3644 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 71, NO.

8, AUGUST 2023

A Novel Branch-Line Coupling Topology

Henning Mextorf and Winfried Schernus

Abstract— This article presents a novel branch-line coupling

topology, which offers superior performance to the conventional
branch-line coupler. The structure of the proposed network is
very simple; in fact, only one additional transmission line element
is required to modify the ever-present branch-line coupler in
such a way that the bandwidth is enhanced by roughly 25%.
The proposed structure is analyzed using an even–odd analysis,
and closed-form expressions for the dimensioning of the network
parameters are given. The transmission-line impedances are
equal or very close to the system’s impedance, and there is no
need for very low or high transmission-line impedances.
Index Terms— Branch-guide couplers, branch-line couplers,
couplers, directional couplers, quadrature couplers.

I. I NTRODUCTION

B RANCH-LINE quadrature directional couplers are essen-

tial components, which are extensively used in radio
frequency and microwave circuits. In the past, numerous
Fig. 1. Topology of the proposed twofold symmetrical coupling structure
with symmetry planes A and B.

papers proposing improvements of the branch-line coupling

structure have been published. Methods to overcome the need
This article is structured as follows. Sections II and III
for very high impedance transmission lines in loose coupling
present the synthesis and the results from ideal calculations
or multisection couplers have been shown, see [1], [2]. The
of the novel coupler, respectively. Section IV shows the
compensation by applying external networks to the structure
simulation and measurement results for an implementation in
in order to achieve broader bandwidth has been investigated
microstrip technology.
in [3], [4], and [5]. Dual-band and multiband couplers have
been proposed, see [6], [7]. Different transmission line tech-
nologies and materials have been implemented, see [8], [9]. II. S YNTHESIS OF THE N OVEL B RANCH -L INE C OUPLER
Nonstandard topologies have been presented, see [10], [11]. Twofold symmetrical four-ports can be analyzed using the
However, it is fair to say that the majority of practical even–odd analysis [13]. Even- and odd-mode excitations with
realizations still employ the standard branch-line topology, respect to the two symmetry planes lead to four one ports,
see [12]. from which the eigenimpedances or eigenadmittances and
This article presents a novel network topology, which can be the eigenreflections of the network can be derived easily.
dimensioned as 3-dB quadrature directional coupler. It offers a The scattering parameters can then be calculated by linear
performance improvement in comparison to the conventional combinations of the eigenreflections. It can be shown that a
branch-line coupler at the cost of a marginally higher occupied reciprocal lossless twofold symmetrical four port will become
space. Furthermore, it does not require low or high impedance a quadrature directional coupler if the eigenreflections form
transmission lines as all transmission line impedances are two antiparallel pairs in the complex plane [13], [14]. Orthog-
equal or close to the system’s impedance. The simple network onality of these two antiparallel pairs leads to a coupling ratio
topology and improved performance make it a candidate to of the two output signals of 0 dB and a phase difference of
replace the conventional 3-dB branch-line coupler in many 90◦ , i.e., the network serves as a 3-dB quadrature directional
cases. coupler.
Manuscript received 3 November 2022; revised 1 December 2022 and Fig. 1 shows the proposed coupling structure represented
2 January 2023; accepted 22 January 2023. Date of publication as a top layer in microstrip technology consisting of five
2 February 2023; date of current version 7 August 2023. (Corresponding transmission lines, two series lines, two branches connected
author: Henning Mextorf.)
The authors are with the Faculty of Engineering, West Coast University of between the series lines, and a center transmission line con-
Applied Sciences, 25746 Heide, Germany (e-mail: [email protected]; necting the two branches. The characteristic impedance of the
[email protected]). series and branch elements is Z 1 and their electrical length
Color versions of one or more figures in this article are available at
https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2023.3239805. is 2θ1 . The center element has an impedance of Z 2 and an
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMTT.2023.3239805 electrical length of 2θ2 . The system’s characteristic impedance
0018-9480 © 2023 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

Authorized licensed use limited to: J.R.D. Tata Memorial Library Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Downloaded on September 08,2023 at 04:29:53 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 MEXTORF AND SCHERNUS: NOVEL BRANCH-LINE COUPLING TOPOLOGY 3645

Fig. 2. Decomposition of the four-port into four one-ports having electric

walls (short circuits) and magnetic walls (open circuits) within the symmetry
planes.

