An impressive list of speakers on microwave power amplifier technology has been assembled for the April ARMMS RF & Microwave Conference.
Radio frequency power amplifier technology is the focus of the next ARMMS RF & Microwave Conference to be held on the 22nd and 23rd 2013 of April at Milton Hill House, Steventon, UK. An impressive list of speakers on microwave power amplifier technology has been assembled by the programme co-ordinator John Walker of Integra Technologies.
Speakers from Cree will address amplifier design to 10 kW power levels and as high as 95 GHz in frequency. The company’s Ray Pengelly will introduce a newly developed six port model, which allows visualisation of the waveforms at the ports of the GaN HEMT transistor permitting optimum efficiency to be achieved by correctly terminating the harmonic frequencies.
Topics associated with PA technology are to be covered in detail. The fact that balanced amplifiers require some form of balun and co-axial cable baluns will be described by Steve Cripps of Cardiff University. An alternative balun using planar transmission lines will be addressed by Dominic FitzPatrick of PoweRFul Microwave. Also, by adding ferrite cores to the transmission lines the Spanish company Indra has produced a 50 W amplifier with almost two-decade bandwidth.
Simulation of amplifiers will also be an important topic. Speakers from Cantabria University in Spain will show how the auxiliary generator technique can improve numerical modelling of non-linear circuits and the speaker from Amplifier Technology will describe simulation using harmonic balance. Simulated results for three techniques for the design of a 450 W amplifier will be presented by Andy Sheratt of Thales and envelope modulation as applied to LTE will be discussed by Gavin Watkins of Toshiba as a means of obtaining very high linearity.
Cutting edge topics in electronic warfare technology are addressed by three papers from Teledyne Defence. They will focus on fast tuned notch and band-pass filters and the measurement challenges of fast switching microwave synthesisers. In contrast Liam Devlin of Plextek will explain how the difficulties of manufacturing low cost radios at E band (71-86 GHz) are being resolved.
The April ARMMS Conference, which is sponsored by Teledyne Microwave Solutions, also features an exhibition and offers attendees the opportunity to discuss technical issues with fellow delegates in convivial surroundings.