16-Way Radial Divider/Combiner for Solid State Power Amplifiers in the K Band

This paper presents the design and measurement results of a 16-way radial power divider/combiner for solid state power amplifiers in the K band using an original assembly technique of the combined ways. The design is based on a radial non-resonant cavity connected to 8 peripheral rectangular waveguides with two waveguide-to-microstrip transitions inserted in each peripheral rectangular waveguide. Each combined way includes on the same tray the input and output waveguide-to-microstrip transitions and the MMIC amplifier location. The trays can be individually tested before mounting in the 16-way divider/combiner. The low insertion loss of the 16-way power divider/combiner leads to an estimated combining efficiency better than 86.5% from 16.5 GHz to 21 GHz with a maximum value about 88% from 17.2 to 19.2 GHz.