Role of Circulator, Isolator and Power Divider in the C-Band Microwave Front End System C. Chandrasekharan, S. Raghavendran & Sumi Sunny VSSC/ISRO, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering E-mail :
[email protected] dividers, attenuators and crystal detectors are Abstract - In space communications, the transponder aids in tracking the launch vehicle. Microwave Front End characterized and selected. System is designed for testing the onboard transponder. Those selected devices are inter-connected and Microwave front end unit acts as an interface to connect tested. Next step is the complete integration including the high power onboard transponder to the ground RF RF cables routing and device fixation to chassis. Then checkout system with suitable isolation between them. Microwave front end unit basically consists of microwave integrated level testing is performed and finally it is devices like circulator, isolator, attenuator, power divider deployed in the test bed. and crystal detector with RF cables and adaptors interconnecting them. In this paper, the devices like II. DESIGN AND OPERATION OF MICROWAVE circulator, isolator and power divider are characterized FRONT END SYSTEM based on the study of performance of each device in tandem with the theoretical specification of the devices in Based on the studies of characteristics and the designated frequency range and design procedure of performance analysis, various microwave devices are microwave front end unit is also explained. characterized and the required devices like circulators, Keywords - Circulator, Isolator, Microwave Front End Unit, isolators, power dividers and attenuators suitable for the Transponder. desired application are selected. Those selected devices are inter-connected and tested. Next step is the complete I.