TRAK has delivered its 2,000th high power MODE-S Circulator since the design was first qualified almost 15 years ago.
The high power circulators operate over the 1020 to 1100 MHz band and are qualified to handle 5kW peak under MODE-S pulse conditions into a full short or open circuit of any phase.
The 2,000 MODE-S Circulator devices are the aggregate total from two essentially identical parts designed and supplied to meet 2 customer’s specific requirements deploying ground transponder equipments. Available as either a drop-in or with TNC connectors each device is rigorously tested before dispatch and is supplied with a multi-year warranty.
MODE-S is a Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) process that allows selective interrogation of aircraft according to a unique address assigned to each aircraft by employing ground-based interrogators and airborne transponders operating in the same radio frequencies (1030/1090 MHz) as conventional SSR (IFF) systems, with which it is backwards compatible.
MODE-S was deployed because historical SSR systems reached the limit of their operational capability and employs airborne transponders to provide altitude and identification data. Enhanced systems allow aircraft to transmit global navigation data as typically obtained from a GPS receiver providing both pilots and air controllers with the aircraft’s position and identification data to maximise air situational awareness for enhanced safety, capacity and efficiency while providing a cost-effective solution for surveillance coverage in non-radar airspace.
TRAK also supports customers deploying systems in the ground transmitter/transponder market where the volumes of these lower isolator and circulator products supplied over the past 20 years exceed that of the ground based functional equivalents.