MINIATURE HIGH EFFICIENCY 40 WATT MONOLITHIC GAAS POWER MODULE

A THREE PHASE PROGRAM IS PROPOSED BY MICROWAVE MONOLITHICS INCORPORATED (MMINC.), WITH TEXTRON DEFENSE SYSTEMS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CENTER (TEXTRON) AS SUBCONTRACTOR, TO DEVELOP A MINIATURE 40 WATT (20 WATT PER POLARIZATION) HIGH EFFICIENCY C-BAND GAAS MMIC BASED POWER AMPLIFIER FOR RE-ENTRY VEHICLE APPLICATIONS. IN PROGRAM PHASE I, EXISTING PROPRIETARY HIGH EFFICIENCY MMIC COMPATIBLE GAAS FETS WILL BE CHARACTERIZED FOR THE UNIQUE REQUIREMENTS OF RE-ENTRY VEHICLE SYSTEMS AND, BASED ON THESE RESULTS AND AN EVALUATION OF DECOY, JAMMING, AND MASKING SYSTEMS REQUIREMENTS, A DETAILED DEVELOPMENT PLAN WILL BE GENERATED FOR THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THESE AMPLIFIERS. PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF THE INITIAL CIRCUITRY IDENTIFIED IN THIS PLAN, COMPLETE WITH PERFORMANCE ESTIMATES, WILL CONCLUDE PROGRAM PHASE I. FABRICATION, CHARACTERIZATION, OPTIMIZATION, RELIABILITY TESTING, AND PACKAGING IN PREPARATION OF A FLYABLE MODEL WILL THEN FOLLOW IN PHASE II AND III. THE HIGH EFFICIENCY AND LOW STANDBY POWER OF THESE AMPLIFIERS WILL BE CRUCIAL TO THE SUCCESS OF NEXT GENERATION RE-ENTRY VEHICLES. DEPENDING ON THE SCOPY OF PROGRAM PHASE III, TEXTRON COULD EVOLVE INTO THE PRIME CONTRACTOR POSITION AS SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION BASED ON THE PROPOSED WIDEBAND MMICS BECOME THE MAJOR PROGRAM ACTIVITY.