Worldwide air traffic control (ATC) and aircraft-to-aircraft communications requirements are growing more stringent, and airplanes will need to carry increasingly sophisticated tracking and communications systems in the years ahead.

To help avionics customers address this trend, Freescale Semiconductor is expanding its L-band portfolio with two Airfast RF power transistors featuring exceptional system function integration and broadband high power performance. The company’s new AFIC10275N and AFV121KH products provide benefits that help meet the exacting standards of the world’s leading ATC systems manufacturers.

“Our newest Airfast transistors deliver compelling solutions to the ATC market while further widening the gap between Freescale and its competitors,” said Paul Hart, senior vice president and general manager of Freescale’s RF business. “The exceptional level of integration achieved with the AFIC10275N underscores our commitment to the avionics market and its very specific requirements.”

AFIC10275N cuts size and weight

Size, weight and power are critical parameters for avionics applications. The AFIC10275N is the industry’s first RF power integrated circuitcovering the 978-1090 MHz band, and helps customers address these market criteria by enabling much smaller and lighter power amplifier (PA) transponders. The AFIC10275N integrates two amplification stages in a plastic package, delivering 250 W with 31 dB of gain and 64 percent drain efficiency. The device also embeds temperature and RF sensing capabilities, reducing the need for external components. The AFIC10275N is available as a solution with a reference circuit that reduces cycle time and development costs for customers.

AFV121KH brings more power per device

The AFV121KH transistor delivers 1 kW of power with 59 percent efficiency and more than 1.2 kW of power with 51 percent efficiency across the 960-1215 MHz band, and is capable of even higher power when tuned for narrowband performance at 1030 MHz. Higher power allows customers to reduce part counts, thereby enabling significant cost savings.

Availability and support

 The AFIC10275N is currently in production. The AFV121KH is sampling now and scheduled for production in Q3 2015. Freescale offers global applications support, compact reference designs, as well as ADS and AWR tools to support the new Airfast RF power solutions for avionics.