Integrating performance and production oriented design of satellite oscillators

This paper is based on background research [1] in which a manufacturability analysis was carried out for of an oscillator made for 5 GHz satellite and radar bands. The electronic circuit uses two cascaded bipolar microwave transistors in an emitter feedback amplifier configuration which is combined with a cylindrical dielectric resonator. Three miniature coupling loops are included in it, one for amplifier input, one for amplifier output via a Wilkinson power divider and another for the optional tuning varactor diode. We have formulated two research questions: Firstly, how much is it possible to increase the Q-value of the resonator by improving the manufacturing quality of its milled geometries? Secondly, is it possible to describe the required manufacturing accuracy with the Q-value added to the Product Data Management (PDM) data set? This paper focuses on the multidisciplinary aspects of the integrated performance and production oriented design of satellite oscillators. For the first time, the quality characteristic (Q-value) could be utilized directly in the mechanical PDM data of an oscillator to guide production.