x-band 4 x qtrm plank product capability MA-100002 the x-band plank described below contains four quad transmit receive modules providing sixteen ports which can be connected to individual antenna elements to form a 1-d phased array active antenna unit. three m2 threaded holes in the end of each qtrm facilitates the attachment of a quad antenna module. alternatively, equal length, low loss microwave cables can be used to connect to individual antenna elements in which case the holes could be used to attach a plate ftted with four cables. provision for liquid cooling allows continuous transmission of long pulse widths at high duty cycles through all sixteen elements simultaneously, thus creating a high power transmitter pulse at x-band. a closed loop cooling system comprising of a fuid reservoir, pump and heat exchanger can be used to pump the coolant through the plank. description qtrm ? common module building block ? 4-channel integrated assembly comprising of dc, logic ctrl/interface & t/r module ? designed for high volume manufacture ? minimal alignment, custom ate for factory calibration
description the plank is supplied from a single 28 volt dc supply and contains the necessary supply conditioning to power the four qtrms. a power-up sequence ensures that the input current surge is managed both within the individual qtrms and within the plank so as to avoid overloading the primary 28 volt supply on switch-on. in addition, a half-duplex, asynchronous, rs485 bus allows communication to and from an external beam steering computer (bsc) that provides control and monitoring of the plank and its qtrms. the serial data takes the form of a number of messages assigned to either control the individual t-r elements or to retrieve information about their settings or health status. rf2m have developed a graphical user interface (gui) to control and monitor the behaviour of the plank and can be run from a laptop or desktop computer. timing is provided by either an internal or external 100mhz clock and is selected via the micro-d connector. a transmitter power amplifer gating pulse must be provided to activate the pa power supplies just before the rf pulse arrives at the common rf i/o port. this is to ensure that any amplitude and phase transients caused by the pas turning on do not interfere with the integrity of the rf pulse. all subsequent timing within the plank is derived from this tx pa gating pulse leading edge. the plank may be driven with a cw signal for test purposes as internal modulation is provided. a scheduler mode can be selected which rapidly stores a maximum of sixteen, pre-determined beam steering coordinates. an external beam steer pulse must be provided by the bsc to step through the schedule to allow very fast beam switching. the qtrms are factory calibrated to minimise amplitude and phase variations over temperature and frequency, making them line-replaceable units. additional calibration constants that are user system related can be uploaded to the qtrms via the rs485 serial data link. this product ofering from rf2m microwave provides the means to experiment with x-band phased array radar and to further develop a 2-d radar by stacking planks up to eight deep. this product signifcantly reduces development time allowing customers to focus their valuable resources on radar signal processing and beam control. rf2m microwave would welcome the opportunity to work with customers during their product development by providing technical support to customise an active antenna array solution.
electrical performance over t op unless otherwise stated. limits & conditions are indicated values. indicated values given per channel unless otherwise stated. parameter min. typ. max. units conditions parameters: transmit centre frequency 9.5 ghz see note 1 operating bw 1 ghz see note 1 input return loss 10 db common rf in/out port output return loss 10 db individual antenna ports pulse width 3 100 s 80s at 30% duty max. duty cycle 5 30 % 80s at 30% duty max. rs485 serial data bus diferential asynchronous uart, half-duplex data control rate 5.0 mbps tx pa gating pulse diferential gate tx pa on 2.6 s before rf pulse, target 1 s beam steering pulse diferential triggers beam direction change no. of stored beam settings 16 scheduler mode beam steer data transfer time 350 s time taken to re-load the scheduler register plank input voltage range 26 +28 30 volts plank input current 8.5 amps average current @ 28v, 30% duty dc input consumption 238 watts average power @ 28v, 30% duty beam former insertion loss 13 db to be confirmed