High performance microwave power modules for military and commercial systems

Author

Basten, M. ; Whaley, D. ; Duthie, J. ; Heinen, V. ; Kreischer, K. ; Tucek, J. ; Ferek, A. ; Trimble, F. ; Gannon, B.

Author_Institution

Electron. Syst., Northrop Grumman Corp., Rolling Meadows, IL, USA

Volume

2

fYear

2002

fDate

2-7 June 2002

Firstpage

629

Abstract

The desirable attributes of solid state and vacuum electronics have been combined in Microwave Power Module (MPM) technology to create miniaturized amplifiers for high power transmitter applications in the 2-40 GHz range. These modules have demonstrated an order of magnitude increase in RF output power per unit weight when compared to conventional traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) and solid state power amplifiers (SSPAs). In this paper, the recent performance improvements of MPMs developed by Northrop Grumman are described. These improvements include power booster efficiencies that have reached in excess of 60%, and bandwidths that have reached almost three octaves.

Keywords

microwave power amplifiers; military equipment; millimetre wave power amplifiers; modules; transmitters; travelling wave amplifiers; travelling wave tubes; wideband amplifiers; 2 to 40 GHz; 60 percent; MPM technology; Northrop Grumman; commercial systems; high performance microwave power modules; high power transmitter applications; integrated power conditioner; military systems; miniaturized amplifiers; solid state amplifier; traveling wave tube; vacuum power booster TWT; High power amplifiers; Microwave amplifiers; Microwave technology; Multichip modules; Power amplifiers; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency amplifiers; Solid state circuits; Transmitters; Vacuum technology;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2002 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Seattle, WA, USA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7239-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2002.1011700

Filename

1011700