Satnews Daily
February 20th, 2019

Wavestream Introduces the First of a Series of Ka-Band Solutions for LEO/MEO Market


Wavestream has announced the first in a series of Ka-band solutions for the LEO/MEO gateway market.

Wavestream has released their Ka-band 160W Peak Envelope Power BUC for LEO/MEO gateway applications. The new BUC provides 65W of linear power. Leveraging Wavestream’s patented Spatial advantEdge™ technology, this new gateway-focused BUC reaches power levels that could previously be achieved only by traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTA). Using the latest in GaN chips, Wavestream BUCs provide best-in-class performance with the smallest SWaP.

The 160W BUC provides major technical and operational advantages for satellite operators with global LEO/MEO constellations. SSPA technology provides a lower total cost of ownership and better fielded MTBF data than legacy traveling tube wave amplifiers.

This enhanced reliability is a requirement for LEO/MEO networks with hundreds of gateways in remote locations that cannot be easily serviced. Following this first solution, Wavestream intends to release additional lower and higher power solutions for the evolving LEO/MEO Gateway market.

Executive Comment

Bob Huffman, the GM at Wavestream, said that as satellite operators move to low orbit constellations, the market is demanding innovative solutions with high volume manufacturing to support a significant growth in the number of ground teleports. As the industry leader in Ka-band SSPAs, Wavestream is now at the forefront of providing new state-of-the-art solid state power amplifier technology to meet these customer needs.