Combiners/dividers systems of solid-state transmitting devices of modern radar systems

Abstract

One of the most important components of the radar system, which determines its potential characteristics, is the transmitting device. It is known that the advantage of constructing transmitting devices based on the principle of coherent summation of the power of solid-state amplifier modules is that they allow obtaining the required output power level and ensuring the operation of the radar in the "smooth failure" mode with the possibility of prompt replacement of faulty amplifier modules during operation. At the same time, an urgent task is to increase the output power level of the transmitting device by reducing losses in its microwave path, caused by the spread of the amplitudes and phases of the summed signals. This article provides a brief overview of materials from open Russian and foreign sources on methods for summing the power of microwave oscillations, as well as possible ways to implement combiners/dividers of power of solid-state amplifying modules, on the basis of which the output stages of transmitting devices of modern radar systems are built. The advantages and disadvantages of Wilkinson combiners, waveguide traveling wave combiners, as well as problems arising in their development are discussed. The main issues related to increasing the efficiency when summing the power of several amplifying modules of the same type of the transmitting device are considered. It is shown that the choice of the summation/division scheme and its constructive implementation are determined by the range of operating frequencies, the output pulse and average power of the transmitting device, and the permissible weight and dimensions. The rationality of methods for obtaining the required output power in each specific case is analyzed, including the most promising ones based on special correction schemes that reduce the phase errors of the distribution-summing system.