Continental Electronics Delivers Ahead Of Schedule In Delivering Low-Noise Tranmitters To Complex Planar Array

Continental Electronics Delivers Ahead Of Schedule In Delivering Low-Noise Tranmitters To Complex Planar Array

15th November, 2005
Continental Electronics is ahead of schedule in delivering 132 ultra-low-noise transmitters to U.S. government contractor BAE Systems for use in the High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) near Gakona, Alaska.

When the massive planar array for ionospheric research is completed in 2007, it will include a total of 180 Continental Electronics Corporation D616G 10-kW combined transmitters, which the company is upgrading specifically for HAARP.

HAARP first installed Continental Electronics transmitters in 1993 when the project began.

Robert Jacobsen, the HAARP project manager for BAE Systems, said that the company is very pleased with the performance of the transmitters.

"Continental Electronics was the company that best met our rigorous specifications back in the early 1990s, when we began using their solutions," said Jacobsen. "Their transmitter is a beautiful piece of equipment that does the job it is intended to perform extremely well. There is no other product available on the market that can do what we have designed it to do."

"Our customers benefit from our extensive product 'menu' that they can select from to suit virtually any type of challenge," said Will Collins, program manager at Continental Electronics. "For the HAARP project, we customized certain functions to meet different performance and reliability mandates, but ultimately the transmitters are based on CE's flagship solid and long-time industry-proven platform."

The U.S. government is constructing the HAARP facility to conduct upper-atmospheric and solar-terrestrial research via a phased array transmitter, with an aim of learning more about the ionosphere -- an upper section of the Earth's atmosphere ionized by solar radiation with natural electrical currents that can be modulated with powerful radio signals. Much of the ionosphere's scientific potential lies in satellite communications, which depends on signals passing through it.

BAE Systems today leads the installation at HAARP, which began in 1993 with 18 transmitters, grew to 48 in 1998, and is currently being expanded to a total of 180 transmitters -- all built by Continental Electronics with some components from BAE and other suppliers. The final expansion will bring the HAARP array to full power, with its effective radiated power (ERP) increasing from 84 dBW to about 96 dBW. It will have greater transmitter modulation capability, variable frequency range, and beam steering than any other high-frequency transmitting system in the world. Continental Electronics is under contract to supply six transmitters per month.

The transmitters for HAARP needed to have extremely low noise characteristics to maximize the ability to manipulate the ionosphere. They also must be tough enough to perform reliably in the challenging Alaskan environment. The challenge of developing and producing these transmitters led the government to select and continue to use Continental Electronics as its sole-source supplier over the years.

"With 60 years of experience and expertise in transmitters and listening to our customers demands, we are in an excellent position to successfully meet the demands of the toughest projects out there," said Collins. "We're proud that the U.S. government looks to Continental Electronics for expertise in complex RF applications, and we look forward to the future challenges they will bring our way."