EP2429026A1 - Filter für Funkfrequenzsignale - Google Patents

Filter für Funkfrequenzsignale Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2429026A1
EP2429026A1 EP10290483A EP10290483A EP2429026A1 EP 2429026 A1 EP2429026 A1 EP 2429026A1 EP 10290483 A EP10290483 A EP 10290483A EP 10290483 A EP10290483 A EP 10290483A EP 2429026 A1 EP2429026 A1 EP 2429026A1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
coupling
filter
resonator
connecting element
cavity resonator
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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EP10290483A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP2429026B1 (de
Inventor
Dieter Pelz
Benedikt Scheid
Yan Cao
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Alcatel Lucent SAS
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Alcatel Lucent SAS
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Priority to EP10290483.6A priority Critical patent/EP2429026B1/de
Publication of EP2429026A1 publication Critical patent/EP2429026A1/de
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01P—WAVEGUIDES; RESONATORS, LINES, OR OTHER DEVICES OF THE WAVEGUIDE TYPE
    • H01P1/00—Auxiliary devices
    • H01P1/20—Frequency-selective devices, e.g. filters
    • H01P1/201—Filters for transverse electromagnetic waves
    • H01P1/205—Comb or interdigital filters; Cascaded coaxial cavities
    • H01P1/2053—Comb or interdigital filters; Cascaded coaxial cavities the coaxial cavity resonators being disposed parall to each other

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a filter for radio frequency (RF) signals and, more particularly but not exclusively, to a bandpass filter comprising a plurality of coaxial air cavity resonators.
  • RF radio frequency
  • a radio frequency spectral range is split into several sub-ranges for different wireless communication technologies such as radio transmissions, broadcasting, mobile radio communication or satellite communication or is split into several sub-ranges for a same wireless communication technology but for different operators providing the same wireless communication technology.
  • Bandpass filters are used for example in radio communication systems to keep radio frequency signals within a specific radio frequency sub-range for avoiding interference and/or noise in neighbouring radio frequency sub-ranges or for keeping the interference and/or the noise below specific thresholds, which may depend on legal requirements or on wireless communication specifications.
  • Tunable bandpass filters are preferably used for filtering RF signals in comparison to bandpass filters with fixed filtering properties, especially due to manufacturing and storage costs and flexibility in use.
  • tunable filters may be manufactured and kept on stock, and only upon a customer's request comprising specific filter center frequencies and further parameters, the tunable filter is tuned to the customer's specification.
  • Characteristics of the bandpass filter such as a maximum allowed deviation from a required frequency bandwidth or a minimum required signal suppression for example in dB outside a passband of the bandpass filter irrespective of a centre frequency of the passband within a specified filter tuning range are major design criteria for bandpass filters having to fulfil a frequency independent selectivity mask over the specified filter tuning range.
  • the characteristics of the bandpass filter are usually frequency dependent and may not fulfil specific legal emission requirements or wireless communication specifications over a predefined frequency tuning range.
  • the filter comprises for example coaxial air cavity resonators with enclosed hollow spaces as an outer conductor and with length adjustable resonator rods as inner conductors
  • the filter can be tuned to another frequency by adjusting a length of the resonator rods.
  • a bandpass filter of the present state of the art is tuned to a lower centre frequency and a same filter mask has to be applied at the lower centre frequency, then the filter bandwidth would typically decrease and a passband part of the filter curve cannot exceed a first margin/threshold of the filter mask for a first predefined frequency range according to different centre frequencies of the predefined frequency tuning range.
  • the bandpass filter of the present state of the art is tuned to a higher centre frequency and a same filter mask has to be applied at the higher centre frequency, then the filter bandwidth would typically increase and the filter curve cannot fall below second and third margins/thresholds of the filter mask for second and third predefined frequency ranges according to further different centre frequencies of the predefined frequency tuning range.
  • Such behaviour is mainly based on a length change of the resonator rods generating a frequency dependent coupling between the resonators of the filter and thereby causing a frequency dependency in a width of the passband and in a frequency selectivity of the filter.
  • the way of fulfilling spectral requirements of filter masks over a predefined filter tuning range affects the spectral characteristic of the filter.
  • a filter for radio frequency signals comprising a first cavity resonator, a second cavity resonator, separating means separating said first cavity resonator and said second cavity resonator, and coupling means for capacitively coupling said first cavity resonator and said second cavity resonator.
