Quasi-Elliptic Waveguide Dual-Band Bandpass Filters

This article presents a novel folded configuration of dual-band filter employing TE11m dual-mode elliptical cavity resonators. The proposed side-coupled configuration leads to a significant reduction of filter footprint compared with previously reported in-line dual-band filter structures. Such configuration also facilitates cross couplings to realize advanced quasi-elliptic filter functions. The structure employs irises for both sequential and cross couplings. The limitations of bandwidth realization and spurious-free window are analyzed in detail, and new coupling structures are proposed to improve the overall in-band and out-of-band responses. All the proposed dual-band designs have low insertion loss and allow for independent control of each frequency and coupling parameter. To demonstrate the concept, two 8-pole C-band elliptical cavity dual-band filters are designed, manufactured, measured, and compared. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported folded dual-band filter configuration based on metallic waveguide cavities.