Development of an economical tunable high performance filter for highpower RE' applications is particularly important for the elimination of cosite interference from clustered SINCGARS radio transmitters. Paratek's new low-loss voltage-tunable dielectrics made from ferroelectric materials offer an alternative to conventional diode varactor technology. Ferroelectrics show promise in superior RF power-handling capability, lower varactor power control requirements, and lower inter- modulation. Paratek proposes to design a multistage high performance pass band filter that will integrate with the SINCGARS radio system. The filter will consist of multi-stage inductor-capacitor (LC) units usingspecially designed varactors made from Paratek's new ferroelectric materials. As a proof of concept, high performance tunable filters willbe constructed that function between 30 and 40 MHz. For Phase II, Paratek will work in conjuction with ITT to produce a tunable filter forthe entire band of 30 to 88 MHz that can be integrated into SINCGARS. The result of these efforts will be (i) the construction of tunable filters with the background of design and materials data during Phase I (ii) the realization of a high-performance fully integrated mass-producible tunable filter for the elimination of cosite interference in SINCGARS radios during Phase II.
Benefits: High performance tunable VHF/FM filters made with new, low loss ferroelectric materials will enable a host of new types of filters for a broad range of military and commercial uses. These materials will have several distinct economic and performance advantages over their diode counterparts.
