An effective strategy for the use of commercial full-wave simulators in the design of waveguide filters and diplexers

The paper presents a strategy for the design of waveguide filters and diplexers, with the help of commercially available 3-D full-wave simulators. The problem in hand is subdivided into an appropriate number of well defined steps, starting from the choice of the circuit prototype to the final full-wave e.m. simulation. The computational effort is adequate and, often, the overall design time for the complete design is reduced to less than 1 day. One example, concerning a WR12 filter, employing non standard coupling elements is discussed.