is referred to as Z 0 . The symmetry planes of the twofold

symmetrical topology are denoted as A and B.
Fig. 3. Constellation of eigenadmittances and eigenreflections at center
Applying an even–odd analysis to the network leads to a frequency represented in the admittance smith chart.
decomposition into the four one ports illustrated in Fig. 2. Note
that the electrical length of the transmission feed lines having √
an impedance of Z 0 is considered to be zero. In fact, it would 2 2 1
red = jrde = +j . (7)
add the same phase shift to all four eigenreflections and there- 3 3
fore change the absolute angle of the scattering parameters Thus, the corresponding eigenadmittances yee and yed have
only. It can be easily observed that the eigenreflections for the to be
odd–even-mode rde and the odd–odd-mode rdd are independent 1 − ree 1
yee = = j √ (8)
of the center transmission line. The corresponding normalized 1 + ree 3−2 2
eigenadmittances can be derived according to transmission line 1 − red  √ 
theory [15] as yed = = j 2 2−3 . (9)
1 + red
yde = j y1 (tan θ1 − cot θ1 ) (1) Fig. 3 shows the constellation of eigenadmittances and
ydd = − j y1 2 cot θ1 (2) eigenreflections in the admittance smith chart. The impedance
Z 2 and the electrical length θ2 have to be determined in order
with y1 being the normalized characteristic admittance of the to achieve the required admittances as calculated in (8) and
series and branch transmission lines. Requesting an antiparallel (9). The eigenadmittances yee and yed can be derived from the
pair of eigenreflections [13], [14], i.e., rde = −rdd , leads to circuit schematics in Fig. 2
4y12 tan θ1 cotθ2 + y1 y2 1 − tan2 θ1


1
yde = . (3) yee = j (10)
ydd 2y1 cotθ2 − y2 tan θ1
By choosing y1 =1, (3) can be fulfilled for tan θ1 = (2)1/2 2y 2 tan θ2 (tanθ1 − cotθ1 ) − 2y1 y2
yed = j 1 . (11)
and therefore θ1 ≈ 54.7◦ . This leads to yde = j (1/(2)1/2 ) and 2y1 tan θ2 +y2 tan θ1
ydd = − j (2)1/2 . The corresponding eigenreflections can be With y1 = 1 and tan θ1 = (2)1/2 , (10) and (11) simplify to
calculated as √
√ 4 2 cot θ2 − y2
1 − yde 1 2 2 yee = j √ (12)
rde =
1 + yde
= −j
3 3
(4) 2 cot θ2 − 2 y 2
√ √
tan θ2 − 2 y2
rdd =
1 − ydd
=− + j
1 2 2
. (5) yed = j √ . (13)
1 + ydd 3 3 2 tan θ2 + y2
In order to achieve an ideal matching and 0-dB coupling Solving (8), (9), (12), and (13) for z 2 = (1/y2 ) and θ2 leads
ratio, the two remaining eigenreflections for the even–even- to
s√
mode ree and for the even–odd-mode red have to form a second 2−1
antiparallel pair, orthogonal to the first paired eigenreflections z2 = √ ≈ 1.1 (14)
6−4 2
rde and rdd [13], [14] √ !− 12
√
2 2 1 2−1
ree = jrdd = − −j (6) θ2 = arctan √ ≈ 42.3◦ . (15)
3 3 6−4 2

Authorized licensed use limited to: J.R.D. Tata Memorial Library Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Downloaded on September 08,2023 at 04:29:53 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 3646 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 71, NO. 8, AUGUST 2023

Fig. 4. Calculated scattering parameters S21 and S31 at center frequency and
normalized impedance z 2 as a function of the electrical length θ2 .
Fig. 5. Calculated matching and isolation characteristics. Proposed coupler:
′ and S ′ .
S11 and S41 , and conventional branch-line coupler: S11 41