selectable int. or ext. clock 100 mhz 20ppm lvds parameters: transmit tx psat 8.5 watts(pk) 8.5watts output per antenna port at fo tx input power level +20 +23 dbm for psat out. spurious -60 dbc tx phase variation across pulse 4.0 deg across 80s pulse at 30% duty tx amplitude variation across pulse 0.5 db across 80s pulse at 30% duty harmonics -20 dbc tx insertion phase balance 15 deg between any two channels. target 10 tx power balance 2.0 db between any two channels. target 1 parameters: receive rx output p1db -4 dbm rx gain 14 db see note (2) & (3) rx input ip3 -8 dbm rx noise figure 4 db see note (4). target <3.5db receiver protection per channel 15 watts pk protection from reflected tx power rx insetion phase balance 15 deg between any two channels. target 10 rx gain balance 2.0 db between any two channels. target 1
product features environmental operating ambient: -30 to +70c. assumes plank fluid inlet temperature is in the range +10 c to +48 c storage: -40 to +85c mtbf : tbd notes (1) limited by circulator specifcation and physical dimensions of the qtrm (2) up to 3db reduction in useable attenuation range due to calibration. (3) figure given for ref attenuator state, ref phase state and includes beam former losses. (4) n.f. given for ref attenuator state, ref phase state and includes beam former losses. (5) dimension d is for demo unit only. potential to reduce to 14.1mm for a practical aesa confguration. see outline diagram in section 8 below. mechanical approximate size: 203mm(l) x 270mm(w) x 20mm(d) excluding connectors. see note (5) approximate mass: 1.2 kg rf connectors: male smp shroud dc connector : 37-way micro-d plug hydraulic connectors : staubli cgo 03 type, non-spill cooling fluid : glycol mix inlet temperature : +48c max. fluid flow rate : 1litre/min outlet temperature : approximately +58c for an inlet temperature of +48c pressure drop : < 0.2 bar with a fluid flow rate of 1l/min ? rs485 half-duplex, 5.0 mbps serial data bus for control and monitoring. ? plank operating current and power supply health monitored and reported on request along with health status of each qtrm ? automatic shut-down of individual qtrms if their internal temperature reaches a critical limit where damage could occur. hysteresis applies. ? positive supplies inhibited (with the exception of the digital control circuits) if negative supply is lost ? direction cosines used for beam steering ? qtrms respond to individual address or broadcast messages. ? module position assignment ? sequenced qtrm power-up timing based on module position address ? ability to schedule up to 16 phase & amplitude settings for rapid beam switching ? ability to disable internal modulation and apply externally ? array cal allows end-user to add additional tru phase & amplitude calibration. ? read-back of cal phase & amplitude values for each tru. ? selection of internal/external clock source to allow synchronisation of multiple qtrms. ? european manufacture.
pin no. description pin no. description pin no. description pin no. description 1 +28v 11 (1) ext_clk +ve 21 +28v 31 spare 2 +28v 12 signal gnd 22 psu gnd 32 spare 3 psu gnd 13 spare 23 psu gnd 33 -6v flag 4 psu gnd 14 +28v flag 24 addr_1 34 pmon flag 5 addr_0 15 +6v1 flag 25 tx pa gate +ve 35 icc_mon 6 addr_2 16 +6v2 flag 26 signal gnd 36 spare 7 tx pa gate -ve 17 +5v flag 27 rs485 -ve 37 spare 8 rs485 +ve 18 spare 28 beam steer +ve 9 signal gnd 19 int_clk enable 29 signal gnd 10 beam steer -ve 20 +28v 30 ext_clk -ve dc pin-out connections ( 37-way mirco-d ) notes (1) external clock (if used) 100mhz lvds 20ppm max. functional block diagram qtrm a qtrm b qtrm c qtrm d rf in/out antenna port 1 antenna port 2 antenna port 3 antenna port 4 antenna port 5 antenna port 6 antenna port 7 antenna port 8 antenna port 9 antenna port 10 antenna port 11 antenna port 12 antenna port 13 antenna port 14 antenna port 15 antenna port 16 100mhz clock + - ext. 100mhz clock int clk enable rs485 async bus bus to qtrm's tx pa gate beam steer bus to qtrm's bus to qtrm's converters & ldo's +28v input +6.0v -6.0v +28v +5.0v +3.3v + - bus to qtrm's div 100 converter sync +v e +v e +v e -ve -ve -ve monostable switch logic drvr
+1 855.294.3800 www.apitech.com +44 (0) 1908.574.200 info.rf2m@apitech.com micro.apitech.com whilst every efort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this brochure, no responsibility can be accepted for any errors and/or omissions. descriptions and specifcations of products are subject to change without notice. preliminary outline diagram
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