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In a similar way to how wireless technology is enabling new functionality and opportunities in civilian life, there are a wealth of military applications embracing, and being enhanced, by wireless technology. Unlike civilians, military operators require a much higher level of reliability and redundancy, as a few second gap in coverage for a military operator may mean a lot more than just a frustrating round of “can you hear me now”. This is why unmanned systems, including unmanned aerial systems (UAS), unmanned land systems (ULS), and unmanned naval systems (UNS), are becoming increasingly important as a tool for enhancing military mobile ad hoc networking (MANET).
In order for unmanned systems to serve multiple roles, these systems need high-speed and long-range communications link capability, as well as the ability to extend a wireless network. A key component of extending the useful range of high-speed data links is a bi-directional amplifier. With a bi-directional amplifier on board, an unmanned system can be deployed to extend a MANET or other wireless network far beyond a given radio’s range for both reception and transmission. Given the speed and mobility of unmanned systems, especially UAS, the network extension and enhancement capability of a bi-directional amplifier can be deployed dynamically to ensure critical networking infrastructure during operations.
A bi-directional amplifier for defense applications is very similar to a bi-directional amplifier for typical wireless networking, such as cellular and Wi-Fi networking systems. Important features of bi-directional amplifiers include high-linearity transmitters and low-noise receivers with high dynamic range. However, unmanned system applications have additional power efficiency, size, weight, and reliability requirements compared with typical wireless networking use cases.
A main driver of the specifications of a bi-directional amplifier for unmanned systems is the need to fit on a compact platform with limited power density that also needs any payload to be lightweight to reduce fuel consumption for propulsion. Given the power output requirements of defense systems, greater levels of isolation may also be required between transmitter and receiver circuitry. Hence, bi-directional amplifiers that use switching to isolate the transmitter and receiver circuitry may be needed as opposed to duplexers. In these cases, switching speed between the transmit and receive state is also an important consideration.
Bi-directional amplifiers for unmanned system defense applications also need to accommodate a wide range of signal types and modulation formats, which include 3G/4G/5G cellular telecommunications, wireless local access network (WLAN), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), digital video broadcasting (DVB), and AM/FM/PM. As the modulation and signal types of various defense networking technologies may need to change and adapt to present conditions, a bi-directional amplifier’s ability to support a wide range of signals is essential.
Unlike consumer and commercial grade systems, military-grade bi-directional amplifiers need to be extremely rugged while maintaining a low-weight and high compact footprint. Therefore, a bi-directional amplifier for unmanned systems is likely to be hermetically sealed in a metallic package with sophisticated thermal management technology to prevent environmental influences on the performance of the unit, as well as preventing overheating and degrading of the amplifier’s performance.
Key Applications of Military-Grade Bi-directional Amplifiers
• Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
• Unmanned Land Systems (ULS) or Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV)
• Unmanned Naval Systems (UNS)
• L- and S-band radar
• Military Radios
• Commercial air traffic control (ATF)
• Weather and earth observation stations
• Satellite Ground Stations
• High gain driver power amplifiers (PAs)
• Military ad hoc networking (MANET)
Learn more about Pasternack’s offering of Coaxial Packaged Bi-directional Amplifiers:
