“dB Control’s TWT amplifiers enable us to collect high-quality, low-cost 3Dradar mapping data with a higher level of reliability over our previous power sources, while meeting our stringent accuracy specifications,” said Mark Frank, Intermap’s vice president of acquisition operations and engineering.
Intermap integrates dB Control’s rack-mounted Model dB-3710C. These X-band, 8 kW TWT amplifiers feature a five-percent duty cycle (pulse) and can be built quickly and economically for a wide range of commercial applications.
TWT Amplifiers Assist India with Disaster Response
The Government of India also integrates multiple dB Control TWT amplifiers with high-resolution SAR imaging systems in airborne radar applications. The SAR images, often taken under adverse weather conditions and through foliage, are used to determine the best response to disasters such as earthquakes and forest fires.
“The excellent RF spectral quality of our TWT amplifiers enables such capabilities,” said dB Control Vice President of Technology and Business Development Meppalli Shandas.
The U.S. military has relied on dB Control to provide reliable high-power TWT amplifiers for SAR applications for 15 years. Making this technology available to the commercial market is expected to unleash a wealth of new applications.
To monitor shoreline erosion and support initiatives to protect the area’s coastal environment, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center in Charleston, South Carolina, contracted with Fugro EarthData, Inc. to map 14,844 square miles of Southern California. This dataset is one of 352 USGS 7.5-minute quads acquired near Thousand Oaks, Calif. The three-meter-grid GeoSARä Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is colorized to ChromaDepthä specifications and merged with a threemeter GSD X-Band radar image. This image was produced by Intermap’s GeoSAR dual-band airborne radar mapping system powered by a dB Control dB-3710C TWT Amplifier.
