RF GTWT Saturating circuit
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsLeonard J. Schultz, Alfred Steven Hamori, Robert Rosen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A circuit to control the RF drive to a gridded traveling wave tube (GTWT) to operate the tube in saturation across the entire RF band and at all PRF's and pulse widths. Control is attained by sensing the GTWT output and using a feedback circuit to vary an input variable attenuator to the GTWT based upon whether the output is increasing or decreasing.
Claims7
A circuit to maintain an RF gridded traveling wave tube in a saturation condition comprising:
- an RF drive input;
- a variable RF attenuator coupled to said RF drive input;
- a gridded traveling wave tube coupled to the output of said variable RF attenuator, said gridded traveling wave tube having an output power which is maximum when said tube operates at its saturation point;
- means for sensing the output power of said gridded traveling wave tube, said sensing means comprising sample and hold means coupled to said sensing means to detect the peaks of the output pulses of said gridded traveling wave tube;
- and
- control means coupled to said sample and hold means and said variable RF attenuator for adjusting said variable RF attenuator in accordance with variations of the sensed output power of said gridded traveling wave tube to maintain said tube at its saturation point.
A circuit to maintain an RF gridded traveling wave tube in a saturated condition comprising:
- an RF drive input;
- a variable RF attenuator coupled to said RF drive input;
- a gridded traveling wave tube coupled to the output of said variable RF attenuator, said gridded traveling wave tube having an output power which is maximum when said tube operates at its saturation point;
- means for sensing the output power of said gridded traveling wave tube;
- and
- control means coupled to said sensing means and said variable RF attenuator for adjusting said variable RF attenuator in accordance with variations of the sensed output power of said gridded traveling wave tube to maintain said tube at its saturation point, wherein said control means comprises:
- an analog-to-digital converter coupled to said sensing means to convert the output power of pulses of said gridded traveling wave tube to a digital value;
- digital comparison means coupled to the output of said analog-to-digital converter for comparing the digital values of successive output pulses and providing an output based upon whether the power of said pulses is increasing or decreasing;
- and
- a digital-to-analog converter coupled to the output of said digital comparison means and said variable RF attenuator to convert said digital output of said digital comparison means to an analog adjusting signal for said variable RF attenuator.
A circuit to maintain an RF gridded traveling wave tube in a saturated condition comprising:
- an RF drive input;
- a variable RF attenuator coupled to said RF drive input;
- a gridded traveling wave tube coupled to the output of said variable RF attenuator, said gridded traveling wave tube having an output power which is maximum when said tube operates at its saturation point;
- means for sensing the output power of said gridded traveling wave tube;
- control means coupled to said sensing means and said variable RF attenuator for adjusting said variable RF attenuator in accordance with variations of the sensed output power of said gridded traveling wave tube to maintain said tube at its saturation point, wherein said control means comprises:
- a decrease detector coupled to said sensing means and said variable RF attenuator for adjusting the attenuation of said attenuator in accordance with sensed decreases of successive gridded traveling wave tube output pulses.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.