Superconductors and cryogenics for future communication systems

In the framework of a German research program on "superconductors and ceram ics for future communication technology," efforts are undertaken to demonst rate the feasibility of cryogenic and high-temperature superconductor techn ology for applications in communication satellites and base transceiver sta tions (BTS's) for terrestrial mobile communication. For the receiver front end of C-band satellites, noise reduction filters as well as input-multiple xer channel filters have been developed. A three-channel output multiplexer was composed of dielectric hemisphere filters with elliptic response. Asso ciated encapsulation and cooling issues for spaceborn systems were investig ated and an in-orbit demonstration of the complete setup will be performed on the International Space Station, Activities toward applications in terre strial mobile communication are focused on BTS cryogenic front ends with si ngle preselect filters of superior selectivity, and on reconfigurable front ends allowing some electronically controlled change in the preselection fr equency response. A first version of a demonstrator for a cryogenic BTS fro nt end was developed.