MINIATURIZED HIGH POWER RF SPDT SWITCH FOR UAV INTERROGATOR SYSTEM

Abstract

In the modern era, unmanned aerial vehicles are gaining importance for its major contributions in scientific, commercial and military applications. The limited space on UAVs demands every aspect to be studied in detail for miniaturization. This thesis presents designing, simulation, fabrication and analysis of a miniaturized high power RF single port double throw switch for UAV interrogator radar system. The thesis covers a brief survery on available SPDT switches, techniques used in its design, parameters that affect the size and power handling capabilities of said switches. The standard toplogy of designing traditional RF SPDT switches is modified and the proposed design has been simulated using Advanced Design Software ADS 2016 on IFF interrogator frequency of 1030 MHZ. Aspects related to power handling along with miniaturization of substrates available are calculated and discussed for choosing the most suitable design. The circuitry is simulated using properties of Rogers RT/Duroid 6010.2LM substrate and desired simulated results of insertion loss less than 1 dB and isolation between the ports greater than 30 dB are achieved. Layout of SPDT switch has been designed in ADS 2016 for fabrication within a small size of 25x25 sq mm and the fabricated module has been tested in the real environmment. The performance of the designed SPDT switch is evaluated by comparing it with the measured results.