 29.63% for the lter of Case I and a reduction of
41.98% for the lter of Case II when compared to conventional
design.
It is foreseen that the new class of EWG lters will nd system
applications that impose stringent requirements on the overall size.
6 References
1 Craven, G.F., Mok, C.K.: The design of evanescent mode waveguide bandpass
lters for a prescribed insertion loss characteristic, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory
Tech., 1971, 19, (3), pp. 295308
2 Mok, C.K.: Design of evanescent-mode waveguide diplexers, IEEE Trans.
Microw. Theory Tech., 1973, 21, (1), pp. 4348
3 Snyder, R.V.: New application of evanescent mode waveguide to lter design,
IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., 1977, 25, (12), pp. 10131021
4 Craven, G.F., Skedd, R.F.: Evanescent mode microwave components (Artech
House Inc., 1987)
5 Snyder, R.V.: Broadband waveguide lters with wide stopbands using a
stepped-wall evanescent mode approach. IEEE Int. Microwave Symp., 1983,
pp. 151153
6 Wang, Y., Yu, M.: True inline cross-coupled coaxial cavity lters, IEEE Trans.
Microw. Theory Tech., 2009, 57, (12), pp. 29582965
7 Bastioli, S., Snyder, R.V.: Evanescent mode lters using strongly-coupled
resonator pairs. IEEE Int. Microwave Symp., 2013, pp. 13
8 Snyder, R.V., Bastioli, S.: Transmission zero generation for wideband high
frequency evanescent mode lters. IEEE Int. Microwave Symp., 2014, pp. 14
9 Hunter, I.C.: Theory and design of microwave lters, IEE Electromagnetic Waves
Series 48 (The Institute of Electrical Engineers 2001)
10 Cameron, R.J., Kudsia, C.M., Mansour, R.R.: Microwave lters for
communication systems, fundamental, design and applications
(Wiley-Interscience, 2007)
11 Matthaei, G., Young, L., Jones, E.M.T.: Microwave lters impedance-matching
networks, and coupling structures (Artech House Inc., 1980)
12 Fathelbab, W.M.: Classes of recongurable band-reject lters realising constant
absolute bandwidth in two distinct states, IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2015,
9, (10), pp. 9891003
13 Wenzel, R.J.: Synthesis of combline and capacitively loaded interdigital bandpass
lters of arbitrary bandwidth, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., 1971, 19, (8),
pp. 678686
 
QConv = 732 .
(25)
IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2017, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 4252
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
7 Appendices follows

7.1 Appendix 1 

 
2 Z Z + Z
foII = fr tan1 oc2 oc sc
. (37)
7.1.1 Resonant frequencies: The input admittance of the p Zoc Zsc
resonator structure of Fig. 1a is found to be
 
S 2 Zsc Zoc + Zoc1 + Zoc Zoc1
Yin (S ) =   ; (27) 7.1.2 Lumped capacitor approximation of an
S Zoc Zoc1 Zsc
open-circuited stub: An open-circuited stub of characteristic
impedance, Zoc that is quarter-wavelength long at the frequency, fr
where S is the Richards variable dened as may be approximated by a lumped capacitor of value, C at the

 desired frequency fo. Doing so results in
pf
S = j tan (u) = j tan ; (28)

2 fr   1 p fo
j 2pfo C = j tan ; (38)
Zoc 2 fr
and fr is the commensurate frequency, i.e. the frequency at which the
stubs are quarter-wavelength long. At resonance, S is equal to So1
which simply leads to evaluation of the capacitance, C as follows
and the input admittance is zero leading to the following condition




  1 1 p fo
S 2 Zsc Zoc + Zoc1 + Zoc Zoc1 = 0; (29) C= tan . (39)
Zoc 2pfo 2 fr
from which the expression for the resonant frequency, SoI is
determined as follows
7.2 Appendix 2

Z Z
 oc oc1 . The bandpass lter network common to Cases I and II presented in
SoI = +j (30)
Zsc Zoc + Zoc1 Section 3 is required to be synthesised. The lter has an absolute
bandwidth of 150 MHz and complies with the following
specication
Utilising (28) and setting f as foI modies (30) as below

  Centre frequency, fo = 1000 MHz;

p foI Z Z
j tan = +j  oc oc1 ; (31) Commensurate frequency, fr = 3000 MHz;
2 fr Zsc Zoc + Zoc1
Lower band-edge frequency, f1 = 925 MHz;
(40)
which enables the resonant frequency, foI to be evaluated in the real Upper band-edge frequency, f2 = 1075 MHz;
frequency domain in terms of fr and the stub impedances leading to Number of resonators, N = 5;
 PBR 0.01 dB.
2 Z Z
foI = fr tan1  oc oc1  . (32)
p Zsc Zoc + Zoc1 The lter is synthesised utilising the classical synthesis procedure
described in [13] and so familiarity with that material is assumed
In a similar fashion, the input admittance of the resonator structure here. From (40), the passband ripple of 0.01 dB translates to a
shown in Fig. 1b is found to be value of equal to 0.048012894 based on the well-known denition

