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StatusOngoing
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Status date2011-04-04
The objective of the project is to develop C and Ku band RF units and to perform the associated industrialisation activities in order to improve the technical and cost competitiveness of units in the following product lines:
- Front end units (Receivers , Down Converters),
- LCAMP and C-band SSPAs,
- Filters,
- TTC Receivers.
Front End Units:
The main objective of this study was to complete the competitiveness efforts of already existing Front End Units product family with the C band Units family.
The major key issue was the completion of the development C Band Macro-hybrid module which performs most of the RF performances. Together with this new RF module development , the LO and DC/DC modules have been updated to improve productivity and costs. The whole product family will take benefits of the improvements achieved on theses common modules.
A fully qualified C Band EQM has demonstrated all the expected improvements.
A fully qualified Ku Band Receiver EQM was also manufactured and tested.
All these improvements are also available for the whole product family, from C to Ku Band and for Receiver, Down Converter and Up Converters.
LCAMP:
First, the main objective of this study was to improve competitiveness of already existing CAMP product family. To this end, one of the major key issue was the completion of the development of the improved linearizer and its industrialization. Indeed, a first version has been embarked on the Artes 3 Flexible LCAMP EQM in Ku band but this version was not cost effective enough to be proposed on a large market. As a consequence, a huge work had to be done in the frame of Artes 4 to clear this issue, which has been achieved successfully.
Second, this study also aimed to prepare the future with preliminary works on the CAMP New Generation. This topic is also particularly critical since it will steer the technological orientation for the future generation that will determine our market share for the future.
The main benefits associated to the Ku-band EQM are:
- Generalization of the improved linearizer development to the C-band,
- Qualification of the LCAMP/LCAMP stack configuration for RUBI interfaces in C-band,
- Recurring cost reduction,
- Qualification of the New Rubi Interface Generic TMTC Module.
SSPA:
The new HPA module has been designed to offer the best compromise as regards to power added efficiency, output power, and the frequency bandwidth.
This new HPA module has been developed using power devices available on the open market and in the same micro-package as the present design, so this will avoid the need of a qualification at equipment level.
By developing a new generation of HPA module with improved efficiency, we will achieve to up-grade the present product to reach efficiency higher than 40% at SSPA level.
Filter:
Achieve significant mass and footprint reduction along with high power handling capabilities of the Vertical OMUX.
Achieve huge mass saving along with high power handling capability of an aluminum thermo-compensated manifold.
Compatibility of the 5-6 poles filter concept with vertical OMUX mechanical architecture.
The development effort is focused on 3 main parts of the receiver:
- RF section size and mass reduction using the same technology already developed for the Ku Band receiver.
- The Local Oscillator section which uses the same architecture than the already qualified Ku band product but with technological and industrial improvements allowing overall cost reduction.
- The DC/DC section is also modified to cope with the new RF section and with the modified LO. Cost and productivity have also been improved.
Thanks to the modular architecture, the LO and DC/DC modules developed in the frame of the C Band receiver have been directly implemented in the modified Ku Band receiver. The new products have a modular and flexible architectures allowing easy adaptation to major primes platforms specification.
Main Performances:
| Typical | Guaranteed | |
| Noise Figure (dB) | 1.6 @+65°C | 1.7 @+65°C |
| Gain Range (dB) | 55 to 70 | 55 to 65 |
| In-Band Spurious (dBc) | -65 | -60 |
| Frequency Stability (ppm) | +/- 2 | +/- 3 |
| Qual Temp Range (°C) | -25°C to 71°C | -10 to +65°C |
| Mass | 545g | 550g |
| Power Consumption | <11.7W @ 25°C (Vacuum) | <12W @ 25°C (Vacuum) |
Ku Band Receiver: RXKU09 Model
RF section has been developed in 2004 with achieved strong mass and cost savings.
