Development and Implementation Experience of 20kW CW Transmitters at the DSN 34-m BWG Antennas

New 20kW S-and X-band transmitters were developed by JPL for the six 34-m beam waveguide antennas of the deep space network (DSN) to support NASA Mars missions starting in 2003. These transmitters were based upon design concepts published previously in the Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE Aerospace Conference. They provide a 7dB improvement in uplink power at X-band, coverage of both deep space and near-earth uplink bands, simplified control for operations, increased modularity of electronics for better maintainability, and built-in performance logging to assist in troubleshooting and to support future product improvements.