Planning is in the works for Fifth Generation (5G) communication systems that will enable a hundred-fold increase in user data-rates – and with this increase comes a need for significant increases in bandwidth over what is currently available. Why does bandwidth follow when we ask for an increase in data rates? 

At Knowles Precision Devices, we are not trying to be your typical commodity component manufacturer. We want to do things that are hard and help customers solve their most difficult engineering challenges. This is why we offer build-to-print services to facilitate thin-film product design, manufacturing and testing from prototype to high-volume production.

To provide a better understanding of build-to-print in general and the breadth of our offerings, as well as how our thin-film technology can benefit your applications, we’ve put together a Build-to-Print Basics series. Part 1 starts by providing a brief overview of how we approach build-to-print and what thin-film technology actually is.

The Wilkinson Power Divider, designed by Ernest Wilkinson in the 1960s, uses quarter wave transformers to split an input signal into two equal phase output signals. Since the design is reciprocal, Wilkinson Power Dividers can also be used as a power combiner. With this flexibility, they are widely used in many RF and microwave communication systems, including those with multiple channels or complex feed networks.

As 5G innovation forges on, radio systems continue to emerge. Each system has a range of requirements, including specific RF filter performance needs, and it’s up to the 5G FR2 Ecosystem of suppliers to meet that demand. In response, Knowles Precision Devices (KPD) supports a wide variety of 5G radio applications.

The quality factor (Q) of a resonator is expressed as the ratio of stored versus lost energy per oscillation cycle. Overall losses through a resonator increase as Q factor drops and will increase more rapidly with frequency for lower values of resonator Q. However, truly understanding how Q factor is determined is a bit more intricate. Let’s take a closer look.

The Knowles Precision Devices DLI brand of microstrip bandpass filters offers innovative filter topologies yielding excellent performance in a small footprint when fabricated on high DK temp stable ceramic substrate materials. Since our customers use our surface-mount filters in a wide range of applications, we’ve designed our devices so they can be used on most RF PCB materials. To ensure our customers achieve optimal performance and are successful with our filters, we have compiled a number of best practices and resources, which are outlined below.

Many microwave applications, such as repeaters, and electronic warfare equipment, require increased spectral resolution. This means these devices only need to look at a narrow slice of a given band. Filters that are optimized for the whole band, such us our planar microstrip devices, are too broadband for these applications. Likewise, traditional high Q filters, such as waveguide devices, are often too large to consider using in these types of applications.

With more than 2,000 satellites currently orbiting the Earth, and that number expected to quintuple in the next 10 years, the demand for space-ready components is exponentially increasing (Figure 1). At the same time, the technology needed to control and transmit satellite data has changed from mechanically controlled parabolic or dish technology to active electronically steered arrays (AESAs).

At Knowles Precision Devices, we support a wide variety of industries and applications with unique needs; the product catalog is constantly evolving to accommodate. We are often asked which frequencies we support. While our microwave products excel at higher frequencies, the catalog spans a wide range.

The US MIL-STD-461 specification manages electromagnetic interference emissions by setting limits on the levels that can be emitted from electrical equipment. This specification also sets regulation to control equipment susceptibility to external noise sources and establishes guidelines for properly measuring the relevant equipment features.