  • Said coupling means of the filter comprise a connecting element protruding through an opening in said separating means, a first coupling element that is arranged in said first cavity resonator and that is connected to said connecting element, a second coupling element that is arranged in said second cavity resonator and that is connected to said connecting element, wherein
  • the filter may e.g. be a bandpass filter and the at least two cavity resonators may be coaxial transverse electromagnetic wave mode resonators.
  • the invention has a first benefit of providing a frequency independent width of the passband of the filter and a frequency independent selectivity over a predefined frequency tuning range.
  • a frequency independent bandwidth is linked to a frequency independent selectivity especially in case of a Chebyshev filter.
  • the invention provides a second benefit of allowing for an easy and flexible tuning process for getting a same bandpass filter bandwidth for different center frequencies within the predefined filter tuning range.
  • the tuning process is performed by moving at least one of said coupling elements with respect to said connecting element and/or said resonator element, thus altering a spatial arrangement within the cavity resonator with which the coupling element is associated.
  • the degree of coupling and/or a frequency characteristic of the coupling mechanism between said coupling elements may be adjusted.
  • An easy adjustment during operation of said filter may e.g. be effected by attaching an electrically non-conductive actuating element such as a rod made from dielectric material to said coupling element.
  • Said rod may e.g. be mounted so as to protrude through an opening in a top lid of the filter casing and may thus be moved by an operator, the rod's movement effecting a corresponding movement of the coupling element.
  • dielectric rod-type actuating means for both coupling elements to provide further degrees of freedom for adjusting the coupling between the filter components.
  • a major advantage of the inventive principle is based on the fact that the connecting element itself - apart from being rotatably attached to said separating means (e.g., a metallic wall separating the resonator cavities from each other) in some embodiments - is not required to be moved with respect to the remaining filter components. I.e., apart from a rotational movement according to some embodiments, the connecting element is not supposed to be moved which advantageously enables to provide an electrically conductive path enabling a capacitive coupling between neighboring resonator cavities by only providing a comparatively small opening in the separating means for the connecting element.
  • prior art filters comprising capacitive coupling means require long slits and/or comparatively large openings in the separating means to enable tuning thus also introducing an undesired (i.e., parasitic) inductive coupling path via said long slits / large openings.
  • the embodiments advantageously provide various degrees of freedom for tuning the filter and the coupling between its resonators, respectively.
  • the invention even provides a further benefit of lowering manufacturing and storage costs, because the same bandpass filter type can be used for many applications and different center frequencies with the same spectral response.
  • At least one of said coupling elements is rotatably attached to said connecting element.
  • said coupling elements may also be rotatably mounted to said connecting element thus providing further possibilities for filter tuning.
  • At least one of the coupling elements may also be fixedly attached to the connecting element, i.e. not enabling any movement of the respective coupling elements relative to said connecting element.
  • filter tuning and an adjustment of the coupling strength is still possible, namely by rotating the connecting element (together with the fixedly attached coupling element(s)) with respect to its support in the separating means.
  • the support of the connecting element comprises an electrically insulating material that at the same time enables a smooth rotatory sliding movement with respect to the separating means.
  • Such material may e.g. be Polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE).
  • said at least one coupling element has a substantially cylindrical shape which advantageously represents a distributed capacitance offering an increased bandwidth for the desired coupling between the resonator cavities. I.e., the frequency dependence of the coupling is advantageously decreased by the distributed capacitance, so that a certain degree of coupling is maintained over a certain tuning frequency range of the filter.
  • an offset angle between a longitudinal axis of said first coupling element and a longitudinal axis of said second coupling element has a nonzero value thus offering further degrees of freedom for tuning the coupling mechanism.
  • the offset angle is also adjustable, which may e.g. be achieved by each coupling element being rotatably attached to said connecting element, the axis of rotation being substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the coupling element.
  • said at least one coupling element has a non-uniform diameter over its length, which even further decreases the frequency dependency of said capacitive coupling enabled by said coupling means. Stepped diameters which are increasing/decreasing or alternating between several diameter values (similar to a corrugated surface) over the coupling element's length are also possible.
  • said at least one coupling element is placed outside of a virtual plane defined by the longitudinal axes of resonator elements arranged in said cavity resonators.
  • said coupling elements at least partially comprise an electrically conductive surface.
  • said coupling elements having the shape of a rod and that are rotatably attached to the connecting means, it is also advantageously possible to provide only parts of the overall rod surface as an electrically conductive surface. For instance, if the rods are made from electrically insulating material the surface of which is metallized, i.e. metal-plated, some of the surface metal may be removed to define non-conductive surface portions which offer further tuning possibilities when being rotated.
