Optimum design of a wideband planar N-way fork power divider with arbitrary power division and input-to-output impedance matching

An effective design procedure based on method of least squares is proposed for multi-section and multi-output fork power divider/combiner with arbitrary power division ratios among its outputs in a specified frequency bandwidth together with impedance matching among its arbitrary source/load impedances. Transmission and scattering matrices are obtained for its equivalent circuit. An error function is constructed based on design specifications on its output power division ratios, isolations among output ports, return losses at its input and output ports and source/load impedances in a desired frequency bandwidth. The design procedure is fully developed, which determines the widths and lengths of microstrip line sections and resistor values. A design example is described for unequal power division ratio and unequal input/output impedances. A 3-section and 3-output fork power divider is designed for equal power division and load/source impedances for 2-12 GHz band. It is fabricated and measured. Variations of its transmission coefficients are less than 0.5 dB, isolations at its outputs are better than −15 dB and reflection coefficients at its ports are better than −10 dB. Excellent agreement is observed among the results of the proposed design procedure, full wave computer software and measurement data.