NASA GSFC Greenbelt, MD Earth and Space Science Research Web Site

HFSS for a Ka-band transmitter

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), located just outside of Washington, DC, is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists and engineers dedicated to learning and sharing their knowledge of the earth, solar system, and universe.

THE NEED
To predict and eliminate enclosure resonances in a Ka-band transmitter

THE SOLUTION
HFSS™

Ken Hersey, of the QSS Group, under contract for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), used HFSS to dramatically improve the performance of NASA/GSFC's Ka-band transmitter.

With mechanical and layout constraints in hand, Hersey modeled the RF channel, complete with substrates, MMIC packages, and the radiating bond wires.

Animated 3D swept-frequency cloud plots vividly highlighted the resonance issues. Guided by graphical results, Hersey analyzed multiple resonance mitigation concepts, leading him to a mechanical modification that restored the desired transmitter performance.

"HFSS provided a quantitative tool to direct our choices to mitigate enclosure resonances," said Hersey. "The software helped us to successfully eliminate the resonances in the enclosure, enabling the expected performance."

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