Award

Vacuum Electronic Devices (VEDs) represent the most compact and efficient means of generating high power RF available today. Unfortunately, the legacy electronics required to operate these VEDs remain large, heavy, and often unreliable. The transition to solid-state, high voltage electronics, spearheaded by Diversified Technologies, Inc. (DTI) over the last 20 years, has improved VED transmitter reliability by more than an order of magnitude. The overall size and weight of these transmitters has only marginally improved over the legacy designs, however. Continued use of high power VEDs in military systems demands more compact, lightweight transmitters. In Phase I, DTI outlined the design of a highly compact 30 kW, 20 kV Ultra-Compact VED Transmitter (UCT) at over 90% efficiency, and demonstrated the key switching and transformer / multiplier subsystems. In Phase II, we will build and deliver a complete prototype UCT for integration with the TWT. This will position us to qualify the design for production and fielding of these systems in Phase III.