A new generation of S-band solid state 16 kW transmitter for ATC primary radar

Abstract

The solid state transmitters have found wide applications in radars because of their high reliability, maintainability, low life cycle costs, the enhanced MTI improvement factor and the convenient waveform design. The present solid state transmitters operate on L-band or lower in general. With the development of microwave solid state power transistor, the S-band solid state transistor with output power up to 100 W has been developed, which makes it possible to develop the S-band solid state transmitter with kilowatt output peak power. This paper presents the development of a 16 kW solid slate transmitter for modern surveillance, air traffic control radar applications. It operates at 2.7-2.9 GHz, with a pulse width of 100 /spl mu/s and 10% duty cycle. Its 16 kW peak power is achieved by combining thirty-two 600 W high power amplifier modules using a low loss combiner.