Preliminary Report on the Development of a Crystal-Controlled L-Band Artillery Telemetry Transmitter

Abstract

Harry Diamond Laboratories (HDL) has a need for gun-rugged UHF telemetry transmitters for use in research and fuze testing programs. An in-house design program was started because of the specialized performance requirements for artillery electronics. This is the first status report on the effort. UHF transmitters are extremely sensitive to physical deformation because small dimensional changes produce reactance changes that can cause an appreciable change in frequency. Since ruggedized crystal-controlled oscillators limit the frequency shift to low levels and therefore permit early acquisition of artillery telemetry signals; a prototype transmitter was constructed to determine the degree of efficiency and compactness that could be obtained at L band. A compact 1510-MHz transmitter having an efficiency of 6 percent at an output power level of 160 mW is described. Physical dimensions are such that the transmitter can be readily potted in any artillery telemetry housing currently in use. Temperature compensation and gun ruggedization tests are currently in progress.