mW Transmitter Research Articles

Power Compensation for ICRF Heating in EAST**supported by the National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Science Program of China (No. 2015GB101001) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11575237, 11375235, 11375236)

The source system covering a working frequency range of 24 MHz to 70 MHz with a total maximum output power of 12 MW has already been fabricated for Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency (ICRF) heating in EAST from 2012. There are two continuous wave (CW) antennas consisting of four launching elements each fed by a separate 1.5 MW transmitter. Due to the strong mutual coupling among the launching elements, the injection power for launching elements should be imbalance to keep the k‖ (parallel wave number) spectrum of the launcher symmetric for ICRF heating. Cross power induced by the mutual coupling will also induce many significant issues, such as an uncontrollable phase of currents in launching elements, high voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), and impedance mismatching. It is necessary to develop a power compensation system for antennas to keep the power balance between the feed points. The power balance system consists of two significant parts: a decoupler and phase control. The decoupler helps to achieve ports isolation to make the differential phase controllable and compensate partly cross power. After that, the differential phase of 0 or π will keep the power balance of two feed points completely. The first power compensation system consisting of four decouplers was assembled and tested for the port B antenna at the working frequency of 35 MHz. With the application of the power compensation system, the power balance, phase feedback control, and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) had obviously been improved in the 2015 EAST campaign.

Design of a 1.12 Gb/s 11.3 mW low-voltage differential signaling transmitter**Project supported by the National Science and Technology Support Program of China (No. 2012BAI13B07) and the National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China (No. 2013AA014101).

This paper presents a 1.12 Gb/s 11.3 mW transmitter using 0.18 μm mixed signal complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology with a 1.8 V supply voltage. This transmitter implements a high-speed transmission with 1.2 V common-mode output voltage, adopting a low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) technique. A multiplexer (MUX) and an LVDS driver are critical for a transmitter to complete a high-speed data transmission. This paper proposes a high power-efficiency single-stage 14 : 1 MUX and an adjustable LVDS driver circuit, capable of driving different loads with a slight increase in power consumption. The prototype chip implements a transmitter with a core area of 970 × 560 μm2, demonstrating low power consumption and adjustable driving capability.

Ionizing wave via high-power HF acceleration

Recent ionospheric modification experiments with the 3.6 MW transmitter at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility in Alaska led to discovery of artificial ionization descending from the nominal interaction altitude in the background F-region ionosphere by ~60 km. This paper presents a physical model of an ionizing wavefront created by suprathermal electrons accelerated by the HF-excited plasma turbulence.

Development of high power long-pulse RF transmitter for ICRF heating in fusion researches and cyclotron accelerator

A high power long pulse transmitter whose frequency range is in the range of VHF(Very High Frequency) bands have been widely used for fusion researches and accelerator as well as broadcasting industry. KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) have been developing the transmitters for ICRF heating for KSTAR and the cyclotron accelerator since 1996. The toroidal magnetic field of KSTAR (Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research) is nominally 3 T so that 25–60 MHz transmitter is required to cover ICRF heating scenarios of the KSTAR. The first one is 2 MW transmitter operating up to 60 MHz and it succeeded in achieving 2 MW for 300 s in 2008 after several failures of tetrode tube at the final amplifier stage. [1] Up to 300 kW RF power was successfully injected to KSTAR plasmas. The second one is the wideband 70 kW/CW transmitter used for the cyclotron accelerator and their frequency range is from 25 to 50 MHz. Its engineering design was finished. The third one is 1 MW/VHF transmitter which was loaned from JAEA. As the operating ICRF frequency of KSTAR is lower than VHF bands, its cavity structure will be modified for KSTAR and the operating frequency would be changed from 110 MHz to 60 MHz. In this presentation, the test results of JAEA transmitter at 120 MHz and lessons from the high power test of 2 MW transmitter will be introduced and the circuit analysis and engineering design work for the second and third amplifiers will be shown.

