End-to-end performance evaluation methodology for TWTA-based satellite flexible payloads

Reconfigurability of the RF power among different beams and channels is of primary interest in communications satellite systems for its potentiality in maximizing the payload bandwidth and power utilization over the satellite lifetime. The performance of reconfigurable payloads strictly depends on the architecture of the high-power section. We will compare two multi-amplifier architectures, one based on bias-adjustable Traveling-wave Tubes, the other based on Multiport Amplifiers. These architectures will be traded-off against their performance in terms of power flexibility and overall DC power efficiency by means of a suitable end-to end figure-of-merit.