Material assessment for high power RF systems (Powerhouse Consulting Group)
Abstract
High Power Microwave (HPM) sources may deliver 10s to 100s of GWs to a transmitting antenna. Actively controlling the antenna sidelobes is a method to avoid equipment fratricide while maintaining the maximum amount of power directed on a target is important for directed energy applications. A robust and inexpensive way to implement sidelobe control will benefit high-power DE implementation. Low-loss, voltage tunable dielectric materials have been implemented in tunable device applications including filters, antennas and oscillators amongst others. Dielectric materials have an advantage in power handling over conventional tunable approaches (like MMIC and diodes). Additionally, they are low cost and have can havetailored compositional variances that can enable multiple applications. The ability to design a material with fast tuning speed (microseconds) and optimize the electronic loss andtunability is what makes these materials attractive. Past uses of these tunable materials have shown that they can be fabricated in a variety of compositions to address applications from VHF to Ka-band. Phase steerable, true time-delay lines, tunable patch antennas, and tunable dielectric lenses are some of the examples of antenna designs that have been demonstrated; none of these components or subsystems have been demonstrated for high (100s of watts and above) incident RF power. The science question we are trying to answer is: what are the material parameters and geometry of the tunable dielectric materials to enable a configurable, high-average RF power transmit system with an intent to reduce side-lobes in the emission far-field? What is the characteristic behavior of these materials as a function of incidentRF power, and what is the dependence on bandwidth?The technical approach consists of two iterative tasks1. Fabrication of the tunable material and its material characterization2. RF measurements of the ceramic materialsOne of the applications concerns shipboard deployment of HPM systems on Naval vessels. By reducing the sidelobes, the probability of EMI/EMC (fratricide) may be further reduced, potentially resulting in increased gain of the main lobe. Sidelobe reduction is of interest in non-HPM system applications also.Once the project is completed, the HPRF/HPM program will have an assessment of the functionality of a tunablematerial under high RF incident power.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 20, 2019
- Source ID
- N000141912599
Entities
People
- Somnath Sengupta
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy