COMPACT C-/KU-BAND BROADBAND WAVEGUIDE FILTERS (ARTES 5.1 5C.268) - EXPRO PLUS

Description

Objective: Development of one C-band and one Ku-Band broadband filter EM.

Targeted Improvements:

  • 30% mass and footprint reduction
  • 30% insertion loss reduction

RF requirements of payload broadband filters impose sharp near-band rejection and spurious-free out of band rejection up to at least 2nd harmonic. At the same time, the lowest absolute insertion loss shall be maintained over the usable bandwidth, in order to:

  1. minimise the overall receiver noise figure, at the repeater input; or
  2. maximise the EIRP, at the repeater output.

Current state of the art for C-Band and Ku-Band consists of complex filter assemblies with multiple filter units connected in series. Typically, those filters are realised using standard bulky resonators (i.e. circular or rectangular waveguide), together with a dedicated lowpass filter. Although simple in concept, this conventional modular approach is challenged by more demanding requirements in terms of lower insertion loss, reduced mass/footprint and stringent cost and schedule requirements.

Innovative filtering structures based on compact waveguide resonators (e.g. ridge quasi-TEM mode, rectangular TM dual-mode) offer mass and size reductions in the order of 30% without penalties in term of RF performance. Moreover, recent studies on quasi-periodic waveguide structures suggest the possibility to effectively integrate bandpass and lowpass functions into compact and low-loss single units. Significant benefits are envisaged in all telecommunication front-end applications and, in particular for the accommodation of large numbers of payload equipment and feed structures.

The work logic shall be:

  • Study of resonator types for the realisation of elliptic filter functions while preserving a spurious-free response up to the 2nd harmonic.
  • Validation of novel filter concepts on breadboard units representative of C-Band and Ku-Band mission scenarios. The filter sensitivity and its impacts on production quality shall be evaluated.
  • Design, manufacturing and testing of one C-Band EM and one Ku-Band EM.

Tender Specifics