HIGH EFFICIENCY LOW COST GAAS MONOLITHIC RF MODULE FOR SARSAT DISTRESS BEACONS

WORLD-WIDE DEPLOYMENT AND WIDESPREAD USE OF THE SARSAT RESCUE SYSTEM DEPENDS CRITICALLY ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF HIGH PERFORMANCE LOW COST BEACONS. MICROWAVE MONOLITHICS INC. (MMINC.) HAS RECENTLY DEMONSTRATED HIGH EFFICIENCY GAAS POWER FETS WITH EXTREMELY LOW STAND BY POWER CONSUMPTION. GAAS INTEGRATED POWER CIRCUITS BASED ON THESE DEVICES WOULD RESULT IN MINIMAL BATTERY DRAIN WHILE PROVIDING EXCELLENT RF PERFORMANCE. THEREFORE MMINC. PROPOSES TO PARTITION THE 406 MHZ SARSAT BEACON BETWEEN GAAS AND SILICON INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, WITH THE OBJECTIVES OF OPTIMIZING OVERALL SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE AND MINIMIZING OVERALL SYSTEMS COSTS BY UTILIZING THE OPTIMUM TECHNOLOGY FOR EACH CIRCUIT FUNCTION. MMINC. WILL THEN DESIGN, FABRICATE, AND CHARACTERIZE THE GAAS PORTIONS OF THE BEACON. GAAS MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (MMICS) OPERATING AT FREQUENCIES WELL BELOW THEIR PERFORMANCE LIMITSARE EXPECTED TO RESULT IN HIGH YIELD DUE TO RELAXED GEOMETRIES. IN PROGRAM PHASE I SYSTEMS PARTITIONING, CIRCUIT DESIGN, COMPONENT PERFORMANCE ESTIMATES, PRELIMINARY LAYOUTS, AND INITIAL PRODUCTION COST ESTIMATES WILL BE COMPLETED. FABRICATION, CHARACTERIZATION, AND OPTIMIZATION OF THE GAAS COMPONENT PARTS WILL THEN BE COMPLETED IN PROGRAM PHASE II.