  
S 2 Zoc Zsc + Zoc2 Zsc + Zoc
  1= 1/10(PBR/10) 1. (41)
Yin (S ) = ; (33)
S Zoc Zoc2 Zsc
The zeros of the desired fth-order bandpass lter are distributed as
where S is the Richards variable as previously dened in (28). At follows
resonance, S is equal to SoII and the input admittance is zero
leading to the following condition 5 Zeros at S = j0; (5 zeros at DC)
  (42)
  5 Zeros at S = j1; 5 zeros at infinity
S Zoc Zsc + Zoc2 Zsc + Zoc = 0;
2
(34)
where S was previously dened in (28). The goal is to construct the
from which the expression for the resonant frequency, SoII is derived
as input admittance of the unterminated lter network that will
eventually be synthesised. This is done in the Z-plane variable

  [13] which Z is dened in terms of S through the following
Zoc2 Zoc + Zsc transformation
SoII = +j . (35)
Zoc Zsc
S 2 + V22
Z2 = ; (43)
Utilising (28) and setting f as foII modies (35) as below S 2 + V21

 
 
p foII Zoc2 Zoc + Zsc where 1 and 2 are both fully dened upon substituting f1 and f2 in
j tan = +j ; (36) (40) into (28) leading to
2 fr Zoc Zsc


p f1
which enables the resonant frequency, foII to be evaluated in the V1 = tan ; (44)
real-frequency domain in terms of fr and the stub impedances as 2 fr

IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2017, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 4252
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016 51
and


p f2
V2 = tan . (45)
2 fr

As outlined in [13], the rst step in the synthesis is to construct a

polynomial based on the specication of (40) and the transmission
zero distribution of (42) in the Z-plane variable. This leads to

2N 

 2N 1 V2
E + ZF = Z + Zi = (Z + 1) Z+
i=1
V1

Z 10 + (54.36298)Z 8 + (305.35974)Z 6
=
+(366.20097)Z 4 + (93.76189)Z 2 + 2.48049 Fig. 14 Synthesised fth-order prototype network in the
 a S-plane (K1 = 1.31351 ; K2 = 1.89686 ; L = 0.41751 ; C = 7.21552 )
(10.99622)Z 9 + (159.11895)Z 7 + (401.46367)Z 5 b f-plane networks (X X is the plane of symmetry and the system is 1 )
+ . 
(K1 = 1.31351 V; K2 = 1.89686 V; Zo3 = 0.41751 V; Zo4 = 1/7.21552 V)
impedance

+(228.84284)Z 3 + (22.74439)Z
(46)
and
In (46), E and F are even polynomials, ZF is an odd polynomial and
Zi is the ith transmission zero based on (42). At this point, another
B = 1.90213Z 8 + 9.55718Z 6 + 72.85765Z 4
polynomial is then constructed [13] utilising the even and odd (49)
polynomial parts of (46) (i.e. E and ZF) leading to + 13.74505Z 2 3.93433.

ZF The input admittance of the unterminated network is subsequently

E + 
1 + 12 determined based on the knowledge of A, B, E and [13]
according to the following expression: (see (50))

2N  
= Z 2 + mi Z + n i
i=1 At this stage, it is possible to synthesise the above admittance
   function entirely in the Z-plane variable or alternatively synthesis
= Z 2 + 5.28719Z + 7.98180 Z 2 + 2.55844Z + 3.22304 can be performed in the S-plane variable upon substituting (43)
   into (50). Synthesis in the S-plane is more popular and well treated
Z 2 + 1.39158Z + 1.19924 Z 2 + 0.95195Z + 0.44621 in many text books such as [9, 10]. The synthesised network will
  comprise impedance inverters, inductors and capacitors as shown
Z 2 + 0.79438Z + 0.18018 . (47)
in Fig. 14a. In the distributed domain (i.e. in the f-plane), an
inductor, L is equivalent to a short-circuited stub of impedance
Two more polynomials namely A and B are then derived based on equal to L and a capacitor, C is equivalent to an open-circuited
the manipulation of the coefcients of the ve polynomials in (47) stub of impedance equal to 1/C. The synthesised distributed
as described in [13] resulting in network operating in a 1 system is illustrated in Fig. 14b. The
network of Fig. 14b can then be scaled up in impedance and
A = 0.02800Z 10 10.10097Z 8 + 30.529Z 6 impedance inverters placed at the input and output ports of the
(48) network resulting in the network of Fig. 4a operating in a 50
+ 36.61273Z 4 17.42153Z 2 0.06947; system.


(0.02001)Z 10 (7.49084)Z 8 + (45.19104)Z 6 + (54.19510)Z 4
  A + 1E (12.91975)Z 2 + (0.04962)
Y Z2 =  2 = . (50)
B V2 V21 Z 2 (0.52652)Z 10 (3.40274)Z 8 (16.36284)Z 6 + (25.20002)Z 4
+(6.56097)Z 2 (1.56626)

IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2017, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 4252
52 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016