What's Better – TWTAs Or SSPAs?

By Mike Lee, dB Control

By Mike Lee, dB Control

The short answer is: it depends on the application.

First off, what is an amplifier? The amplifier is an electronic device that increases or “amplifies” the voltage, current, or power of a signal. Amplifiers in the context of this paper are used in wireless communication, broadcasting, airborne datalink, RADAR, electronic warfare (EW), and electronic countermeasure (ECM) applications. Traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) and solid state power amplifiers (SSPAs) are the subjects of the comparison in this paper.