  • said coupling elements are movably arranged in respective openings of said connecting element, said connecting element comprising elastic means for electroconductively contacting said coupling elements.
  • the filter further comprises a first resonator rod extending upwards from a base plate of said filter within the first cavity resonator and a second resonator rod extending upwards from the base plate within the second cavity resonator, lengths of the first and the second resonator rod are adjustable between a minimum length for an upper limit of a predefined frequency tuning range and a maximum length for a lower limit of the predefined frequency tuning range.
  • an exact position of the inventive coupling means with respect to the resonators is defined depending on the operating frequency range and/or on the minimum and the maximum length of the telescopic resonator rod.
  • a first size and/or a first geometrical form of the first coupling element extending into the first cavity resonator and a second size and/or a second geometrical form of the second coupling element extending into the second cavity resonator are equal or different.
  • the first and the second capacitive coupling elements are connected to said connecting element in an electrically conductive manner, and the connecting element is mechanically supported by and electrically isolated from said separating means by suitable supporting means (e.g., non-metallic or isolating bushing, sleeve), thereby defining an electrically conductive structure which - mainly capacitively - couples the resonator cavities separated by said separating means.
  • suitable supporting means e.g., non-metallic or isolating bushing, sleeve
  • the electrically insulating material is Teflon (PTFE).
  • PTFE Teflon
  • the filter may further comprise an electroconductive coupling loop penetrating the inner separating plate from the first cavity resonator to the second cavity resonator for implementing a mainly inductive coupling.
  • This inductive coupling may be provided between the first cavity resonator and the second cavity resonator, that are already capacitively coupled by the inventive coupling means.
  • the inductive coupling may also be provided for coupling said resonators to further cavity resonators.
  • This alternative embodiment of the invention provides a benefit of using the electroconductive coupling loop within an opening of an inner separating plate (i.e., the separating means) for an adjustment of the "overall" capacitive coupling between the first and the second cavity resonator or other resonators of said filter.
  • the adjustment allows for an improved frequency independence of the bandpass filter curve at different centre frequencies within the predefined frequency range or allows to increase the frequency range with frequency dependence below a predefined threshold.
  • the electroconductive coupling loop is adjustable by an immersion depth towards the first and the second cavity resonator with respect to the base plate.
  • the filter further comprises a second electroconductive coupling loop penetrating a second inner separating plate between the first cavity resonator and a further cavity resonator and a third electroconductive coupling loop penetrating a third inner separating plate between the second cavity resonator and an even further cavity resonator and the second electroconductive coupling loop and the third electroconductive coupling loop are located with a first distance to outer walls of the filter and with a second distance to the inner separating plate and the first distance is smaller than the second distance.
  • This provides a benefit of optimizing a frequency independence of the spectral characteristic of the filter over a predefined frequency tuning range by selecting same or different adequate positions for the second electroconductive coupling loop and the third electroconductive coupling loop with respect to the outer walls and the inner separating plate.
  • Figure 1 shows schematically a spectral characteristic of a Chebyshev type bandpass filter of the present art at three different centre frequencies.
  • Three different filter curves FC1_1, FC1_2, FC1_3 are shown as a function of frequency at three different centre frequencies CF1, CF2, CF3 and exhibit increasing filter bandwidths FBW1_1, FBW1_2, FBW1_3 with increasing tuning frequency.
  • the filter bandwidths FBW1_1, FBW1_2, FBW1_3 are shown exemplarily as filter bandwidths at an attenuation value of -3 dB with respect to a minimum attenuation (maximum power throughput) at the centre frequencies CF1, CF2, CF3.
  • Such a frequency dependent filter characteristic may not fulfil specific legal emission requirements or wireless communication specifications for all centre frequencies within a predefined frequency tuning range.
  • Figure 2 shows exemplarily a filter curve FC of a bandpass filter around a centre frequency CF as a function of frequency.
  • Figure 2 further shows a curve of a filter mask with a first part SPEC1 around the centre frequency CF, with further parts SPEC2, SPEC3, SPEC4 at lower frequencies and with even further parts SPEC5, SPEC6, SPEC7 at higher frequencies.
  • the bandpass filter is optimized with sufficiently small asymmetry for a given centre frequency in such a way, that the filter curve FC exceeds a first threshold of the first part SPEC1 around the centre frequency CF and falls below thresholds of further parts SPEC2 to SPEC7 at the lower and the higher frequencies with respect to the curve of the filter mask. If a bandpass filter of the present art is tuned to another centre frequency, requirements of the filter mask may not be fulfilled.
