Theory of Direct-Coupled-Cavity Filters

A new theory is presented for the design of direct-coupled-cavity filters in transmission line or waveguide. It is shown that for a specified range of parameters the insertion-loss characteristic of these filters in the case of Chebyshev equal-ripple characteristic is given very accurately by the formula P/sub 0/ / /P/sub L/ = 1+h/sup 2/T/sub n//sup 2/[/spl omega//sub 0/ / /spl omega/ sin(/spl pi/ /spl omega/ / /spl omega//sub 0/) / sin/spl theta//sub 0/'] where h defines the ripple level, T/sub n/ is the first-kind Chebyshev polynomial of degree n, /spl omega/ / /spl omega//sub 0/ is normalized frequency, and /spl theta//sub 0/' is an angle proportional to the bandwidth of a distributed lowpass prototype filter. The element values of the direct-coupled filter are related directly to the step impedances of the prototype whose values have been tabulated. The theory gives close agreement with computed data over a range of parameters as specified by a very simple formula. The design technique is convenient for practical applications.