Cobham announces new GaN-based solid state technology

EXETER, N.H., May 17 (UPI) -- A new family of scalable and modular gallium-nitride solid state radar transmitter solutions has been developed by Cobham.

The system is called SOLSTx and is for ground, maritime and airborne applications such as air traffic control, weather, telemetry, fire control, and long-range surveillance.

"The GaN-based solid state technology on which SOLSTx is built offers a number of advantages over traditional systems such as increased Mean Time Between Critical Failure (MTBCF), reduced operation and sustainment costs, and ... significantly lower out-of-band emission, which reduces interference with adjacent radars and communication signals," said Jeff Hassannia, senior vice president of Business Development and Technology for Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions.

"Our SOLSTx family of solutions is available in a variety of frequency ranges, power levels, packaging and end market applications."

Cobham said its modular design approach allows for a gradual degradation over the life of the hardware instead of the instantaneous shutdown experienced with vacuum electronics devices used in current transmitter designs.

SOLSTx has a system power of 175kW in S-Band, the company added.