Applications of high efficiency techniques to the design of RF power amplifier and amplifier control circuits in tactical radio equipment

When plans were first developed for a new multi-band, multi-function tactical manpack radio, it soon became obvious that goals for transmit power were at risk because of the power requirement of the rest of the radio and battery limitations. This paper focuses on a particular approach to the transmitter circuits. System level performance comparisons are made based on results for the actual power amplifier (or PA) design, and estimated for a more traditional PA approach. This new radio with multi-band (low and high VHF, and UHF), multi-mode (AM, FM) capability coupled with the existing products embedded communication security (COMSEC), offers the end user a single radio alternative to existing multiple radio solutions.