  • FIG. 3 shows schematically in a block diagram and a top view a filter FL1 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
  • the detailed structure of the filter FL1 is not critical, and as can be understood by those skilled in the art, the detailed structure of the filter FL1 may vary without departing from the scope of the invention.
  • the filter FL1 may be a bandpass filter for radio frequency signals of a broadcasting service or may be applied in a transmission path of a base station of a network of a broadcasting transmission provider.
  • the filter FL1 may be for example a high-power radio broadcasting filter adapted to a frequency band with a frequency tuning range between 470 MHz and 860 MHz.
  • GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
  • GPRS General Packet Radio Service
  • UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • the filter FL1 may comprise a first cavity resonator RC1, a second cavity resonator RC2, a third cavity resonator RC3, a fourth cavity resonator RC4, a fifth cavity resonator RC5 and a sixth cavity resonator RC6 arranged in a U-shaped order with a U-shaped resonator path as indicated in Figure 3 by an arrow AR.
  • the cavity resonators RC1 to RC6 may be coaxial transverse electromagnetic wave mode resonators and may have identical geometrical dimensions.
  • the filter FL1 may comprise less than six cavity resonators or more than six cavity resonators.
  • the cavity resonators may be arranged in a linear or straight form.
  • the cavity resonators may be arranged in an S-shaped order, or an arrangement of the cavity resonators may comprise a combination of cavity resonators in a U-shaped order and of further cavity resonators in an S-shaped order.
  • the filter FL1 comprises a first port PORT1 for coupling the radio frequency signals to be filtered into the filter FL1 and comprises a second port PORT2 for outcoupling filtered radio frequency signals from the filter FL1.
  • the ports PORT1, PORT2 may be for example coaxial ports with a central inner and an outer conductor.
  • Openings within a first outer wall OW1 of a housing of the filter FL1 between the first port PORT1 and the first cavity resonator RC1 and between the second port PORT2 and the sixth cavity resonator RC6 are not shown for simplification.
  • the housing of the filter FL1 is shown in Figure 3 without a cover plate to be able to see the interior parts of the filter FL1.
  • the filter's housing comprises a base plate BP, the first outer wall OW1, a second outer wall OW2, a third outer wall OW3, a fourth outer wall OW4.
  • the filter FL1 comprises a first inner separating wall ISP1 as well as further inner separating walls which are not assigned a reference numeral in Figure 3 for the sake of clarity.
  • Resonator rods RR1, RR2, RR3, RR4, RR5, RR6 are located centrally within the resonator cavities RC1 to RC6 and are extending upwards from the base plate BP, i.e. perpendicularly upwards from the drawing plane of Figure 3 .
  • the housing of the filter FL1 is used as an outer conductor and the resonator rods RR1 to RR6 are used as inner conductors.
  • the base plate BP, the outer walls OW1 to OW4, the inner separating walls and the cover plate (not shown in Figure 3 ) form separate hollow spaces for the resonator cavities RC1 to RC6.
  • the filter FL1 further comprises a first coupling loop STR1 in a first opening of the second inner separating wall between the first cavity resonator RC1 and the second cavity resonator RC2, a second coupling loop STR2 in an opening OP3 of the inner separating wall between the second cavity resonator RC2 and the third cavity resonator RC3, a third coupling loop STR3 in an opening of the fourth inner separating wall between the third cavity resonator RC3 and the fourth cavity resonator RC4, a fourth coupling loop STR4 in an opening of the fifth inner separating wall between the fourth cavity resonator RC4 and the fifth cavity resonator RC5 and a fifth coupling loop STR5 in an opening of the sixth inner separating wall between the fifth cavity resonator RC5 and the sixth cavity resonator RC6.
  • the coupling loops STR1 to STR5 are used for direct inductive electromagnetic couplings between adjacent cavity resonators in a direction of the arrow AR and have preferably externally adjustable immersion depths.
  • the first and the second coupling loops STR1, STR2 are located with a first distance D1 to the fourth outer wall OW4 of the filter FL1 and with a second distance D2 to the first inner separating plate ISP1, and the first distance D1 is smaller than the second distance D2.
  • the third and the fourth coupling loops STR3, ST4 are located with the first distance D1 (not shown) to the second outer wall OW2 of the filter FL1 and with the second distance D2 (not shown) to the first inner separating plate ISP1.
  • the second distance D2 is in a range between a threefold and fourfold of the first distance D1.
  • a filter for RF signals exhibits an electromagnetic coupling between adjacent cavity resonators in a direction of the resonator path such as shown by the arrow AR in Figure 3 .
