Flexible TWT Amplifier For Space Applications

Frederic Andre, Remi Pasdeloup, Hans-Peter Rothacker

Thales Electron Devices

INTRODUCTION the EPC can be tuned by mean of external

straps during payload integration.
The range of travelling wave tubes (TWT) for
space telecommunication has greatly Finally in orbit flexibility will enable to adapt
increased over the last decade. TWTs are now the power to the traffic, make up for
available in L and S band for digital radio temporary rain fading, optimize the redundant
broadcasting, C band for fixed service TWTAs, and reconfigure the satellite mission
satellite, X band for military and space probe if needed. Of course it requires a remote
systems, Ku band for digital TV, K band for control for both the EPC, the channel
broadband transmission and Ka band for new amplifier (CAMP) and the linearizer (LIN).
space probe communications. So the total
frequency range extends from 1.5 up to 32 Flexible TWT are now made available by
GHZ. TED and flexibility on the ground will be
analyzed here. In flight flexibility can be
The output power range is 1OW to 200W proposed in a near future at the advantage of
This power and the number of transponders is the satellite systems.
selected for the ETRP needed by the system,
the available DC power on board the satellite POWER FLEXIBILmY
and its dissipation capability
Power flexibility means that the saturated
In many cases this power is not known with power of a TWT can be reduced by lowering
precision For example the power can be its beam current The advantage of doing this
modified during the design of the system to over using the TWT in back-off is that the DC
satisfy new marketing requirements or consumption is reduced For example, a TWT
accommodate technological modifications So in Ku band with 130W of saturated power
it would save a significant time in the needs 135W of DC power when operated at
procurement if the TWT could be ordered halfi its saturated power (65W) The same
before the exact RF power is known and to set TWT tuned at 65W of saturated power draws
it just before integration with the electric
power conditioner (EPC) This is a first kind
i
on1 loow, a significant saving of 35W
More power can be saved if the collector
1
of flexibility on the ground described iq & voltages are further depressed at lower power
paper
Side effects of reducing the beam current are
Another kind of power flexibility would be to a gain reduction of 5 dB per dB of RF power
select each individual RF power of the TWTA (see fig 1 as an example in K band) and in
according to its physical implantation in the case of broadband operation a slope in the RF
satellite payload Indeed some TWTAs may power response versus frequency will appear
be followed by a longer waveguide path and
thus require some extra power Since the
position in not known, this margin is
provisioned on all TWTA and the payload is
not optimized Ground flexibility would be
also a solution to this problem provided that

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 16 EPC partially compensate this effect: the EPC
14 generates a constant voltage to heat the
F 12 cathode. When the cathode tuns warmer, its
!lo
filament resistance increase and so the heater
8 8
& 6 power decreases. This self-regulation effect
-
z 4 maintains the cathode temperature within a
1
m 2 few degrees. From the reliability side, the
0
TWT is designed for any operation between
-2, , , . . , , I . I I I I I

no-drive up to saturation and also can sustain

40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53
Saturated Ouput Power (dBm) ON/OFF cycle. Since operation at reduced
power is between these two limits, there is no
Figure 1: TWT with reduced RF power impact on the reliability related to thermo-
requires more input power to saturate mechanical stress. Finally the anode and
collector voltages remain within the
TWT TECHNOLOGY qualification limits of the TWT.

The beam current is controlled by the voltage EPC TECHNOLOGY

of one electrode in the electron gun called
anode zero. This voltage is expressed with All commercial EPCs use a stack of
respect to the cathode voltage. Its nominal transformers to generate the collector and
value is typically 60 to 75% of the cathode cathode voltages. This stack is attached to the
voltage. Figure 2 is an example of the ground through a transistor to precisely
variation of this anode voltage with the regulate the cathode voltage. In case collector
saturated power on the same K band TWT. voltage reduction is wanted to maintain the
highest possible efficiency, primary voltage in
BOO0
the transformer can be reduced resulting in a
56W drop of all voltages applied to the TWT with
3 5203 the same ratio. Then, the regulator can be
e
U 4400
4800
used to re-optimise the cathode voltage,
.a
e 4000
3600 The impact of flexibility on the efficiency for
J 32W a single EPC collector adjustment
4‘ 28W
2400
(proportional tuning of all collector to cathode
20w ratios) is given in figure 3 ,
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

Sat RF power ( d h )

Figure 2: anode voltage decrease for 3 d B

flexibility is 1400V on a K band TWT

The flexibility is possible thanks to the so

called “high anode voltage” now introduced
# 46
44
on most TWTs from TED This features 42
40
enables the electron beam to remain focused 40 42 44 4s 48 w 52
when the current is reduced. Saturated Power(dBm)

The flexibility neither impacts the TWT life

time nor its reliability. The decrease of the Figure 3: Overall electrical efficiency of a
beam current tends to slightly overheat the K band TWT with optimized collector
cathode by 10°C because of the reduced voltage (constant ratio)
cooling effect related to the electron
extraction from the cathode surface. But the
low impedance of the heater circuit in the

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 The anode circuitry in the EPC is independent GROUND FLEXIBILITY RESULTS
of the transformer stack and can be designed
to accommodate the larger range required for TED delivered TWTs for ground flexibility in
flexibility. Ku band. The TWTs were tuned at the
maximum power of 140W and checked at the
The impact of the flexibility on the non linear minimum power of 90W before delivery to
behaviour of the TWT is moderate (figure 4 the customer. The customer was free to
and S ) , a few tenths of dE3 on the gain choose the RF power between these two
compression and +/-So on the phase shift limits just before integration with the EPC
curves. So the simpler approach of a non and the C A M P .
tuneable linearizer could lead to acceptable
linearity performances. Nevertheless, a Each TWT could be tuned either for the lower
commendable linearizer is envisioned for the or the higher range of the Ku band (10.95-
best linearity at all power levels. 12.75 GHz) and from 90 to 140W. The
collector voltages were optimized with the
constant ratio constraint.

The average performances on the program are

given i table 1:

Lower Band Higher Band

10.95- 12 GHz 11.7 - 12.75 GHz

RF power = 96.8W RF power = 94.8W

1" Efficiency = 63.4% Efficiency = 63.5%
90W
K. voltage = 5980V K. voltage = 5820V
Figure 4: The impact of flexibility on the Phase shift = 40.3O Phase shift = 39.7'
gain compression of this K band TWT is
negligible
RF power = 146W RF power = 144W
Efficiency = 66.9% Efficiency = 66.8%
140W
K. voltage = 5980V K. voltage = 5820V
Phase shift = 42.6O Phase shift = 42.6O
20

f 0' Table 1: Main parameters of a flexible

40 TWT in Ku band
so

60
15 ?I $312 $ 1 $0 B > 8 5 4 1 2 I 0 I 2 3 4 I 0
CONCLUSION
l"

TED is offering TWTs with power flexibility.

Figure 5: Impact of the flexibility on the This flexibility is a solution to decrease the
phase shift of a K band TWT procurement time of the TWT/TWTA, to
optimize the payload consumption and can
CAMP AND LINEARIZER
TECHNOLOGY even be used in orbit to satisfy trafic peaks or
overcome temporary rain fading for example.
Standard CAMPS already include
commendable attenuator which can be used to Ground flexibility is available today while
recover the gain lost by the flexible TWT. flexibility with strap or in flight will require
The medium power amplifier of the C A M P modifications of the EPC.
need to deliver some extra power and will be
designed accordingly. A flexibility of 2 to 3 dB in power has an
acceptable impact on the efficiency (3 to 4%)
and flexibility up to I O dB can he achieved.

50

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