50-Way W-Band All Waveguide Radial Combiner Design

This paper presents a novel and challenging design of a 50-way all-waveguide W-band radial combiner, utilizing WR10 ports for all connections. The novelty lies in its pioneering design and implementation of the radial combiner structure, while the challenges stem from the complexities associated with high-frequency design, manufacturing precision, and the integration of multiple waveguide modules. The design uses a circular waveguide intermediate port operating in the TE01 mode due to its low loss. A mode transducer converts the circular waveguide TE01 mode to the TE10 mode in WR10. The design follows a modular approach, with optimally designed blocks, which are then integrated to form the final structure. Mechanical considerations are crucial at such high frequencies, and all features, such as matching disks and bifurcations, are designed to require only simple mechanical tooling. The design is thoroughly discussed, and an experimental prototype was fabricated and tested, demonstrating good performance without tuning.