NMIC CIRCULATOR FOR SPACECRAFT DATA TRANSFER APPLICATIONS

TO REALIZE THE FULL POTENTIAL OF THE MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (MMIC) TECHNOLOGY, IT IS NECESSARY TO DEVELOP MMIC-COMPATIBLE CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGIES FOR NON-RECIPROCAL CIRCUIT FUNCTIONS. BASED ON DEMONSTRATED CAPABILITIES OF ACTIVE MMIC CIRCULATORS OPERATING IN MICROWAVE FREQUENCIES, THIS PROJECT WILL EXTEND DESIGN CAPABILITIES UP TO K-AND KA-BAND FREQUENCIES. AVAILABILITY OF MMIC CIRCULATORS WILL LEAD TO A HIGHER SCALE OF INTEGRATION, WITH ATTENDANT SIZE REDUCTION, WEIGHT REDUCTION, AND RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENT FOR THE TOTAL RF EQUIPMENT. PHASE I WILL ESTABLISH THE DESIGN APPROACH AND EXPECTED RF PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF K-BAND CIRCULATORS AND PROVIDE A BASELINE FOR PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONIN PHASE II. TO REALIZE THE FULL POTENTIAL OF THE MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (MMIC) TECHNOLOGY, IT IS NECESSARY TO DEVELOP MMIC-COMPATIBLE CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGIES FOR NON-RECIPROCAL CIRCUIT FUNCTIONS. BASED ON DEMONSTRATED CAPABILITIES OF ACTIVE MMIC CIRCULATORS OPERATING IN MICROWAVE FREQUENCIES, THIS PROJECT WILL EXTEND DESIGN CAPABILITIES UP TO K-AND KA-BAND FREQUENCIES. AVAILABILITY OF MMIC CIRCULATORS WILL LEAD TO A HIGHER SCALE OF INTEGRATION, WITH ATTENDANT SIZE REDUCTION, WEIGHT REDUCTION, AND RELIABILITY IMPROVEMENT FOR THE TOTAL RF EQUIPMENT. PHASE I WILL ESTABLISH THE DESIGN APPROACH AND EXPECTED RF PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF K-BAND CIRCULATORS AND PROVIDE A BASELINE FOR PRODUCT DEMONSTRATIONIN PHASE II.