News: Microelectronics
19 May 2021
Comtech awarded $1m follow-on contract for Ka-band airborne SSPA/BUC
Comtech Telecommunications Corp of Melville, NY, USA says that, during its fiscal third-quarter 2021, its subsidiary Comtech Xicom Technology Inc of Santa Clara, CA – a part of Comtech’s Commercial Solutions segment that makes tube-based and solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) for satellite communication (satcom) uplink applications – was awarded a follow-on order worth more than $1m for its Falcon 50Ka SSPAs for an in-flight connectivity (IFC) application. The amplifiers feature a tri-band block upconverter (BUC) and are packaged in ARINC 791-compliant housings.
“IFC applications using our Falcon Ka-band gallium nitride (GaN) amplifiers enable travelers to simulate an in-home experience to stay informed, entertained and connected as they travel,” says Comtech Telecommunications’ chairman & CEO Fred Kornberg. “In-flight bandwidth requirements keep rising as passengers become accustomed to high-bandwidth applications and entertainment wherever they go,” he adds. “Comtech sees significant opportunity in this growing market and offers a portfolio of GaN-based products at Ku-band and Ka-band for IFC applications to keep people connected.”
Comtech Xicom’s Falcon encompasses Ku and Ka frequency bands and offers high linear power with what is claimed to be excellent gain flatness and phase-noise performance to support the latest waveform technologies and networks. The Ka-band Falcon implements multi-sub-band switching, gain adjustment, gain equalization, power consumption control and cooperative system calibration support such as OpenBMIP.
Comtech Xicom’s product range encompasses power levels from 8W to 3kW, with frequency coverage in sub-bands within the 2-52GHz spectrum. Amplifiers are available for fixed and ground-based, shipboard and airborne mobile applications.
