Switchable power combining circuit for improved graceful‐degradation performance

Abstract

A four‐way switchable power combiner/divider is proposed in this letter. The structure is based on a substrate integrated circular cavity, and control of the number of coupling probes is possible for graceful degradation. The proposed structure forms a switchable power combining circuit with amplifiers at 2.13 GHz. In addition, the proposed scheme provides improved graceful‐degradation performance under the condition of amplifier's failure. The graceful‐degradation characteristics of gain and output power are experimentally demonstrated as one or more amplifiers are switched off. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:1213–1216, 2015