The traveling-wave tube in the history of telecommunication

Abstract

equipe turbulence plasma, case 322 campus Saint Jérôme, av. esc. Normandie-Niemen,The traveling-wave tube is a critical subsystem for satellite data transmission. Its role in the history of wireless communications and in the space conquest is significant, but largely ignored, even though the device remains widely used nowadays. This paper present, albeit non-exhaustively, circumstances and contexts that led to its invention, and its part in the worldwide (in particular in Europe) expansion of TV broadcasting via microwave radiorelays and satellites. We also discuss its actual contribution to space applications and its conception. The originality of this paper comes from the wide period covered (from first slow-wave structures in 1889 to present space projects) and from connection points made between this device and commercial exploitations. The appendix deals with an intuitive pedagogical description of the wave-particle interaction. PACS numbers: 01.65.+g (History of science), 84.40.Fe (Microwave tubes), 52.40.Mj (Particle beam interaction in plasmas)

Millimeter wave traveling wave tubes for the 21st Century

“…Although the TWT was invented by Kompfner in 1942, this device remains an integral constituent of satellite communication systems, electronic countermeasures, and radar systems [7][8][9][10][11]. The success of TWTs can be attributed to their wide instantaneous bandwidth (greater than three octaves have been achieved in some devices), high gain (up to 70 dB), and light weight (typically 2-200 lbs.).…”

Recent discrete model for small-signal analysis of traveling-wave tubes

“…Traveling-wave tubes (TWTs) are a family of vacuum electron devices, mostly used as microwave power amplifier for radars, electronic warfare and telecommunications since the 1950s, including the majority of space communications since the 1960s [11]. Their main features, compared to other power amplifiers, are their large bandwidth and their excellent power efficiency.…”

“…Variables V c,b,0 and I c,b,0 are the potential and current for the circuit, beam and cathode (dc beam) respectively. V s n and I s n are the temporal variables for electromagnetic circuit fields (see eqs (29) and (30) Developments leading to eqs (4) and (11) below are similar to those leading to Louisell's coupled wave system [22] and to the classical analysis by Gilmour [13]. We reformulate them to facilitate the comparison with the discrete model analysis and keep our paper self-contained.…”

“…The interaction of electromagnetic waves and particle beams is an important physical issue in many respects. It relates with foundational aspects of electrodynamics [1,2], with basic processes in plasmas and accelerators [3][4][5][6][7], as well as with the development of instruments [8] and with industrial applications such as vacuum electronic devices [9][10][11]. A fully detailed description of this interaction is challenging, because the fields are by definition functions of both space and time, while the many particles require equally many position and velocity variables.…”

DIMOHA: A Time-Domain Algorithm for Traveling-Wave Tube Simulations

“…Nowadays, simulating traveling-wave tubes [1] (TWTs) is still a challenge due to the large number of parameters involved and because, in nonlinear regime, the large power of high frequency TWTs and their broad band spectrum generate critical instabilities. The physical process at the heart of the device is the wave-particle interaction, whereby electrons transfer their momentum to amplify telecommunication signals, as, e.g., an inverse Landau damping: synchronization [2] occurs when the phase velocity of the wave (determined by the tube geometry) is close to the particles speed.…”