Armada’s monthly roundup of all the latest news in the military communications product, programme and operational domains.
Shine on you crazy diamonds
Element Six is developing large-scale synthetic diamond wafers applicable to military communications technology. To this end, the company is supporting the US Defence Advanced Research Programme Agency (DARPA) Ultra-Wide Band Gap Semiconductor (UWBGS) programme. DARPA’s initiative and focuses on developing the next generation of semiconductor technology, according to a press release.
Technologies developed via the UWBGS initiative could be applicable to substrates, device layers and junctions, the press release articulates. These components can support the realisation of advanced electronics like high power radio frequency (RF) switches; radar and communications amplifiers; high voltage power switches, high-temperature electronics, and deep ultraviolent light emitting diodes and lasers.
As Element Six articulated in the press release; “Diamond offers the potential for superlative semiconductor device performance, lowering overall size, weight and power consumption thanks to outstanding properties, such as its chemical and radiation inertness, high carrier mobility, superlative heat conduction, and wide electronic bandgap.” The company’s contribution to the UWBGS undertaking includes harnessing “expertise in large area CVD (Chemical Vapour Disposition) polycrystalline diamond and high-quality single crystal (SC) diamond synthesis to realise four-inch (100mm) device grade SC diamond substrates.”
From a military communications perspective, the use of synthetic diamond substrates for RF dependent capabilities, like Satellite Communications (SATCOM) promises “increased efficiency, enabling higher frequencies for longer distance communications, offering the potential to lower overall costs substantially,” Element Six told Armada via a written statement. “The objective of the UWBGS program is to have synthetic diamond wafers in diameters greater than 100mm with an epitaxy-ready quality level sufficient for making electronic devices within three years. To be cost effective, however, high-quality diamond wafers need to have diameters of at least 100mm to maximise performance in today’s semiconductor manufacturing equipment.” Given these considerations, the company will move forward with single crystal diamond development to produce high-quality, epitaxy-grade synthetic diamond wafers as large as 100mm in diameter. Additionally, “Element Six will develop all the processing technology … This manufacturing capability will be made available via Element Six’s facilities in the US.”
Modem family
Comtech has launched its new Digital Common Ground (DCG) modem product line. DCG modems let users “easily roam across commercial and purpose-built networks,” according to a company press release. The DCG modem portfolio lets US and allied users “move to digitised, hybrid satellite network architectures.” These architectures “will bring forward a new era of secure resilient, interoperable and ubiquitous connectivity across all domains. The DCG modems provide a single, common platform easily reconfigurable between commercial and government SATCOM operations. The portfolio of products incorporates modern cybersecurity principles “at every level” the press release continues. Moreover, the products’ transmission security protocols meet the United States’ Federal Information Protection Standards 140-3 Level 2 stipulations. The DCG portfolio supports a raft of SATCOM waveforms, including protected waveforms. It can easily adopt additional waveforms in the future thanks to its employment of a software defined core. The DCG product family can use a range of frequencies and support very wide instantaneous bandwidth usage. Customers can employ the DCG modems across frequencies ranging from L-band (1.2 gigahertz/GHz to 1.8GHz/1.67GHz to 1.71GHz) to Ka-band (26.5-40GHz uplink/18-20GHz downlink).
Daniel Gizinski, Comtech’s satellite network technologies division’s chief strategy officer and president, told Armada that the product line “includes several configurations for small terminals, large terminals, and hub sites, including multiple products for multi-orbit support.” The core launch modems have a “single channel configuration in the DCG-6051, a dual channel modem with two transmit and two receive channels in the DCG-6052, and an eight-channel product with eight transmits and receives in the DCG-6058.” Comtech has already won orders from several undisclosed customers. Additional orders are expected in the coming months.
by Dr. Thomas Withington
