High power and efficiency space traveling-wave tube amplifiers with reduced size and mass for NASA missions

Recent advances in high power and efficiency space traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) for NASA's space-to-Earth communications are presented in this paper. The RF power and efficiency of a new K-Band amplifier is 40 Watts and 50% and that of a new Ka-Band amplifier is 200 Watts and 60%. An...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2008 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium Digest pp. 319 - 322
Main Authors Simons, Rainee N., Wilson, Jeffrey D., Force, Dale A.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.06.2008
Subjects
Amplifiers
Electron tubes
Extraterrestrial measurements
Gain
K-band
Microwave power amplifiers
Millimeter wave power amplifiers
Millimeter wave tubes
NASA
Power conditioning
Radio frequency
Satellite communication
Space technology
Traveling wave tubes
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Summary:Recent advances in high power and efficiency space traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) for NASA's space-to-Earth communications are presented in this paper. The RF power and efficiency of a new K-Band amplifier is 40 Watts and 50% and that of a new Ka-Band amplifier is 200 Watts and 60%. An important figure-of-merit, which is defined as the ratio of the RF power output to the mass (W/kg) of a TWT has improved by a factor of ten over the previous generation Ka-Band devices.
ISBN:1424417805
9781424417803
ISSN:0149-645X
2576-7216
DOI:10.1109/MWSYM.2008.4633167