HPM WBTS, a transportable high-power wide-band microwave source

HPM WBTS (High Power Microwave, Wide-Band Threat Systems) is a high power, repetitively pulsed, wide-band microwave generator. The HPM WBTS microwave capability covers the range of 200MHz to 6GHz in nine frequency bands. E-Field specification at target is 30-110 V/m/MHz depending on frequency. The system is transportable, capable of being set up at remote sites and operating on generator power. HPM WBTS is composed of several modules all of which store and transport in a standard 40´ container. The pulser and its accompanying power supplies, controls and ancillary systems are housed in a ´pallet´ structure which can be moved when needed. The system is operated remotely via a fiber optic linked laptop computer. The system incorporates built-in diagnostics and data acquisition capability. HPM WBTS pulser produces burst of microwave radiation using a spiral antenna excited by a short (<;2ns, full width half maximum) >;2MV negative pulse with a rise-time of <;300ps (10-90%). HPM WBTS is capable of operation at 100Hz with burst lengths of up to 500 pulses. Rep-rate and burst length are fully programmable. Voltage can be adjusted down to <;50% of maximum using a combination of hardware changes and charge voltage adjustment. To cover the wide frequency range, nine different antennas are utilized. The high pressure SF₆ insulated antennas are divided into four groups, each of which is driven by one of four swappable pulse forming lines (PFLs). The HPM WBTS pulse power driver is capable of generating pulses with a slew rate of up to ~6.7×10¹⁵ volts per second into the antenna. An accompanying paper at this conference will describe the HPM WBTS pulse power driver and its electrical performance in detail. This paper will focus on the overall design, performance and features of HPM WBTS. Illustrations, specifications and descriptions of field performance will be presented. Radiated E-field measured data is not included.