Empower RF has developed a unique scalable, liquid-cooled solid-state power amplifier (SSPA) platform for mission critical applications. It is based on a unique design architecture that yields unprecedented performance and scalability for liquid-cooled SSPA’s delivering hundreds of kilowatts of pulse and CW power. Based on the power level required, amplifier building blocks can be added or removed (hot swappable) to the system. This breakthrough design has been developed using both LDMOS and GaN on SiC devices for user applications that include EW, Radar, Directed Energy, SATCOM, EMC and RF Product Testing.
Each amplifier “building block” is fully “hot swappable” and includes an integrated power supply in its 2U chassis. This arrangement improves pulse droop performance while eliminating the risk of a single power supply failure taking the entire amplifier offline. Narrow and broadband configurations are available for CW or Pulsed requirements. The architecture is the same regardless of frequency – RF configurations driven by output power requirements. You can increase output power to an existing amplifier by adding 2U amplifier building blocks (in even numbers) or adding additional complete racks.
Empower’s Next Generation liquid cooled amplifier is designed to stay ahead of the increasing complexities of the signal environment. The combination of embedded firmware, software, and real time processing/control allows for maximum flexibility and operation in any application. This single architecture is capable of user selectable multimode operation and can by dynamically configured. CW Amplifiers offer the same pulse performance as our pulsed amplifiers with no limit on duty cycle and the Pulsed amplifiers allow CW operation 7dB below rated peak power.
The SSPA allows the user to also select the required output power control parameters (automatic gain control (AGC), automatic level control (ALC)), signal modulation schemes (CDMA, FSK, QPSK, OFDM), and input/output power type (CW, RMS, peak) to cater to their needs.
Key Features of this Liquid Cooled Solid-State Amplifier System
- Liquid Cooled Scalable Power Architecture in CW or Pulse Configurations
- No Single Point of RF active device Failure
- Distributed Power Supplies
- Full Frontal “on air” Hot Swapping
- Only Fractional System Spares Needed for Complete Back up System
- System will Remain Operational and “On the Air” with Graceful Power Degradation in the Event of an RF Component Failure or High VSWR Condition
- Asymmetrical and Random Pulse Width and Duty Cycle Operation
- Short and Long Pulse Capabilities - 200ns up to 500 µs
- Full Digital Peak and RMS Detection for Accurate Metering
- No External Cabling, Full Back Plane Implementation Ensures electromagnetic compatibility
- Ethernet Rapid Spanning Tree Architecture for Network Redundancy
- Performance Monitoring and Systems Reporting – Current, Voltage, Temperature down to the Pallet and Device Level
- Continuous BIT, Down to the Device Level
- Each 2U Amplifier “Building Block” is Digitally Set for Phase and Gain
Scalable Upgrade Paths Planning for an Uncertain Future
This scalable RF Power Amplification solution offer an affordable upgrade path for future power needs by adding hardware to an existing system. This platform provides three levels of scalability which can be exercised independently or in any combination:
- Increased number of 2U amplifier drawers per rack
- Increase number of racks
- Increase the amplifier’s duty cycle for pulsed systems - consult factory
Click here to view these liquid-cooled solid-state power amplifiers solutions on everything RF.
