Reconfigurable H‐plane waveguide phase shifters prototyping with additive manufacturing at K‐band

This work presents the design and manufacturing of a K‐band reconfigurable phase shifter completely implemented in waveguide technology for reduced insertion loss, good matching, and large phase shifting range. The device is based on the combination of a short slot coupler and two tunable reactive loads implemented as a section of short‐circuited waveguide where an adjustable metallic post is inserted. Three prototypes of this design have been manufactured using different techniques (conventional computer numerical control machining, a low‐cost fused filament fabrication technique and direct metal laser sintering) in order to assess its performance for different applications. The prototypes have been characterized experimentally and the achieved results are evaluated and compared. The proposed phase shifter, since it is fully developed in waveguide technology, eliminates the need of adding transitions to planar structures in order to integrate lumped components like pin diodes or varactors. Therefore, this device has a great potential in high‐power beam steering phased arrays.