CTT Inc. announces a new family of compact, GaN-based solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) operating in the 7 to 11 GHz frequency range for a wide variety of commercial, industrial and military microwave applications. CTT’s latest compact SSPA designs offer as much as 100 watts of output power in a compact package. This new line is engineered specifically to meet the stringent requirements imposed by many multi-function system designs
The 7 to 11 GHz segment of X-Band is one of the more “Application Rich” portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Some of the most notable and highly diverse applications include: digital high-capacity, 140/155Mbit/sec data point-to-point links; 7.9 to 8.4 GHz uplinks for MILSatcom; radar applications including Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Electronically Scanned Array (ESA) and Active ESA (AESA) as employed by civil, military and government agencies; simulators and test equipment; and electronic defense, in the seemingly paradoxical role in selective jamming of each and every one of the other applications, on demand.
This new family of CTT GaN power amplifiers is unique in the versatility of the GaN-based building blocks, that are at the heart of this design, in that they can be configured mechanically as well as electrically allowing for a variety of gain, power and packaging solutions. CTT engineers have developed a proprietary, open architecture/common platform of these GaN-based power amplifiers which relies on advanced coupler design and unique substrate material selection. The result is modular amplifiers offering efficiency and high output power. Both military and commercial configurations can benefit from improvements in: Reduced Size and Weight, Higher Efficiency, Wider Bandwidth, Reduced Cost, and System Power Efficiency.
Model AGW-110-4760as a traveling wave tube (TWT) replacement, general purpose, wideband amplifier provides a minimum CW output power of 50 Watts across the entire 7.0 to 11.0 GHz frequency range. Electrical specifications include 60 dB of Gain, and 47 dBm of CW Power Saturation (Psat). With operation at 28VDC, quiescent current (without RF input) is approximately 6 Amps, rising to no more than 14 Amps at full saturated output. At 7.5 GHz, efficiency is typically more than 25%.
Model AGW-110-5056-Pprovides up to 100 Watts of pulse power at selected 1 GHz segments of the 7.0 to 11.0 GHz frequency band. The amplifier specifications offer 56 dB of Gain, and 50 dBm of Pulsed Saturated Power. In pulsed operation, at 30 VDC, quiescent (undriven) current is less than 6 Amps with no more than 16 Amps at pulse saturation making this an attractive solution where supply power is limited, as in UAVs and SAR.
The new amplifiers come in a compact package which measures only 4.32 inch (L) x 4.5 inch (W) x 0.68 inch (H). Both of the amplifiers are also available in rack-mount configurations. In addition, the new SSPA’s “automated friendly” design increases consistency of performance, making design-in more cost effective for system designers and manufacturers alike. CTT offers the addition of a variety of custom engineered options (CEOs) including, for example, TTL control.
CTT Inc., established in 1981, is a privately-held company located in Silicon Valley. The company designs and manufactures GaAs and GaN-based solid-state microwave amplifiers and subassemblies for the domestic and international defense electronics and commercial communications markets. For additional information contact: CTT, Inc, 241 East Java Drive, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94089, Phone: 408-541-0596, Fax: 408-541-0794, Web: www.cttinc.com.