A Broadband Stripline Gysel High-Power Combiner for L-band Radar Applications

This paper proposes a novel prototype of a broadband stripline high-power combiner for L-band radar applications. An air-dielectric stripline is used, which allows a high power-handling capability (up to 800 kW) with low losses suitable for power combinations in radar applications. A prototype was designed, simulated, fabricated, and measured to operate across the frequency band from 1 to 1.4 GHz to fulfil the requirements of L-band radar applications. The measured return loss is better than 15 dB (VSWR ≤ 1.5), the insertion loss is less than 0.4 dB, and the isolation between input ports is better than 15 dB. In addition, it offers excellent amplitude and phase imbalances, which makes the proposed design an excellent candidate for combining the stages in power amplifiers. The measurements showed very good agreement with the simulations, which verifies the proposed idea and design methodology.