Daytime tropical D region parameters from short path VLF phase and amplitude

Observed phases and amplitudes of VLF radio signals, propagating on a short (∼300‐km) path, are used to find improved parameters for the lowest edge of the (D region of the) Earth's ionosphere. The phases, relative to GPS 1‐s pulses, and the amplitudes were measured both near (∼100 km from) the transmitter, where the direct ground wave is very dominant, and at distances of ∼300 km near where the ionospherically reflected waves form a (modal) minimum with the (direct) ground wave. The signals came from the 19.8 kHz, 1 MW transmitter, NWC, on the North West Cape of Australia, propagating ∼300 km ENE, mainly over the sea, to the vicinity of Karratha/Dampier on the N.W. coast of Australia. The bottom edge of the mid‐day tropical/equatorial ionosphere was thus found to be well‐modeled by H′ = 70.5 ± 0.5 km and β = 0.47 ± 0.03 km−1 where H′ and β are the traditional height and sharpness parameters as used by Wait and by the U.S. Navy in their Earth‐ionosphere VLF radio waveguide programs. U.S. Navy modal waveguide code calculations are also compared with those from the wave hop code of Berry and Herman (1971). At least for the vertical electric fields on the path studied here, the resulting phase and amplitude differences (between the ∼100‐km and ∼300‐km sites) agree very well after just a small adjustment of ∼0.2 km in H′ between the two codes. Such short paths also allow more localization than the usual long paths; here this localization is to low latitudes.

Achievement of 1.9 MW for 300 s during the commissioning of the KSTAR ICRF transmitter

KSTAR (Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research) is a national tokamak aiming at the high beta operation based on AT (Advanced Tokamak) scenarios in Korea and ICRF (Ion Cyclotron Ranges of Frequency) is one of the essential heating and current drive tools to achieve this goal. The ICRF heating and current drive scenario requires 4 units of 2 MW transmitters with a frequency range from 25 to 60 MHz. The first KSTAR transmitter is a modified FMIT (Fusion Material Irradiation Test) transmitter consisting of four amplifier stages. An amplitude-modulated 1 mW frequency source drives a 500 W solid state wideband amplifier, which in turn drives three tuned triode/tetrode amplifier stages. The tube employed in the final power amplifier is a 4CM2500KG tetrode fabricated by CPI (Communications & Power Industries). After the fabrication of the cavity and power supply was completed in 2004, several failures of the tube during a factory and a site acceptance test occurred before eventually achieving 1.9 MW for 300 s at 33 MHz in 2007. The electrical efficiency of the FPA (Final Power Amplifier) is about 70%. Although this is a very encouraging result for the development of an ICRF transmitter for ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), continued efforts for a reliable operation are required to achieve the final goals of the KSTAR and ITER ICRF system.

Design of a Dummy Load for the 2 MW HF Transmitter

A 2 MW transmitter with a frequency ranging from 30 to 60 MHz is used for the KSTAR ICRF heating source and it is necessary to equip it with a dummy load which has a low VSWR above the second or third harmonic frequency for testing the 2 MW transmitter. The resistive film type is well known as a non-inductive dummy load, however it can't be used above 300 kW because of problem at the surface adhesion between the ceramic substrate and the resistive film or sputtered carbon which imposes a limit on the power density of the film resistor. So, above 1 MW the most promising candidate is the soda water dummy load where the soda water plays a role in both the rf power absorbing medium and the cooling water. In this work, the electrical and mechanical design requirements of the 2 MW soda dummy load are introduced and RF characteristics are discussed using a lumped circuit model and a numerical analysis.