  • This type of electromagnetic filter resonator coupling is called direct coupling or adjacent coupling between the cavity resonator pairs RC1/RC2, RC2/RC3, RC3/RC4, RC4/RC5, RC5/RC6.
  • a specific bandwidth of the passband can be adjusted according to a specific filter mask for fulfilling the spectral requirements by adjusting the direct coupling between the cavity resonator pairs RC1/RC2, RC2/RC3, RC3/RC4, RC4/RC5, RC5/RC6.
  • the filter usually also exhibits a further electromagnetic coupling between cavity resonators, which are not adjacent in the direction AR of the resonator path.
  • This further type of electromagnetic filter resonator coupling is referred to as cross coupling. Due to the U-shape of the resonator path of the filter FL1 exemplarily shown in Figure 3 , cross couplings may be established by providing suitable coupling means 100, EL1 between the following pairs of resonator cavities: RC1/RC6, RC2/RC5 or between other non-adjacent resonators (e.g., for filter configurations with more than six resonator cavities).
  • Cross coupling can be used to include transmission zeros or notches in monotonous sloping filter attenuation curves (responses) besides a (transmission) passband of the bandpass filter being symmetrically arranged according to a centre frequency of the passband.
  • the cross coupling between two cavity resonators not adjacent in the direction AR of the resonator path determines a frequency position and a symmetry of the notches shown for example in Figure 2 .
  • the filter FL1 comprises coupling means 100 which are arranged between the resonator cavities RC2, RC5 and thus provide a cross coupling.
  • the coupling means 100 are configured to capacitively couple the cavity resonator RC2 with the cavity resonator RC5.
  • the coupling means 100 comprise a connecting element 104 protruding through an opening OP1 in said inner separating plate ISP1, a first coupling element 102a that is arranged in a first of said cavity resonators RC2, RC5 and that is connected to said connecting element 104, and a second coupling element 102b that is arranged in said second of said cavity resonators RC2, RC5 and that is connected to said connecting element 104.
  • the first and the second capacitive coupling elements 102a, 102b are connected to said connecting element 104 in an electrically conductive manner, and the connecting element 104 is mechanically supported by and electrically isolated from said separating means ISP1 by suitable supporting means 108 ( Figure 4b ) (e.g., non-metallic or isolating bushing, sleeve, not shown in Figure 3 ), thereby defining an electrically conductive structure 102a, 104, 102b which - mainly capacitively - couples the resonator cavities RC2, RC5 that are otherwise electrically separated by said separating means ISP1.
  • suitable supporting means 108 Figure 4b
  • FIG. 4b e.g., non-metallic or isolating bushing, sleeve, not shown in Figure 3
  • the electrically insulating material 108 that supports said connecting means 104 within the opening OP1 in the wall ISP1 is Teflon (PTFE).
  • PTFE Teflon
  • At least one of said coupling elements 102a, 102b is movably attached to said connecting element 104 and may thus be moved relative to the further resonator components RR2, RC2, RR5, RC5, BP, ISP1.
  • the vertical position of the coupling elements 102a, 102b with reference to the connecting element 104 is adjustable, which corresponds to a translatory movement of the components 102a, 102b in a direction AR1 ( Figure 4a ) perpendicular to the drawing plane of Figure 3 .
  • Such movement may, for example, be effected by means of a non-metallic rod-shaped extension 106a ( Figure 4a ) to the coupling element 102a, an end 106a' of which protrudes through the filter resonator top lid CP (cover plane) so that it can be adjusted by a service technician even in a mounted (deployed) state of said filter FL1.
  • Figure 4b depicts a further cross-sectional side view (along the intersection line ISL2 of Figure 3 ) of the coupling means 100 according to an embodiment, in which the coupling elements 102a, 102b exhibit different vertical displacements relative to the base plate BP, which may be due to tuning purposes of the coupling effected by the coupling means 100.
  • the second coupling element 102b' also comprises a non-conductive tuning rod extension 106b' for external adjustment according to Figure 4b
  • the coupling means 100 which comprise only one externally tunable, i.e. movable, coupling element 102a, whereas the second coupling element 102b is fixedly attached to the connecting means 104 or only internally tunable, i.e. by opening the filter housing.
  • Mereley internally tunable filters may also be realized by employing the inventive principle.
  • At least one coupling element 102a, 102b has a substantially cylindrical shape (not necessarily having a circular cross-section) which advantageously represents a distributed capacitance offering an increased frequency independency for the desired coupling between the resonator cavities RC2, RC5.
