Posted by Courtney E. Howard
LOWELL, Mass., 27 July 2011. Auriga Microwave won a two-year Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II.5 award from the Navy to continue the development of its solid-state high-efficiency transmit module. This SBIR N07-007 effort builds on Phase II, for which the company developed C-band power amplifiers and low-noise amplifiers.
“We’re very excited about this award, as it allows us to move our current technology to a Technical Readiness Level 7 (TRL-7), where we will be able to test our prototypes in an operational environment,” says Dr. Yusuke Tajima, Auriga’s chief technology officer. “Although both of these amplifiers are designed for a phased-array radar system for an unmanned aerial system (UAS), where efficiency and size are optimized, the amplifiers are well suited for other applications within the defense market space.”
Navy officials redirected SBIR N07-007, originally targeted for a UAS UHF radar system, for an unnamed, more immediate requirement. For the UAS system, Auriga engineers had built a 600-watt prototype amplifier able to achieve 55 percent power-added-efficiency across the UHF band.
"Over the course of this project, the excitement from primes and the DOD (Department of Defense) regarding our prototype results has been very encouraging; it appears this will be a very large market opportunity for Auriga,” explains Ted Lewis, Auriga vice president.
