Transmitter microdischarges in communications and broadcast Satellites

Most commercial communications and broadcast satellites operating at microwave radio frequencies use traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) as high power transmitters. Since TWTAs work at high voltages, it is not uncommon to experience micro-discharges, especially early in life. This observation led to the introduction of an autonomous restart function in the companion high voltage power supply (the electronic power conditioner or EPC) of the TWTA as a safety feature. A microdischarge with enough energy above a threshold would lead to a momentary removal of high voltages, followed by an automatic restart, which is usually sufficient to allow the microdischarge event to clear with minimal loss of RF transmission. In most cases the energy involved in the microdischarge is low enough that the removal of high voltages is not required and the event may go undetected. However, an unusual signature was first noted in early 1997 on a Ku-band satellite transmitter, where the characteristics of the microdischarge event were such that the control anode voltage dropped below nominal and typically recovered over a 20min period. Such microdischarge events became known as the “20min Effect” which has since been observed over subsequent years on other Ku-band TWTAs, as well as on Ka-band and S-band satellite TWTA transmitters in numerous satellites. This paper summarizes the in-orbit data on such microdischarges as well as the believed cause. In addition, the paper includes results from three S-band TWTAs which have operated on life test for many years. Due to ease of their monitoring instrumentation as contrast to monitoring microdischarges on orbiting operational satellites via telemetry, new data have been accumulated on this effect. The data substantiate the previous findings that microdischarges do not significantly affect satellite operation or their transmissions nor diminish the TWTAs performance, including long lifetime.