  • an offset angle between a longitudinal axis 102a' ( Figur 4b ) of said first coupling element 102a and a longitudinal axis 102b' of said second coupling element 102b has a nonzero value thus offering further degrees of freedom for tuning the coupling mechanism 100.
  • the offset angle is also adjustable, which may e.g. be achieved by each coupling element being rotatably attached (not shown) to said connecting element 104, the axis of rotation being substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the coupling element 104.
  • said at least one coupling element 102a has a non-uniform diameter over its length, which even further increases an operating bandwidth for said capacitive coupling meachism enabled by said coupling means 100.
  • Some possible shapes for such configuration of the coupling element are depicted by Figures 11a, 11b, 11d, 11e . As can be seen, stepped diameters which are increasing/decreasing or alternating between several diameter values over the coupling element's length are also possible.
  • Fig. 11c depicts a coupling element 102a a surface of which comprises various sections s1, s2, wherein section s1 is electrically conductive and wherein section s2 is electrically non-conductive.
  • the coupling element 102a depicted by Figure 11d comprises an intermediate part that exhibits elasticity in a radial direction indicated by the block arrow thus offering a further possibility for slidably and electrically conductively engaging the coupling element 102a with a correspondingly shaped connecting element 104, that e.g. comprises an opening for receiving the intermediate portion of coupling element 102a.
  • FIG. 5a depicts a side view of a further embodiment, wherein two resonators Res1, Res2 extend from a cover plate CP of a filter FL2 into respective resonator cavities RC1', RC2'.
  • the filter FL2 comprises capacitive coupling means comprising two coupling elements 102a, 102b each having rod-shape (circular cylinder) and being attached to a connecting element 104 in respective openings therein with suitable resilient contact means.
  • Each coupling rod 102a, 102b comprises a length L and may be moved along the direction indicated by the double arrow in Figure 5a , whereby tuning of the capacitive coupling between the resonators Res1, Res2 may be effected.
  • Non-conductive tuning rods 106a', 106b' are also provided to enable external adjustability.
  • Figure 5b presents a top view on the filter FL2 of Figure 5a .
  • Figure 6 depicts a cross-sectional side view of a further filter assembly comprising a further embodiment of the inventive coupling means 100.
  • the structure of the filter assembly depicted by Figure 6 is basically identical to that of filter FL1 already explained with reference to Figures 3 , 4a, 4b .
  • the coupling element 104' of Figure 6 is rotatably arranged within the opening OP1 ( Figure 3 ) of the inner separating wall ISP1, which is achieved by providing an electrically insulating supporting means 108 that exhibits suitable friction/gliding properties such as PTFE (Teflon).
  • An externally actuatable insulating handling rod 106a' is also provided, which is vertically displaceable according to arrow AR1.
  • the handling rod 106a' may at its in Figure 6 lower end comprise a structure similar to a "rack and pinion" arrangement.
  • a translatory (in Fig. 6 vertical) movement of rod 106a' may be transformed into a rotation of the connecting element 104' around its longitudinal axis indicated by the dashed line.
  • any friction means which enable to transform the linear movement of rod 106' into a rotation of connecting means 104' may also be employed.
  • Excentric coupling means between the components 106' and 104' are also possible, especially if rod 106' is sufficiently flexible or elastic, respectively.
  • the aforeexplained driving mechanisms may also advantageously be arranged external to both cavities RC2, RC5 involved in the coupling via the coupling means 100, cf. the embodiment of Figure 8 .
  • the separating means ISP1 between the cavities RC2, RC5 are configured as a double wall defining an intermediate space that can receive the actuating rod 106a'.
  • this variant is very advantageous since it does not require to provide said rod 106a' in the resonator cavities RC2, RC5 thus further reducing an impact of parasitic materials therein.
  • the coupling elements 102a, 102b of Figure 6 , 8 may comprise a rod-type shape, but according to further embodiments, they may also comprise shapes and/or cross-sections as depicted by Fig. 7a, 7b, 7c , respectively.
  • basically cylindrically-shaped elements 102a, 102b such as those according to Figure 3 may also - at least partly with respect to their overall length - comprise cross-sections as depicted by Fig. 7a, 7b, 7c .
  • At least one of said coupling elements 102a, 102b is movably attached to said connecting element 104 and may thus be moved relative to the further resonator components RR2, RC2, RR5, RR5, BP, ISP1.
  • FIG. 9a schematically shows a side view of a corresponding embodiment of a filter FL3 comprising resonators Res1, Res2 placed in adjacent resonator cavities RC1', RC2'.
