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Published 2003 | public
Book Section - Chapter

High-efficiency L-band transmit/receive module for synthetic aperture radar

Abstract

Space-based radar places significant demands on the spacecraft resources (mass, power, data rate) and is therefore very expensive to implement. These systems typically require active phased-array antennas with hundreds or thousands of transmit/receive (T/R) modules distributed on the array. High-efficiency is a vitally important figure of merit for the radar T/R module because it reduces the power consumption and therefore makes best possible use of the limited power available. High efficiency also improves the thermal design and reliability. In this paper, we describe the design and preliminary results of a novel L-band (1250 MHz) T/R module technology to achieve ultra-high efficiencies. We will show that a dramatic improvement in overall T/R module efficiency is possible using high-efficiency class-E/F amplifiers. The T/R module performance goals are to achieve an overall module efficiency greater than 70% with a minimum of 30-W output power at L-band frequencies.

Additional Information

© 2003 IEEE. Issue Date: 5-8 May 2003. Date of Current Version: 11 June 2003. The research described in this paper was carried out by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This work was supported by NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) under the Advanced Component Technology (ACT) program.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
January 13, 2024