Thus, the proposed network serves as a 3-dB directional

coupler in a Z 0 = 50  system when the following parameters III. I DEAL P ERFORMANCE OF THE P ROPOSED C OUPLER
are chosen: Z 1 = 50 , Z 2 = z 2 Z 0 ≈ 54.9 , θ1 ≈ 54.7◦ , This section describes the performance of the proposed
and θ2 ≈ 42.3◦ at the desired center frequency f 0 . novel coupler in comparison to a conventional branch-line
By rotating the pair of eigenreflections ree and red , other coupler with series and branch characteristic impedances of
coupling ratios can be realized, while perfect matching and Z 0 /(2)1/2 and Z 0 , respectively. The electrical length of all
isolation is maintained. This is true when the condition ree = four transmission line elements is defined as 90◦ . An even–odd
−red is fulfilled, which is equivalent to analysis of this standard structure can be conducted similar to
those shown in the previous section. All results presented in
1
yee = . (16) this section have been calculated in MATLAB1 implementing
yed (18)–(21) as a function of frequency.
Inserting (12) and (13) into (16) leads to a generalized Matching and isolation scattering parameters are shown
matching criterion in Fig. 5. The return loss and isolation are greater than
20 dB through a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of approximately
1 tan θ2 + 2 cot θ2
z2 = = √ . (17) 13%, while the conventional branch-line coupler achieves only
y2 2 2 around 10.5% bandwidth. The transmission characteristics are
Equation (17) shows that for electrical lengths of θ2 close to depicted in Fig. 6. The conventional branch-line coupler offers
0◦ or 90◦ , the required normalized impedance z 2 becomes quite perfect symmetry of the scattering parameters S21 and S31 with
large and might be difficult to realize in certain technologies respect to the center frequency and the maximum deviation
(see Fig. 4). from the ideal −3.01 dB is −0.15 dB within ±5% of the center
The scattering parameters are the linear combinations of frequency. The proposed coupler is not as flat and deviates
the eigenreflections and can be calculated by applying the about −0.21 dB at the maximum within the same frequency
following equations [13]: range. However, this is valid for ideal lossless calculations
only. When taking frequency-dependent losses into account,
1
S11 = (ree + rde + red + rdd ) (18) the proposed network can even have a flatter response than
4 the conventional network; this will be addressed in the next
1
S21 = (ree + rde − red − rdd ) (19) section.
4 The phase difference between the output ports 2 and 3 is
1
S31 = (ree − rde − red + rdd ) (20) represented in Fig. 7. The conventional branch-line has a
4 perfect symmetrical phase response with respect to the center
1
S41 = (ree − rde + red − rdd ). (21) frequency, while the phase response of the proposed network
4 is asymmetrical but generally flatter. The FBW for a maximum
The calculated scattering parameters at center frequency as a phase deviation from the ideal 90◦ of ±5◦ is approximately
function of θ2 are represented in Fig. 4. Note that matching and 52.5%, while the conventional branch-line achieves only 33%.
isolation are perfect, i.e., S11 = S41 = 0. It can be observed
that S21 can be adjusted between −1.76 and −∞ dB, while IV. S IMULATION AND M EASUREMENT R ESULTS
S31 is in the range between −4.77 and 0 dB. In practice, this A prototype of the proposed topology has been designed
range is limited due to impractical characteristic impedances and fabricated in microstrip technology on a Rogers RO4003C
of z 2 and a decreasing bandwidth when θ2 is increased.
In Sections III–V, this article focuses on 0-dB coupling ratio. 1 Registered trademark.

Authorized licensed use limited to: J.R.D. Tata Memorial Library Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Downloaded on September 08,2023 at 04:29:53 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 MEXTORF AND SCHERNUS: NOVEL BRANCH-LINE COUPLING TOPOLOGY 3647

Fig. 6. Calculated coupling characteristics. Proposed coupler: S21 and S31 ,

′ and S ′ .
conventional branch-line coupler: S21 31

Fig. 8. Top: photograph of the fabricated prototype. Size of the PCB without
connectors is 46 × 48 mm. Bottom: photograph of the fabricated conventional
branch-line coupler. Size of the PCB without connectors is 41 × 49 mm.

Simulations and generation of the layouts have been car-

ried out using the Keysight Technologies PathWave ADS1
rf circuit simulator and layout generator (ADS) and CST
Microwave Studio1 (CST). The SMA connector and the coax-
Fig. 7. Calculated phase difference between the two output ports. Solid line: ial to microstrip transition have been modeled in CST and
proposed coupler and dashed line: conventional branch-line coupler.
its 3-D-EM-based simulation results were included in the
analytical calculations performed within ADS. Measurements
laminate having a thickness of 32 mil (which equals have been carried out using a Keysight 8720D vector network
0.813 mm) and a copper cladding thickness of 35 µm. The analyzer and an 85052D calibration kit.
center frequency is chosen as 2 GHz. For comparison, a con- Measurement and simulation results for the matching and
ventional branch-line coupler has been designed and fabricated isolation characteristics are depicted in Fig. 9. In accordance
on the same laminate as well. A photograph of both couplers with the ideal calculations in the previous chapter, simulation
is shown in Fig. 8, and the size of the printed circuit board and measurement results show that the bandwidth where return
(PCB) without connectors is 46 × 48 mm for the proposed loss and isolation are greater than 20 dB is approximately
topology, while the conventional couplers dimensions are 41 × 13%, while the conventional branch-line achieves only around
49 mm. The width of the 35.4-, 50-, and 54.9- transmission 10.6%. The coupling characteristics are shown in Fig. 10.
lines is 3, 1.78, and 1.51 mm, respectively. On this substrate, It can be seen that the proposed coupler exhibits an even
approximately 30% more PCB area is required than for a con- flatter response than the conventional branch-line coupler. The
ventional branch-line coupler without considering any space to measurement results are in fairly good agreement with the sim-
adjacent circuitry. When assuming a space of two and three ulations. Within a frequency band from 1.9 to 2.1 GHz, the
m m
times the transmission linewidth, the additional required space measured S21 ranges between −3.33 and −3.21 dB, while S31
reduces to around 8% and 1.5%, respectively. Without doubt, is between −3.17 and −3.13 dB. In this frequency range, the
′m
this depends strongly on the substrate characteristics and conventional branch-line coupler’s measured S21 is between
′m
operation frequency. However, there are techniques to shrink −3.21 and −3.03 dB, while the S31 ranges from −3.38 to
conventional branch-line couplers, which could be applied to −3.28 dB. Fig. 11 shows the measured and simulated phase
the proposed network as well, see [16]. characteristics. It can be observed that the simulated and

