Air Force Awards Teraphysics Corporation Contract for E-Band Communications Amplifier
Cleveland, OH (PRWEB) May 29, 2014 -- Providing timely information through high data rate communications enhances the situational awareness of military units engaged in combat and can be vital to their safety and the success of their mission. Such high data rate communications systems require amplifiers with broad bandwidth and high power, which can be delivered by the compact helical traveling wave tubes (TWT), under development at Teraphysics Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio.
On May 14, 2014, Teraphysics was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio to develop a 100 Watt TWT amplifier operating over the 5 GHz of contiguous bandwidth from 71 to 76 GHz in the region of the electromagnetic spectrum, known as E-Band.
The Teraphysics amplifier achieves the demanding requirements of the Air Force by utilizing computer design techniques originated by the contract Principal Investigator, Dr. Carol Kory, Teraphysics Vice President for Technology Development, and by adopting microfabrication technology originally developed for other applications. The Teraphysics TWT achieves very wide bandwidth by using a helical slow wave circuit consisting of a miniature coil of gold wire supported by a thin diamond sheet. The result is an amplifier with nearly constant gain over the 5 GHz bandwidth. The Teraphysics TWT has the length and width of a credit card and weighs only one pound, approximately one tenth the size of a conventional device.
Teraphysics has previously developed helical devices for operation at 650 and 94 GHz. The development of the Teraphysics miniature helical TWT had previously been supported by contracts with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). In addition to the military applications, the compact Teraphysics TWT is expected to have significant impact on satellite communications, communication links for unpiloted aircraft (drones), and in the backhaul of accumulated signals of wireless handheld devices to the main fiber optic telecommunications network.
To speak with Dr. James A. Dayton, Jr., Chief Technology Officer of Teraphysics, or for more technical information, please contact Christian Hunter, APR, christian(at)studiothink(dot)net.
About Teraphysics Corporation:
Located in Northeast Ohio, Teraphysics develops powerful, efficient and compact devices that operate in the millimeter and sub-millimeter (terahertz) frequency bands. The organization holds multiple patents for intellectual property used in the micro fabrication of devices designed to lead to revolutionary application and commercialization of millimeter-wave and terahertz technology. For more information on Teraphysics, visit teraphysics.com.
Christian Hunter, APR, Studiothink, http://Studiothink.net, +1 2165749533, [email protected]
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