Compact Ultra-Wideband Wilkinson Power Dividers Using Linearly Tapered Transmission Lines

In this work, compact extended ultra-wideband (UWB) Wilkinson power dividers (WPDs) using tapered transmission lines are analyzed, designed, and measured. Utilizing carefully designed tapered transmission sections results in widening the operational bandwidth and reducing the element dimensions. Analytical models and design procedures of simple and compact and equal and unequal UWB WPDs based on linearly tapered transmission lines are developed and outlined in this paper. Four different configurations of equal and unequal power dividers are designed and presented. The number and locations of the isolation resistors have a noticeable effect on extending the operational bandwidth of the dividers. The presented designs of the WPDs have superior performance over extended bandwidths. The simulation and experimental results are in very good agreement with good insertion and return loss, good matching, and isolation, over the extended UWB operational bandwidth from 3 GHz to 27 GHz.