Authorized licensed use limited to: J.R.D. Tata Memorial Library Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Downloaded on September 08,2023 at 04:29:53 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 3648 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 71, NO. 8, AUGUST 2023

Fig. 9. Measured and simulated matching and isolation characteristics. Fig. 11. Measured and simulated phase characteristics. Proposed cou-
m m m m
Proposed coupler measurement results: S21 and S31 , proposed coupler sim- pler measurement results: S21 and S31 , proposed coupler simulation
ulation results: S21 and S31 , conventional branch-line coupler measurement results: S21 and S31 , conventional branch-line coupler measurement results:
′m ′m ′m ′m
results: S21 and S31 , and conventional branch-line coupler simulations results: S21 and S31 , and conventional branch-line coupler simulations results:
′ and S ′ . ′ and S ′ .
S21
S21 31 31

TABLE I
P ERFORMANCE C OMPARISON (M EASURED DATA )

Fig. 10. Measured and simulated coupling characteristics. Proposed

m m
coupler measurement results: S21 and S31 , proposed coupler simulation
results: S21 and S31 , conventional branch-line coupler measurement results:
topology is superior in terms of bandwidth achieved, main-
′m
S21 and S31′m
, and conventional branch-line coupler simulations results: taining good matching and isolation, whereas the coupler
′ and S ′ .
S21 31
presented in [17] exhibits a flatter phase response and less
amplitude imbalance.
measured phase characteristics are not as flat as for the ideal
calculations presented in the previous chapter. The measured V. C ONCLUSION
phase difference between the signals at the output ports of the A novel 3-dB coupling structure and its synthesis using
proposed coupling structure ranges between 89.7◦ and 91.7◦ simple transmission line theory have been presented. Ideal
within 13% bandwidth with respect to the design frequency calculations, simulations, and measurements show that the pro-
of 2 GHz. The FBW for a maximum phase deviation from posed coupler exhibits superior performance in comparison to
the ideal 90◦ of ±5◦ is approximately 39.5%, whereas the a conventional branch-line coupler in terms of a wider inherent
conventional branch-line coupler achieves only 30.9%. bandwidth and flatter transmission characteristics. The use of
A comparison to a wideband modified branch-line coupler transmission line impedances equal or close to the systems
replacing the series transmission lines by coupled lines pre- impedance Z 0 can be advantageous depending on the used
sented by de Paco et al. [17] and the conventional branch-line technology. This comes at a cost of marginal higher required
coupler is listed in Table I. It shows the FBW for several PCB area. The performance improvement and the simplicity
parameters, i.e., matching, isolation, phase difference, and of the topology make it substitution candidate for conventional
amplitude imbalance. It can be observed that the proposed branch-line couplers in many cases. Due to the additional

Authorized licensed use limited to: J.R.D. Tata Memorial Library Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Downloaded on September 08,2023 at 04:29:53 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 MEXTORF AND SCHERNUS: NOVEL BRANCH-LINE COUPLING TOPOLOGY 3649

