Description
Objective: The objective of the activity is to develop, manufacture and test a breadboard of a L- and C-band configurable power amplifier to enable dual band operation of avionic terminals. It shall demonstrate 200W peak power per channel and a 10dB dynamic rangewith a constant average power added efficiency of at least 50% for both bands, without compromising linearity performance. The breadboard shall include driver, main and peak amplifier, matching circuits and digital pre-distortion sub-circuits. Targeted Improvements:- Enabling dual band operation of avionic terminals;- Increase of peak power level of 200 W per channel compared to the state ofthe art of 65W for single avionic terminals. Description: Currently avionics terminals use multiple amplifiers and different platforms serving multiple frequency bands and waveforms. This practice requires maintenance of a large inventory as well as significant Capex and Opex costs. Instead, aircraft manufacturers require all frequency bands and multiple channels combined in a single amplifier with a single software defined radio terminal for most aircraft types. Single-carrier amplifiers with power-added efficiency levels greater than 50% -while amplifying waveforms with 6-dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) value- are now achievable with peak power levels of up to 65W. However, amplifiers that can accommodate the demands of aircraft manufacturers will be required to provide multi-band, multi-carrier operation from L- to C-band with 10-dB power dynamic range while maintaining high power added efficiency (PAE) with high linearity. Such amplifiers will also have to support peak power levels in excess of 200 Watts. Appealing techniques such as multi-band impedance transformers for Doherty amplifiers, Class-J amplification, asymmetrical and/or multi-level Doherty architectures, broadband matching, dynamic operating point etc. are well proven in theory and have been demonstrated by various research papers. This activity will study modern broadband, high dynamic range amplification techniques including, but not limited to the examples given above to achieve a multi-band, multi-platform, multi-carrier HPA that can operate in at least L- and C-bands with a minimum of two carriers in each band. The investigation shall include configurability aspects to achieve multi-band operation with a minimum of 10-dB power dynamic range, and pre-distortion linearisation techniques. Various simultaneous traffic scenarios and carrier duty cycles in each of these frequency bands will be examined. Based on the outcome of the preliminary study, the activity shall develop and demonstrate a L- and C-band linearised HPA that can support up to four carriers (two in each band) with >50% PAE under all operating conditions, and 200W peak power while amplifying signals with a combined PAPR of up to 12-dB. The HPA implementation shall include detailed thermal design to achieve passive cooling and high reliability under all avionics operating conditions. footnote: On Delegation Request (formerly called Priority 2) activities will only be initiated on the explicit request of at least one NationalDelegation. Procurement Policy: C(2) = A relevant participation (in terms of quality and quantity) of non-primes (incl. SMEs) is required. For additional information please go to EMITS news "Industrial Policy measures for non-primes, SMEs and RD entities in ESAprogrammes".