Integration, environmental, and radiation testing of a microwave switch matrix system

This paper presents the electrical, environmental, and radiation characteristics of an 8 x 8 satellite switching center (SSC). The SSC was developed for satellite-switched time division multiple access (SS-TDMA) operations at 4 GHz with a 500-MHz instantaneous bandwidth and less than 50-ns switching transition times. The SSC was extensively tested before and after integration. The test results demonstrate that SS-TDMA satellite switching technology has been sufficiently developed, and is available for communications satellite applications, in particular, for inclusion in the Intelsat VI satellites.