EM based design of large-scale dielectric resonator multiplexers by space mapping

A novel design methodology for multiplexer design is presented. For the first time, finite element EM based simulators and space-mapping optimization are combined to produce an accurate design for manifold coupled output multiplexers with dielectric resonator (DR) loaded filters. Finite element EM based simulators are used as a fine model of each multiplexer channel and a coupling matrix representation is used as a coarse model. Fine details such as tuning screws are included in the fine model. Therefore channel dispersion and spurious modes are taken into account. The DR filter channel design parameters are kept bounded during optimization. Our approach has been used to design large-scale manifold coupled output multiplexers and it has significantly reduced the overall tuning time compared to traditional techniques. The technique is illustrated through design of a 10-channel output multiplexer with 5-pole DR filter based channels.