Ku Band 500W Solid State Power Amplifier
Overview
The Ku-band solid-state power amplifier (SSPA) delivers a 500W of pulsed RF output. The amplifier chain employs a 14-way radial combiner with distributed-drive control (DDC) to achieve high efficiency and precise phase alignment across all output paths.
The SSPA operates with an input power supply of +28V. It accepts RFDC input of 10dBm and amplifies it to 57dBm. This received signal is first amplified by the driver amplifier module, raising the level to 39dBm.
Drain and gate bias voltages required by the driver are generated by the piggy-back power module, which itself is powered by the central controller board. The driver output is distributed to a 14-way power divider. Each divider port drives an individual power-amplifier module, which provides the final stage of amplification.
The power-amplifier modules receive their bias voltages from a second piggy-back module. The power for the second piggy-back module is also supplied by the controller board. The outputs of all the 14 amplifier sare recombined in a 14-way power combiner, delivering an overall RFpower of 500W.
Key Features
- Distributed-Drive Control (DDC) for precise bias regulation for each amplifier channel
- 14-way radial combiner / divider architecture ensures uniform power distribution and phase coherence
- Pulsed output power of 500W in Ku-band frequency range
- Modular piggy-back power supplies simplify voltage distribution and improve fault isolation
- Centralized control via a controller board enables unified monitoring and configuration
- High linearity with driver output stability of ±1dBm
- Compact form factor suited for space-constrained airborne or satellitepayloads