The development effort in the frame of this program is focused on 2 remaining parts of the receiver, and takes benefits of the synchronous development of the C band Receiver.
Main Performances:
| Typical | Guaranteed | |
| Noise Figure(dB) | 1.7 @+65°C | 1.8 @+65°C |
| Gain Range (dB) | 59 to 67 | 59 to 66 |
| In-Band Spurious (dBc) | -65 | -60 |
| Frequency Stability (ppm) | +/- 2 | +/- 3 |
| Qual Temp Range (°C) | -25°C to 71°C | -10 to +65°C |
| Mass | 620g | 630g |
| Power Consumption | <9.5W@ 25°C (Vacuum) | <10W @ 25°C (Vacuum) |
Features Continued...
C-band Flex LCAMP/LDLA (RUBI interface)
The development is focused on:
- Stacked structure version LCAMP/LCAMP compatible with RUBI protocol for Spacebus and Express market and qualified for 7 stacked LCAMP/LCAMP.
- Improvement of the manufacturing efficiency (removal of EMC RS filters and RF isolators without impact on the performances, RF ceramic feed-through, new MCM closing process).
- Interchangeability between Standard and Improved Linearizer without any design change.
Main Performances:
| LCAMP Parameters | Typical values |
| Maximum gain | > 62dB |
| Gain dynamic range | > 46dB |
| Gain Flatness | < 3dB over 500MHz |
| Power Consumption | < 4W |
| Qual Temp Range | -15°C to 65°C |
| L-TWTA Parameters | Improved Linearizer |
| C/I3 | 0.2 up to 0.8dB OBO improvement for identical linearity |
Main Objectives of the Project:
Improve competitiveness of already existing product families, Telecom receivers, Channel Amplifiers and Command receivers.
State of the art efficient OMUX D&D with huge improvements in Power Handling Capabilities together with mass and size savings.
C band Receiver:
Development of a new RF Front End using up to date technologies mastered by Thales-Alenia-Space.
Redesign of an improved LO Section suitable at least for all the Receiver Product Family Design and develop a new DC/DC section suitable at least for all the Receiver Product Family.
Command Receiver:
Improvement of the current generation product competitiveness by implementing cost effective solutions.
LCAMP:
- Improvement of manufacturing efficiency
- Interchangeability between Standard and Improved Linearizer
- Stacked structure version LCAMP/LCAMP
SSPA:
Development of an efficiency enhanced HPA module in order to improve the C-band SSPA performance. The development will include design, manufacturing and test of breadboard modules. In order to reach the efficiency target of 40% at SSPA level, the efficiency of the HPA module has to be better than 57 %.
Filter:
Design, development and qualification of a Vertical OMUX .
Design development and qualification of an aluminum thermo-compensated manifold .
Design and validation of 5-6 poles filter concept compatible to vertical OMUX mechanical architecture.
C band & ku band Receivers:
Ku Band telecom receiver has been fully tested with expected performances.
C Band telecom receiver has been fully tested with expected performance.
Command Receiver:
Qualification sequence of Command receiver is in progress, and soon finished.
LCAMP:
Ku-Band LCAMP EQM has been fully qualified with expected performances.
C-Band LCAMP EQM has been fully qualified with expected performances.
SSPA:
In the frame of this program, a new generation HPA module with improved efficiency and output power has been designed and characterized.
The enhanced efficiency HPA module delivers more than 22W of output power with an PAE higher than 57%.
This will result at SSPA level in an improved efficiency higher than 40% that will allow proposing a competitive C-band SSPA on the market.
Next activity will be to develop and qualify a C-band EQM SSPA based on this state-of-the-art HPA.
Filters:
Vertical Topology OMUX has been fully qualified and final review held.
Manifold compensated OMUX fully qualified and final review held.
5-6 poles filters tested and final review held.
C Band IMUX has been fully qualified and final review held.
OLPF has been fully qualified and final review held.
TTC Filter breadboard tested and final review held.