ETS-VI On-Board Dynamic Switches for Multi-Beam Satellite Communications

This paper describes a large scale on-board monolithic IC IF-band switch matrix (IF-SW) and a new type of on-board high-power high-speed RF-band switch (RF-SW), which ensure a flexible and efficient satellite-switched TDMA (SS-TDMA) system. In order to reduce the size and weight of the IF-SW, a miniaturized switch module has been developed using monolithic IC technology. A small size and light weight 16×12 IF-SW, about one-third the size of conventional hybrid IC types, has been achieved by using monolithic switch modules. The newly developed 1×2 RF-SW has high-power handling capability and a high-speed switching time in the 20 GHz band with high reliability and efficient transponder utilization. Demand assigned satellite switch operation and RF high power switching can be achieved using these dynamic switches.