Filtronic, a designer and manufacturer of RF-to-mmWave components and subsystems announced the launch of the Hades range of active diplexers, designed to enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to manufacture cost-effective E-band radios with significantly increased RF performance, for use in military or commercial telecommunications applications, including airborne and High Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS).
The active E-band mmWave diplexers operate over the 71–76 GHz and 81–86 GHz bands, and offer a range of configurable options integrating high power amplifiers (PAs) and low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), thus reducing size and weight compared with discrete components. Their low overall SWAP (size, weight, and power) makes them ideal for airborne and HAPS applications.
Active diplexers can be used in conjunction with a wide range of commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) surface mount-compatible packaged upconverters and downconverters. This provides enhanced performance compared with using surface mount products and allows versatility in the deployment of configurable E-band links with different power levels.
The integral PAs have saturated transmitter (Tx) power output levels up to more than +30 dBm, and incorporate a Tx RF power detector to facilitate power calibration and automatic level control (ALC). The LNAs have a receiver (Rx) noise figure of less than 4 dB. With a typical output IP3 at +20 dBm of +31 dBm, the high linearity of the units is capable of supporting modulation formats up to 1024 QAM to facilitate very high data rates.
Where specified, the modules can be supplied with full calibration of transmitter power/frequency and receiver gain characteristics, stored on an integrated I2C EEPROM. An integrated temperature sensor also provides users with accurate amplifier temperature data.
A wide range of configuration options is available for the Hades diplexers, which can be specified to integrate either GaAs or InP amplifiers as required, in either or both of the Tx and Rx chains. There is also the option to combine two GaAs PAs to give a higher linear Tx power for long-range terrestrial and non-terrestrial E-band communications links. Furthermore, the WR12 port locations and directions can be customized upon request.
“The Hades range of active mmWave diplexers features multiple configuration options to optimize them for a range of demanding commercial and military communications applications,” said Dan Rhodes, Director of Business Development for mmWave Technology at Filtronic. “The high power, linearity, and low SWAP mean that they deliver unparalleled performance in E-band links for HAPS systems as well as in many terrestrial use cases.”
Filtronic showcased its diplexers at the IMS 2022 event in Denver, Colorado last week. Check out everything RF's coverage of the IMS 2022 event.