  • both coupling elements 102a, 102b are rotatably attached to the connecting element 104, which itself may be fixedly attached to the separating wall.
  • the coupling elements 102a, 102b may be rotated with respect to the connecting element 104 in the manner depicted by the double arrows in the top view of Figure 9b .
  • the coupling elements 102a, 102b comprise a disc-type shape. Other shapes (elliptical or the like) are also possible.
  • edges may be rounded.
  • said at least one coupling element 102a, 102b is placed outside of a virtual plane (identical to the intersection line ISL2 of Figure 3 ) defined by the longitudinal axes of resonator elements arranged in said cavity resonators, which offers a further degree of freedom for the design of the RF filter.
  • the vertical movement of said coupling element 102a in the direction of double arrow AR1 ( Figure 4a , 5a , 6 ) is e.g. enabled by slidably - and electrically conductively - attaching said coupling element 102a to the connecting means 104.
  • the connecting element 104 may comprise an opening that receives the coupling element 102a.
  • Figure 10 depicts one of many possible configurations for connecting element 104.
  • the connecting element 104 comprises elastic means 104a acting upon the coupling elements 102a, 102b in a direction as symbolized by the block arrows so as to ensure a proper electrically conductive contact between said coupling elements 102a, 102b and the connecting element 104 that is connecting the coupling elements 102a, 102b.
  • the elastic means may e.g. be designed as conductive spring contact as depicted by Fig. 10 .
  • This embodiment enables a translatory movement of the coupling elements 102a, 102b with respect to the connecting element 104 (i.e., up and down in Fig. 10 , cf.
  • a plurality of spring contact means 104a in a correspondingly shaped cut-out of the connecting element 104, wherein the plurality of spring contact means are e.g. circumferentially arranged with respect to the coupling element with which electrically conductive contact is to be established.
  • the adjustability of the inventive coupling means 100 advantageously enables to counteract any tuning movements of the resonator rods RR2, RR5, which may e.g. be telescopic resonator rods. Thereby, a low coupling slope vs. the tuning frequency of the filter is achieved.
  • more than one coupling means 100 may be provided for coupling adjacent resonator cavities.
  • a lower limit and an upper limit of the predefined frequency tuning range of the RF filter may depend on a frequency subband assigned to an operator of a broadcast service or a mobile radio service such as LTE.
  • the lower limit and the upper limit of the predefined frequency tuning range may depend on a frequency band allocated to broadcast services or mobile radio services of several operators and wherein the frequency band may be divided into several adjacent subbands for the several operators.
  • the inventive principle may also advantageously be employed for filters in the UHF range of about 470 MHz to 860 MHz such as for television signal transmissions and the like.
  • the filter FL1 ( Figure 3 ) may further but not necessarily comprise one or several inductive coupling means forming a first electroconductive loop EL1 in an opening of the first inner separating wall ISP1 for an inductive coupling between the cavity resonators RC1, RC6.
  • An immersion depth of the electroconductive loop EL1 may be adjustable for adjusting and fine tuning the cross coupling between the second cavity resonators RC1, RC6. Thereby, the position of the notches in the filter characteristic can be determined more precisely.
  • the second resonator rod RR2 ( Figure 3 ) extends upwards from the base plate BP within the second cavity resonator RC2 and comprises a first resonator part with a fixed length and a second resonator part with an adjustable length thus forming a telescopic resonator RR2.
  • the other resonators of the Filter FL1 may be configured identically.
  • Such length adjustable resonator rods RR2, RR5 are known for a person skilled in the art and are therefore not explained in more detail.
  • An overall length of the fixed length and the adjustable length of the resonator rods RR2, RR5 determine a resonator frequency.
  • the overall length of the resonator rods RR2, RR5 is adjusted for each centre frequency of the passband to a quarter of a wavelength with respect to the centre frequency.
  • the overall length is slightly smaller than the quarter of the wavelength because of a so-called end effect known to a person skilled in the art.
  • a maximum of the electrical field within the cavity resonators RC2, RC5 is at the open end of the resonator rods RR2, RR5 (end of variable part).
  • the lengths of the second and fifth resonator rod RR2, RR5 are adjustable between a minimum length related to an upper limit of a predefined frequency tuning range and a maximum length related to a lower limit of the predefined frequency tuning range.
  • the exact positioning and geometry of the coupling means 100 and its coupling elements 102a, 102b are adapted to and depend on the overall length of the resonator rod and further depend on a gradient and strength of the electrical field nearby the first inner separating plate ISP1.
