Russian Vacuum Electronics (reference materals).
Ed. M.I. Petelin

A.A.Tolkachev (1), E.N. Yegorov (2), A.V. Shishlov (1)
(1) - JSC “Radiophyzika”, Moscow; (2) - JSC “REIS”, Moscow

e-mail: radiofizika@citkami.ru

Modern radar and communication systems are aimed to 1) mastering higher frequency bands, 2) wider use of digitaltechniques for signal shaping and processing, 3) electronic wave beam steering.
Solid-state high-reliability low-maintenance-cost integrated modules are available for active phased arrays up to frequencies corresponding to the millimeter wave band. However, at frequencies higher than the X-band the solid-state devices are too expensive (Fig. 1), which limits integral powers of such arrays.
At the shortest microwaves, the highest integral powers will be obtained, in the foreseeable future, by means of phased arrays (see, e.g., Fig 2) fed with vacuum power RF amplifiers and controlled with ferrite and semiconductor phase shifters (Fig. 1).

Fig.1. Estimated cost of one sq.m of phased array aperture radiating 2 kW average power vs the wavelength, semiconductor-based arrays vacuum-amplifiers-based arrays

Fig. 2. RUZA: 34 GHz, 1 MW pulse, 0.01 duty gyroklystron-based semi-active phased array radar.