Time-Domain Envelope Measurements and Simulations of Pulse-to-Pulse Stability in Microwave Power Amplifiers

Julien Delprato (1) , Denis Barataud (1) , Michel Campovecchio (2) , Guillaume Neveux (1) , Clément Tolant (3) , Philippe Eudeline (4)

1 XLIM-C2S2 - C2S2
2 XLIM - XLIM
3 Advanced Studises
4 Thales Air Systems

his paper presents a new measurement system based on heterodyne receiver to characterize the impact of irregular pulsed signals on the pulse-to-pulse (P2P) stability of microwave power amplifiers. The aim of this work is to provide a way of identifying the key design parameters and specifications of power amplifiers, such as thermal management, which have a critical impact on P2P stability. This paper is focused on the impact of thermal effects by applying a worst-case radar waveform that integrates a long silence (i.e. off-time) between each sequence of periodic bursts of pulses. Time-domain envelope measurements and simulations of P2P stability are compared for a 10W S-band GaN HEMT amplifier, with particular regard to thermal time constants of the nonlinear electro-thermal model.

Domaines: Electronique

Julien Delprato, Denis Barataud, Michel Campovecchio, Guillaume Neveux, Clément Tolant, et al.. Time-Domain Envelope Measurements and Simulations of Pulse-to-Pulse Stability in Microwave Power Amplifiers. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium (IMS) on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Jun 2014, Tampa, FL, United States. pp. 1-4, ⟨10.1109/MWSYM.2014.6848335⟩. ⟨hal-01066781⟩