  • the desired positioning and geometry of the coupling means 100 and its coupling elements 102a, 102b can be obtained for example by performing iterative simulations with a target to obtain a frequency independent filter bandwidth for the bandpass filter between the lower and the upper limit of the predefined frequency range.
  • the electrically conductive components 102a, 102b, 104 may e.g. comprise a metallic material such as copper, aluminium, brass, silver or gold or respective alloys.
  • the electroconductive material may be electro-plated plastics.
  • the spectral characteristic of the bandpass filter FL1 does not show any significant change in the filter bandwidths FBW2_1, FBW2_2, FBW2_3 for an increasing tuning frequency, in contrast to the prior art systems ( Figure 1 ). This allows for a frequency independent filter bandwidth for all center frequencies within the predefined filter tuning range.

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Cited By (7)

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WO2014145662A3 (en) * 2013-03-15 2014-11-06 Wispry, Inc. Tunable filter systems, devices and method
WO2015144063A1 (en) * 2014-03-26 2015-10-01 Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd. Adjustable phase-inverting coupling loop
CN108054483A (zh) * 2017-10-23 2018-05-18 四川天邑康和通信股份有限公司 一种可调节端口耦合结构及其在数字直放站腔体滤波器中的应用
CN108281740A (zh) * 2018-03-27 2018-07-13 深圳市华扬通信技术有限公司 带有可调电容耦合结构的腔体滤波器
US10320357B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2019-06-11 Wispry, Inc. Electromagnetic tunable filter systems, devices, and methods in a wireless communication network for supporting multiple frequency bands
CN111326842A (zh) * 2018-12-14 2020-06-23 中兴通讯股份有限公司 一种谐振器及滤波器
US10847854B2 (en) 2015-06-30 2020-11-24 Alcatel Lucent Cavity resonator device with a coupling element

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CN111384538B (zh) * 2018-12-29 2021-12-24 华为技术有限公司 一种滤波器及基站

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WO2002054527A2 (en) * 2000-12-29 2002-07-11 Allgon Ab A filter including coaxial cavity resonators
US20040108919A1 (en) * 2002-12-04 2004-06-10 Snyder Richard V. Tunable coupling
EP1791212A1 (de) * 2005-11-28 2007-05-30 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Mikrowellenfilter mit einem Kapazitivkopplungselement
US20070139142A1 (en) * 2005-12-19 2007-06-21 Universal Microwave Technology, Inc. Reverse-phase cross coupling structure
EP1895615A1 (de) * 2006-08-31 2008-03-05 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Einstellbare Kopplung

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WO2002054527A2 (en) * 2000-12-29 2002-07-11 Allgon Ab A filter including coaxial cavity resonators
US20040108919A1 (en) * 2002-12-04 2004-06-10 Snyder Richard V. Tunable coupling
EP1791212A1 (de) * 2005-11-28 2007-05-30 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Mikrowellenfilter mit einem Kapazitivkopplungselement
US20070139142A1 (en) * 2005-12-19 2007-06-21 Universal Microwave Technology, Inc. Reverse-phase cross coupling structure
EP1895615A1 (de) * 2006-08-31 2008-03-05 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Einstellbare Kopplung

Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2014145662A3 (en) * 2013-03-15 2014-11-06 Wispry, Inc. Tunable filter systems, devices and method
US9559659B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2017-01-31 Wispry, Inc. Tunable filter systems, devices, and methods
US10320357B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2019-06-11 Wispry, Inc. Electromagnetic tunable filter systems, devices, and methods in a wireless communication network for supporting multiple frequency bands
US10911015B2 (en) 2013-03-15 2021-02-02 Wispry, Inc. Electromagnetic tunable filter systems, devices, and methods in a wireless communication network for supporting multiple frequency bands
WO2015144063A1 (en) * 2014-03-26 2015-10-01 Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd. Adjustable phase-inverting coupling loop
US10847854B2 (en) 2015-06-30 2020-11-24 Alcatel Lucent Cavity resonator device with a coupling element
CN108054483A (zh) * 2017-10-23 2018-05-18 四川天邑康和通信股份有限公司 一种可调节端口耦合结构及其在数字直放站腔体滤波器中的应用
CN108281740A (zh) * 2018-03-27 2018-07-13 深圳市华扬通信技术有限公司 带有可调电容耦合结构的腔体滤波器
CN108281740B (zh) * 2018-03-27 2021-04-13 深圳市华扬通信技术有限公司 带有可调电容耦合结构的腔体滤波器
CN111326842A (zh) * 2018-12-14 2020-06-23 中兴通讯股份有限公司 一种谐振器及滤波器

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