70W C-band GaN solid state power amplifier for satellite use

70W C-band gallium nitride solid state power amplifier (GaN SSPA) was designed and manufactured for satellite use. GaN devices have been already used for various fields from lower frequency bands (L-band and S-band) such as ground station amplifier and radar system. For space application, expectation has been raised for replacing traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) with GaN SSPAs. Development result shows that, with an electrical power conditioner (EPC), the GaN SSPA achieved output power of 69.4W with power added efficiency (PAE) of 38.9%. Moreover, footprint and mass of this SSPA are much less than those of TWTA. Mitsubishi Electric TOKKI Systems (MELOS) shipped the 70W C-band GaN SSPA to the customer in 2013 for MELOS's first flight model.