Dual Channel C-Band Solid State Power Amplifier for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This paper presents the architecture of a Dual Channel C-Band Solid State Power Amplifier (SSPA) for a Dual-mode and Multi carrier operation with integrated monitor and control sections for airborne applications such as data communication link for medium altitude long endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). This paper details about the ability of the SSPA to independently amplify two carrier signals simultaneously with different gains using high power GaN devices at the final amplifying stage and then combining them using a directional coupler to radiate both amplified signals from a single Antenna. In this design a micro-controller based monitor and control circuitry is used to provide protection against High temperature, High output VSWR, Input Over drive and Input over-voltage. This SSPA operates in the C band for a single 28V DC supply while delivering greater than 41.5dBm linear power and gain greater than 45dB. This module is realized on a 10 layer hybrid PCB using PTFE and FR4 laminates without compromising on performance.