%0 Journal Article
%T Design Method of Miniaturized Ring Coupler Using Phase Shifters Consisting of Fully-Distributed Composite Right/Left-Handed Structures
%A Stefan Simion
%J PIER    B
%D 2013
%I EMW Publishing
%R 10.2528/PIERB13021001
%X A new method to design a miniaturized ring coupler consisting of multiple open stubs on the inside of the ring is proposed. It is shown that this coupler topology may be seen as fully-distributed composite right/left handed (CRLH) small-size phase shifters, cascaded in a ring configuration. The CRLH phase shifter is analyzed in detail and a design method is proposed, pointing out the condition to obtain a reduction of its length. Using the fully-distributed CRLH based phase shifter, a ring coupler is configured and analyzed in comparison with the traditional ring coupler, showing that both couplers have similar characteristics. To validate the proposed design method, a 3-dB CRLH based ring coupler is designed and fabricated. The experimental results show a very good agreement with the predicted results obtained by electromagnetic simulation. The printed area of the fabricated coupler is 49% smaller compared to the traditional ring coupler.
%U http://www.jpier.org/pierb/pier.php?paper=13021001