Advances in space TWT efficiencies

Komm, D.S.; Benton, R.T.; Limburg, H.C.; Menninger, W.L.; Zhai, Xiaoling

doi:10.1109/ove:ec.2000.847414

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…The EPC consists of several components including DC‐DC and DC‐Alternating Current (AC) converters, protection circuits, and telecommand‐telemetry circuits . The EPC directly interfaces with the satellite bus primary power and converts the satellite bus voltage to the necessary electrode voltage (kV DC) for the TWT . The EPC can supply thousands of volts of regulated power for stable TWT output power (minimizing the impact of effects such as intermittent power generation and thermal variation experienced during periods of sunlight and eclipse) .…”

Section: Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Approximately 70% of the total consumed power is converted into RF energy, and the remaining 30% is converted to waste heat. The largest fraction of waste heat is in the collector; therefore, one of the primary focuses for improving amplifier efficiency is to reduce this fraction . Passive thermal control including heat pipes and surfaces of high emissivity is used to dissipate the concentrated heat in the payload .…”

Section: Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The saturation power level and the amplifier operating point, in terms of output back off, must both be carefully engineered to minimize power consumption and IMD . IMD is not only an issue for TWTAs, but also for solid‐state devices (SSPAs) . Figure shows a schematic of two L‐3 Communications Electron Technologies, Inc., TWTA devices.…”

Section: Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, amplifier Direct Current (DC) to RF power conversion efficiency is of utmost importance. Increased efficiency decreases wasted power, which forms heat and directly affects thermal management, payload capability, and ultimately the spacecraft sizing and mass .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Communication satellite power amplifiers: current and future SSPA and TWTA technologies

Lohmeyer

Aniceto

Cahoy

2015

Int. J. Satell. Commun. Network.

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SUMMARYThis study captures the state of current satellite transponder technology, specifically, solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) and traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs), and describes expected future advances, including GaN SSPAs. The findings of five previous SSPA and TWTA studies, including the 1991 European Space and Technology Center study, the 1993 National Aeronautics and Space Administration study, and three Boeing studies conducted in 2005, 2008, and 2013, are tabulated and summarized. The results of these studies are then compared with new analyses of two validated sources of amplifier data: a commercially licensed database, Seradata's Spacetrak, and a publicly available database, Gunter's Space Page. The new analyses consider a total of 18,902 amplifiers (6428 TWTAs, 2158 SSPAs, and 10,316 unspecified amplifiers) onboard 565 communications satellites launched from 1982 to 2016. This new study contains the largest number of satellites and amplifiers to date and compares output power, redundancy, and bandwidth capabilities. We find an increase in output power from the 1993 study of >200% for Ku-band TWTAs and C-band SSPAs, and >1000% increase for C-band TWTAs. The ratio of operational to redundant amplifiers is 10 times higher for TWTAs than SSPAs, and the majority of amplifiers over the past 30 years operate with bandwidth less than 100 MHz. A second analysis is conducted using failure records and telemetry of 16 geostationary satellites equipped with 659 amplifiers: 535 SSPAs and 124 TWTAs. We find that <2% of TWTAs and 5% of SSPAs experience anomalies. Overall, this research was performed to update and clarify how the power and bandwidth needs and redundancy trends of the SatCom community have evolved over the past 30 years.

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Section: Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Communication satellite power amplifiers: current and future SSPA and TWTA technologies

Lohmeyer

Aniceto

Cahoy

2015

Int. J. Satell. Commun. Network.

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“…It is one of the most critical and expensive components of a satellite. In a typical satellite having 40 TWTs of 100 W RF output power each, the total reduction in launch cost of a satellite reported recently is about US $ 1,000,000 for improving TWT efficiency by 1 % [2]. This figure attract the researchers to work on different parameters to enhance the overall efficiency of the space TWT.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency enhancement of C-band, 60 W space traveling wave tube (TWT)

Gupta

Vohra

Srivastava

2008

2008 International Conference on Recent Advances in Microwave Theory and Applications

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GA‐based optimisation of the interaction structure of an X‐band helix travelling wave tube

Narasimhan

Srivastava

Ghosh

2018

IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation

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Genetic algorithm (GA) has been adopted for the optimisation of the slow wave structure (SWS) of an X‐band helix travelling wave tube. To reduce the optimisation time and to achieve the desired performance, a software code based on GA has been developed to automate the optimisation process of the helix SWS. A two‐section SWS has been optimised. The pitches and the lengths of all the subsections have been considered with the objective of achieving the desired saturated output power and the saturated gain over the operating frequency range. The procedure for the implementation of the GA has been demonstrated. Multiple trials have been conducted for achieving the most optimal set of parameters. The cost over several generations for all the trials is presented and the optimised values of the saturated output power and the saturated gain are also shown.

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Advances in space TWT efficiencies

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Communication satellite power amplifiers: current and future SSPA and TWTA technologies

Communication satellite power amplifiers: current and future SSPA and TWTA technologies

Efficiency enhancement of C-band, 60 W space traveling wave tube (TWT)

GA‐based optimisation of the interaction structure of an X‐band helix travelling wave tube

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