Integration Design of Filtering Antenna With Load-Insensitive Multilayer Balun Filter

Integration design of a filtering antenna fed by a load-insensitive multimode balun bandpass filter is proposed in this paper. The balun filter is designed and realized using multilayer structure for miniaturization. To be directly integrated into the antenna, both amplitude and phase performances of the balun filter are investigated with different complex load impedances. With insensitive responses against the load, this balun filter is utilized to design a filtering antenna as the feeding of a quasi-Yagi antenna, which is considered as a frequency-dependent differential complex load. The radiation characteristics are improved by applying a metallic shield as the package for the proposed design. To verify the design concept, an experimental filtering antenna is designed, fabricated, and measured with almost the same passband as that of the balun filter benefiting from the load-insensitive property of the latter. The simulated and measured results are presented, showing good agreement.