Design and development of efficient Ka-band tunable bandpass filter for satellite communications

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Satellite communication has made a major contribution to the pattern of international communications, whetherin geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) or non-GEO. The engineering aspect of satellite communications combinessuch diverse topics as antennas, radio wave propagation, signal processing, data communication, modulation,detection, coding, filtering, orbital mechanics, and electronics. To satisfy the future traffic increase, the Kafrequency band from 17.5 to 21.2 GHz is designed to provide a high service availability with much higher datarates. This proposal addresses a subject of current interest for ORBITAL RESARCH Ltd., a successful,privately owned manufacturer and distributor of Custom BDCs (Block Down Converters), LNBs (Low NoiseBlock down converters) and System Interface Products for satellite communications. Through the ENGAGEprogram a research team from INRS-EMT in collaboration with the R&D department of the industrial partnerORBITAL RESARCH will design and characterize new microwave circuits to improve the efficiency of theLNB (Low Noise Block-downconverter) for satellite communications. Important issues related to bandwidthtunability, noise, center-frequency tunability, and selectivity must be achieved over the Ka-band. SubstrateIntegrated Waveguide (SIW) technology presents an excellent trade-off between high-Q, compactness, easyintegration with other planar circuits and low-cost fabrication process. In this context, a tunable SIW bandpassfilter over the whole Ka-band will be the heart of the project. The proposed project will be highly costeffective because of the available facilities at INRS-EMT RF laboratory, where a critical mass of infrastructureand resources can be exploited for its success. The objectives of the proposed research are (i) to design,develop, and characterize microwave circuits (mainly filters), adapted to the specific needs of the industrialpartner, and (ii) training of highly qualified personnel to respond to the scientific and technologic challenges ofour society.