Electrical design and simulation of high density printed circuit boards

High density interconnect printed circuit board technology enables significant board size and layer count reduction. Thinner inner layer dielectric materials, reduced line widths, and closer spaced components inherent in high density board technology require a change in electrical design methodology. Most notably, the thinner dielectric thickness significantly impacts the electrical performance of the circuit board with respect to crosstalk, board capacitance, via inductance, and controlled impedance. Via inductance is significantly reduced as mechanically drilled through hole vias are replaced with microvias. Distributed capacitance will tend to increase because of the thinner dielectric layer and crosstalk between signal traces run on adjacent layers may also increase. Using either FR-4 type epoxy (diel, cnst.=4.0) or higher performance materials (diel, cnst.=2.8) conventional controlled impedance structures such as a stripline, microstrip, and coplanar waveguide are possible to design using current manufacturing capabilities. A 50 /spl Omega/ impedance can be achieved by a microstrip or a coplanar waveguide using either dielectric material. The stripline can only achieve approximately 35 /spl Omega/ with the higher performance material and 25 /spl Omega/ with the FR-4 type epoxy material. A 500 mW radio frequency receiver and transmitter module operating at 467 MHz was successfully fabricated using a three layer build-up high density circuit board. The circuit board construction had one build-up layer fabricated with a liquid epoxy material. The circuit board electrical design incorporated microstrip, stripline, and coplanar waveguide controlled impedance structures. The results of the electrical performance measurements indicated that transmitted power, receiver sensitivity, and frequency specification performance were similar to a six layer board manufactured with conventional technology.

Broadband wireless infrared LAN architecture compatible with Ethernet protocol

A wireless infrared (IR) LAN for the indoor environment is proposed which is compatible with the familiar CSMA/CD protocol used in Ethernet. Eye safe 140 Mbit/s transmission at only 5 mW transmitter power in a 20 m/sup 2/ cell is experimentally demonstrated.

Implementation of amplitude modulation companding in the BBC MF national networks

The design and development of a modulation-controlled system known as amplitude modulation companding (AMC) is described. In this method both carrier and sideband levels are progressively reduced as the modulation level is increased, this effect being compensated in the receiver by the normal action of the automatic gain control circuit. Extensive trials of a fully developed system for 50-kW MW transmitters have achieved input power savings of between 20% and 40%, depending on program content. This is achieved with imperceptible loss of coverage, and further savings may be possible. >

An Electronic System for the Phase Synchronization of Radio Transmitters

This paper describes an electronic system for synchronizing LW and MW broadcast transmitters operating in a phase synchronous network. In the introductory section, the stage of synchronous broadcasting is briefly discussed. Following sections present a block diagram of the system, point out some of its characteristics, and give basic differential equations and some other useful formulas charactizing the behavior of the system. System responses to a frequency step of the local oscillator and to a phase step of the received signal are given. Finally, some experiments with the system employed as an exciter of a MW transmitter being synchronized by the Czechoslovak and Swiss national frequency standards are described. The experiments also illustrate the effects of ionospheric phase anomalies and other limitations to the accuracy of the phase control.

Measurements of O (¹D) quenching rates in theFregion

In-situ determinations of the quenching of O(1 D) atoms by N2 and O2 molecules were made from observations of 6300 A nightglow intensity enhancements produced by the Platteville 1.6 MW transmitter. The heating of F-region electrons near the point of reflection of the RF wave leads to electron impact excitation of oxygen atoms to the O(1 D) state. It is shown that the resulting region of enhance 6300 A emission is localized to the region of electron energy absorption for heating at the lower altitudes. At 225 km the measured time constants for intensity buildup following transmitter turn-on and for intensity decay following turn-off are identical and equal to (13 plus or minus 1) sec. Time constants varying from 30 to 80 sec are found for the altitude range 260 to 300 km. The inferred quenching coefficient for the whole altitude range, 225 to 300 km, is 4.4 + 2 or - 1 x 10 to the minus 11th power cu cm/sec at 950 K, in good agreement with laboratory data. The quenching frequency obtained at 225 km, when referred to the altitude 120 km, is equal to (21 plus or minus 2)/sec, in agreement with less direct ionospheric determinations.