144 research outputs found
A GaN high power and efficient amplifier for L-Band Galileo system
No full textThis paper describes the development of an L-Band (f0 = 1.575GHz) high power and efficient amplifier designed for the European satellite navigation system (i.e., Galileo). The amplifier, developed in the framework of the European Project named SLOGAN, exploits the GH50-10 GaN technology available at United Monolithic Semiconductor foundry. The required output power level is achieved by parallelizing several GaN die power bars of 12mm and/or 26.5 mm. In continuous wave operating mode, the first prototype is able to deliver an output power higher than 250W at less than 2 dB of gain compression. Moreover, the registered gain and efficiency are higher than 54 dB and 54 %, respectively
Demonstrating the capability of GaN HEMTs for Satellite Communication
No full textGaN HEMTs are ideal for making high-power amplifiers for satellite communication, because they are lightweight, compact, efficient and capable of delivering a high, uniform gain over a broad bandwidth
A High Power Solid State Amplifier for Galileo Satellite System Exploiting European GaN Technology
No full textThis paper describes the development of an L-Band (f0 = 1.575 GHz) high power and efficient solid state power amplifier (SSPA) designed for the European satellite navigation system (i.e. Galileo). The amplifier, developed in the framework of the European Project named SLOGAN, exploits the GH50-10 GaN technology available at United Monolithic Semiconductor foundry. The aim of the project is to offer, using as much as possible European technologies, a valid alternative to replace traveling wave tube amplifiers with more compact and reliable systems. All the SSPA functionalities, i.e. power supply, power conditioning and radio frequency amplification, are integrated in the developed architecture and accommodated in a single box with limited volume and mass. The required output power level is achieved by parallelizing several GaN die power bars of 12 and/or 25.6 mm. In continuous wave operating mode, the overall SSPA delivers an output power higher than 250 W at less than 2 dB of gain compression in the whole E1-band. Moreover, the registered gain and efficiency are higher than 67 dB and 54%, respectively
A high efficiency 10W MMIC PA for K-b and satellite communications
No full textThis paper discusses the design steps and experimental characterization of a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier developed for the next generation of K-band 17.3–20.2 GHz very high throughput satellites. The technology used is a commercially available 100-nm gate length gallium nitride on silicon process. The chip was developed taking into account the demanding constraints of the spacecraft and, in particular, carefully considering the thermal constraints of such technology, in order to keep the junction temperature in all devices below 160°C in the worst-case condition (i.e., maximum environmental temperature of 85°C). The realized MMIC, based on a three-stage architecture, was first characterized on-wafer in pulsed regime and, subsequently, mounted in a test-jig and characterized under continuous wave operating conditions. In 17.3–20.2 GHz operating bandwidth, the built amplifier provides an output power >40 dBm with a power added efficiency close to 30% (peak >40%) and 22 dB of power gain
GaN MMIC High Power Amplifiers for K-Band Satellite Payload
No full textThis contribution presents the activities carried out towards the realization of a high-power solid state power amplifier, based on Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology, targeting more than 125W of output power in the frequency range 17.320.2 GHz, conceived for the next generation K-band Very High Throughput Satellites (vHTS). For this purpose, specific Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) Power Amplifiers (PAs) were developed on a commercially available 100 nm gate length GaN on Silicon (GaN-Si) process (OMMIC process D01GH). The design was carried out considering space reliability constraints on electrical parameters and accounting for the spacecraft temperature limits, which are extremely challenging for this technology, to keep the junction temperature of all devices below 160{circ}mathrm{C} in the worst-case condition (i.e., maximum environmental temperature of 85{circ}mathrm{C}). The final MMIC, based on a three-stage architecture, demonstrates on wafer and in pulsed condition to achieve a minimum output power and power added efficiency (PAE) of 10W (40dBm) and 35% (with a peak of 45%) in the full Ka-band satellite downlink, i.e., from 17.3 GHz to 20.2 GHz. The packaged version demonstrates in continuous wave (CW) conditions an output power larger than 39.5dBm with a PAE better than 30%. Moreover, long-term (24h) CW test at saturated output power has shown almost negligible performance degradation, thus providing confidence in the robustness of the selected GaN-Si technology
A 300W Complete GaN Solid State Power Amplifier for Positioning System Satellite Payloads
No full textAn L-Band high power and efficient solid state power amplifier (SSPA) designed for the European satellite navigation system (i.e., Galileo) is presented. The developed SSPA, based on European Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology, comprises all the circuits required to interface the module with the satellite bus (i.e., a Power Supply Unit, PSU), and to control its functionalities by remote telecomand and telemetry (i.e., an Electronic Power Conditioner unit, EPC). The Radio frequency Unit (RFU) together with the PSU and EPC are accommodated in a single box with limited volume and mass. In continuous wave operating mode, the SSPA delivers an output power higher than 300W at less than 3 dB of gain compression in the whole E1-Band (i.e., center frequency f0 = 1.575GHz). Moreover, the demonstrated gain and power added efficiency, including the power dissipated by the PSU and EPC, are higher than 65 dB and 44 %, respectively
A 100W High Efficiency Hybrid Broadband GaN Power Amplifier for Galileo Navigation System
No full textThis paper presents the design and experimental characterization of a broadband hybrid high power amplifier (HPA) for L-band applications. The HPA has been optimized to work efficiently in the three sub-bands (E5, E6 and E1) dedicated to Galileo navigation system (f = 1192 ± 46 MHz, f = 1278 ± 25 MHz and f=1575±25MHz, respectively), showing promising results. The HPA exploits a hermetic packaged device with an active periphery of 25.4mm, developed in the 0.5μm gate length GaN/SiC HEMT process (GH50-20) available at United Mono- lithic Semiconductor (UMS) foundry. Experimental results shown output power even larger than 100W with associated power added efficiency and gain of 60% and 14dB, in more than a 35% of fractional bandwidth in L-Band. Indeed, the realized HPA shows very flat performance all along the frequency range from 1.14 GHz to 1.6 GHz, also achieving a quite good agreement between measurements and simulations
A flexible and efficient GaN-Based SSPA for next-generation L-Band reconfigurable payloads
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