GaN Pallet Amp Drives 350 W At S-Band

M/A-COM Technology Solutions is coming north to Montreal to unveil several new products at the 2012 IMS, including solutions for wireless backhaul, cable-television (CATV), optical communications, and aerospace/defense applications. Visitors to booth No. 815 can examine a compact "smart" pallet amplifier with control and monitoring functions for enhanced reliability. The gallium nitride (GaN) amplifier is capable of delivering 350 W output power at S-band frequencies (typically 2 to 4 GHz) with over 60% drain efficiency for air-traffic-control radar applications. Additional products on display at IMS include a "SmartSet" chipset for 42-GHz point-to-point wireless backhaul communications links, with a 1-W transmit power amplifier with 22-dB gain and +38-dBm output third-order-intercept point. Also of note is an S-band switch limiter capable of handling 125 W power with low insertion loss for radar receiver protection.