Additive Manufacturing of Ku/K Band Waveguide Filters for Space Applications

This paper reports the investigation carried out jointly by CNR-IEIIT and IIT on the applicability of the selective laser melting technology to the fabrication of waveguide filters operating in the Ku/K band [12, 22] GHz for satellite communication. Two test samples in titanium and aluminum alloys have preliminary been developed to evaluate the relevant RF characteristics of components built with this technology. Subsequently, a fifth-order stop-band filter in WR51 has been designed, manufactured and successfully tested.