According to their German manufacturer, the Rohde & Schwarz R & S BBA130 wide-band amplifiers are the world’s first amplifiers in the 80 MHz to 6 GHz range to optimize the transmission characteristics to the requirements of a specific application.
The operating class for the transistors can be adjusted between Class A and Class AB during operation. The tolerance against mismatch at the output can also be changed to provide more power. A single amplifier is thus able to cover a wide variety of test scenarios during all phases of product design and validation.
The R & S BBA130 broadband amplifiers have been designed for use in development, production, and testing applications. They provide output power from 22 W to 4200 W over a frequency range of 80 MHz to 6 GHz. Their modular design and scalability enable their optimal configuration by offering the possibility of increasing the power delivered later and of changing the frequency range.
In order to optimize the output signal from the amplifier to the application, it is possible to modify the class of transistors between Class A and Class AB, during operation and to opt for a maximum power output level.
Varying the bias point for the transistors changes the output signal characteristics. According to Rohde & Schwarz, a bias point in Class A yields improves linearity and harmonic performance in an appropriate manner, particularly for the generation of spectrally clean CW. A bias point in Class AB ensures the fidelity of reproduction of the pulsed signals.
The modular design of the R & S BBA130 family allows for flexible configurations that combine two distinct frequency ranges in a single unit. It is also possible to have identical dual band configurations by integrating two identical amplifiers in a single housing.
The R & S BBA130 range is characterized by its compact size : 4U for an RF output power up to 750 W below 1 GHz and up to 300 W above 1 GHz.
R & S BBA130 amplifiers are available from Rohde & Schwarz in frequency ranges from 80 MHz to 1.0 GHz, 0.69 GHz to 3.2 GHz and 2.5 GHz to 6.0 GHz, with output power levels from 22 W to 4200 W.