degree of freedom compared to the conventional branch-line [13] R. H. Dicke, “The symmetry of waveguide junctions,” in Principles of
coupler, other constellations of eigenreflections can be realized Microwave Circuits, vol. 18. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill, 1948,
ch. 12, sec. 12, pp. 437–445.
and therefore individual properties, for example, the phase [14] H. Mextorf and R. Knochel, “The intrinsic impedance and its appli-
response may be improved. cation to backward and forward coupled-line couplers,” IEEE Trans.
Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 224–233, Feb. 2014, doi:
10.1109/TMTT.2013.2294853.
R EFERENCES [15] D. M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, 4th ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley,
[1] J. W. Gipprich, “A new class of branch-line directional couplers,” in 2012, pp. 56–59.
IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp. Dig., vol. 2, Dec. 1993, pp. 589–592, [16] T. Hirota, A. Minakawa, and M. Muraguchi, “Reduced-size branch-
doi: 10.1109/MWSYM.1993.276869. line and rat-race hybrids for uniplanar MMIC’s,” IEEE Trans.
[2] W. M. Fathelbab, “The synthesis of a class of branch-line direc- Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 270–275, Mar. 1990, doi:
tional couplers,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 56, no. 8, 10.1109/22.45344.
pp. 1985–1994, Aug. 2008, doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2008.927407. [17] P. D. Paco, J. Verdu, O. Menendez, and E. Corrales, “Branch-line coupler
[3] G. P. Riblet, “A directional coupler with very flat coupling,” IEEE Trans. based on edge-coupled parallel lines with improved balanced response,”
Microw. Theory Techn., vol. MTT-26, no. 2, pp. 70–74, Feb. 1978, doi: IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 56, no. 12, pp. 2936–2941,
10.1109/TMTT.1978.1129315. Dec. 2008, doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2008.2007191.
[4] R. Knochel, “Broadband flat coupling two-branch and multibranch
directional couplers,” in IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp. Dig., vol. 3,
Dec. 1999, pp. 1327–1330, doi: 10.1109/MWSYM.1999.779632.
[5] W. A. Arriola, J. Y. Lee, and I. S. Kim, “Wideband 3 dB branch line Henning Mextorf received the Dipl.-Ing. degree
coupler based on λ/4 open circuited coupled lines,” IEEE Microw. in electrical and information engineering and the
Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 21, no. 9, pp. 486–488, Sep. 2011, doi: Dr.-Ing. degree from the University of Kiel, Kiel,
10.1109/LMWC.2011.2138687. Germany, in 2008 and 2013, respectively.
[6] H. Zhang and K. J. Chen, “A stub tapped branch-line coupler for dual- From 2008 to 2013, he was a Scientific Assistant
band operations,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 17, no. 2, with the Microwave Laboratory, University of Kiel.
pp. 106–108, Feb. 2007, doi: 10.1109/LMWC.2006.890330. He then spent four years at Raytheon-Anschütz
[7] L. Piazzon, P. Saad, P. Colantonio, F. Giannini, K. Andersson, and GmbH, Kiel, serving as a Radar Systems Engi-
C. Fager, “Branch-line coupler design operating in four arbitrary neer and the Project Manager focused on research
frequencies,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 22, no. 2, projects. In 2017, he joined Thales Deutschland
pp. 67–69, Feb. 2012, doi: 10.1109/LMWC.2011.2181349. GmbH, Ditzingen, Germany, where he was the Sys-
[8] I.-H. Lin, M. DeVincentis, C. Caloz, and T. Itoh, “Arbitrary dual-band tems Engineering Manager and a Systems Architect in the field of marine
components using composite right/left-handed transmission lines,” IEEE radar. Since 2021, he has been a Professor with the West Coast University of
Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 1142–1149, Apr. 2004, Applied Sciences, Heide, Germany. His research interests include active and
doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2004.825747. passive microwave components, microwave sensors, and radar.
[9] R. Islam and G. V. Eleftheriades, “Phase-agile branch-line couplers using
metamaterial lines,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 14,
no. 7, pp. 340–342, Jul. 2004, doi: 10.1109/LMWC.2004.829277.
[10] B. Mayer and R. Knochel, “Branchline-couplers with improved Winfried Schernus received the Dipl.-Ing. (FH)
design flexibility and broad bandwidth,” in IEEE MTT-S Int. degree in electrical engineering from the Kiel
Microw. Symp. Dig., vol. 1, Sep. 1990, pp. 391–394, doi: University of Applied Sciences, Kiel, Germany,
10.1109/MWSYM.1990.99602. in 1995.
[11] J. J. Yao, “Nonstandard hybrid and crossover design with branch- He is currently an Engineer with the West Coast
line structures,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 58, no. 12, University of Applied Sciences, Heide, Germany,
pp. 3801–3808, Dec. 2010, doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2010.2085690. in the fields of electronics design and high-frequency
technology.
[12] R. Levy and L. F. Lind, “Synthesis of symmetrical branch-guide
directional couplers,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. MTT-
16, no. 2, pp. 80–89, Feb. 1968, doi: 10.1109/TMTT.1968.1126612.

Authorized licensed use limited to: J.R.D. Tata Memorial Library Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Downloaded on September 08,2023 at 04:29:53 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.