MILLIMETER WAVE SYSTEMS LLC — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: S1

Description

Surface Level Pressure measurements will greatly improve hurricane forecasts (intensification and track predictions) and provide direct measurement of fundamental meteorological dynamics using instruments such as differential absorption radar.nbsp; A critical component is the TX/RX duplexing switch that must be low loss (lt;0.5dB), high isolation (gt;35dB) and power handling of 2W.nbsp; The low loss is necessary for radar performance (EIRP and G/T) while the isolation is needed to protect the receiver LNA from the transmitter pulse.nbsp; State of the art solid state switch technology such as PIN diodes are inadequate due to high loss (gt;1 dB) and insufficient power handling.MWS, LLC proposes to develop a V-band (65-70 GHz) latching ferrite switch by using self-biased ferrite materials with a high internal magnetic anisotropy in a circulating Y-junction. A momentary and reversible magnetization field is applied to the ferrite to change the rotation direction of the circulation effecting the SPDT switch.nbsp;