Calibration system and method for optimizing leakage performance of a multi-port amplifier

A system for calibrating a multi-port amplifier transmitting traffic signals using a plurality of high power amplifiers located onboard a spacecraft and providing a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports of the multi-port amplifier, the system comprising a calibration apparatus including a calibration unit connecting to the plurality of input and output ports, and a processing unit connecting to the calibration unit for implementing and running calibration algorithms, said calibration unit including:

• a calibration signal generator generating a calibration signal being one of a sinusoidal signal, modulated signal and a spread spectrum signal with flexible calibration center frequency;
• a calibration signal output distribution network providing said calibration signal to at least one of the plurality of input ports;
• a calibration signal receive distribution network receiving said calibration signal amplified and leaked by the multi-port amplifier and coupled to the traffic signals from at least one of the plurality of output ports;
• a calibration signal detector detecting the amplified/leaked calibration signal from the calibration signal receive distribution network while the traffic signals are present, and determining a leakage level of the calibration signal.