Computer Simulation of VLF Power Amplifiers under Reactive Loading

Recent efforts have been made to achieve substantially increased baud rates with the U. S. Navy's very low frequency (VLF) communication system. Because of the constraints imposed by existing transmitter and antenna structures it was necessary to reexamine the operation of every major system component. Each particular VLF transmitter was subjected to an extensive theoretical analysis followed by a detailed on-site measurement program. Following a review of three major systems, Cutler, Lualualei, and North West Cape, a sufficient body of data was available to substantiate the validity of the computer-simulated transmitter analysis presented here. With this method it is possibe to predict frequency-shift keying (FSK) and minimum shift keying (MSK) performance limitations for particular VLF transmitting systems based primarily on the 0 of the antenna at the operating frequency.