In recent years there was a notable developmental leap in communications systems operating at microwave frequencies. In the dissertation, the goal is to demonstrate the challenges and to propose solutions that enable the successful design and realization of very wide band microwave components, in particular, microwave directional couplers and filters.

Directional couplers are an essential part in microwave systems. They are commonly used for dividing or combining signals. For example they are used in the generation of the desired power division in beam-forming networks for spacecraft antennas. In other applications, they are used for power monitoring. In the dissertation, a comprehensive treatment of wide-band ridge waveguide directional couplers is included. Analysis and design of different configurations and arrangement of couplers realized in ridge waveguides are discussed. A new detailed systematic design procedure for ridge waveguide couplers in the two most used configurations "E-plane and H-plane" is proposed. Filters are also an integral part of any communication system. They separate communication channels operating at different frequencies thus eliminating interference between different channels. In the dissertation, design issues of wide-band ridge waveguide elliptic function filters realized in Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics (LTCC) are discussed. Ridge waveguide filters have excellent characteristics such as wide stop-band and compact size. An excellent approach in manufacturing RF/microwave systems is the integration of components into multilayer substrates using LTCC which facilitates the design of microwave modules in the same package thus increasing reliability and reducing size. A new scheme to achieve the strong couplings, a crucial requirement for the realization of wide band elliptic filters is proposed in the dissertation. As an example, rigorous mode matching method is successfully used in the analysis and design of a challenging wide-band ridge waveguide filter realized in LTCC technology.

Another interesting realization of couplers is the realization in strip-line transmission lines. In the dissertation, new proposed multi-section multi-layer LTCC stripline couplers are designed and analyzed. The proposed design enables the designer to achieve precise performance otherwise restricted by limitations posed by available technologies. The realization of wideband performance is made possible by such proposed design.