July 25, 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of the “Aldo Paraboni” payload, which conducts Q/V Band Telecommunication experiments on board Alphasat. The Italian Space Agency required the payload to last for at least 3 years in order to carry out a series of experimental activities. We expected the most critical element on board to be the Solid State Power Amplifier operating at Q band, 38 GHz, developed by Quinstar Technology, Inc. This unit has been working flawlessly for 10 years and has enabled our scientific investigators to perform a very long list of important experiments at those frequencies and expand the scientific network to other researchers from other European countries. It was the best choice.

I am completely satisfied with Quinstar’s services and products. Quinstar’s engineers are easy to work with. They listen well to understand the intended application and facilitate device customization based on the need. Our receiver and transmitter systems use Quinstar’s active devices (LNAs, HPAs, multipliers, up-converters, and down-converters). These systems have been in continuous operation since September 2015. We have not had a single device fail. When I want reliable RF components well suited to my tasks, my first stop is QuinStar.  

We recently began replacing kW-level klystron amplifiers used in our Ka-band cloud radars with 100W SSPAs built by QuinStar. The SSPA solution is much less expensive and more reliable. In addition, the output power of the klystron degrades over time, requiring costly tube replacement after several years of use. By operating the SSPA at high duty cycle with pulse compression waveforms we can maintain good system sensitivity at lower cost, higher reliability, and longer system lifetime.