Enabling Deep Space Radar with EM Simulation

An upgrade to the Haystack Ultra-Wideband Satellite Imaging Radar (HUSIR) with a fifty-fold peak power increase is underway utilizing a vacuum power electron device for the W-band transmitter amplifier. This 17-dB sensitivity increase will extend the range of HUSIR capability to geosynchronous orbits (GEO). A single Communications and Power Industries (CPI) Gyrotron Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) design is expected to deliver 50-kilowatt peak power over the 92–100 GHz HUSIR bandwidth. A Raytheon Technologies solid-state amplifier will combine over 100 monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) devices to provide 100 watt peak power input for the GyroTWT. Modifications for the HUSIR radar transmitter, antenna feed, and transmit path are underway to accommodate the anticipated power increase. This paper highlights the contributions of EM modeling and simulation to this challenging development effort.