Multifunction GaAs MMIC transmitter/receiver for onboard satellite equipment
This paper describes the development of a new GaAs MMIC to be used in transmit/receive modules for S band transponders. The IC, which includes five different functions, reduces the sue of the system whilst maintaining and even improving system performance. Amplification, phase shifting, and mixing are some of the functions integrated in the same chip. The goal of the work is to reduce the number, size, and consequently, the cost of the circuitry currently in use through an European commercial Enhancement/Depletion (E/D) pHEMT process, compatible with low noise reception. A maximum conversion gain more than 54 dB has been achieved with a gain control more than 27 dB. A 0 dBm output power at 1dB compression point (P1dB) has been measured when a CW stimulus was used as input signal, while more than 35 dB of Adjacent Channel Power Ratio (ACPR) was tested for a BPSK input signal.
Experience and new trends in MMIC's for space programmes
In the past twenty years a considerable amount of work has been done on microwave circuit integration, mainly using GaAs material. MMIC's were finally introduced to the space-borne equipment in the early 90s. They are now clearly unavoidable and many systems are presently in operation with GaAs chips on board. Now, with the maturity of MMIC, everyone agrees that packaging is the key issue. Micro-packages favored the penetration of MMIC space systems. They brought modularity and testability staying hermetic that were necessary for assessing their ability to respect space constraints.
Beyond East–West: Marginality and National Dignity in Finnish Identity Construction
Since the end of the Cold War it has become common for Finnish academics and politicians alike to frame debates about Finnish national identity in terms of locating Finland somewhere along a continuum between East and West. Indeed, for politicians, properly locating oneself (and therefore Finland) along this continuum has often been seen as central to the winning and losing of elections. For example, the 1994 referendum on EU membership was largely interpreted precisely as an opportunity to relocate Finland further to the West. Indeed, the tendency to depict Finnish history in terms of a series of “Westernizing” moves has been notable, but has also betrayed some of the politicized elements of this view. However, this framing of Finnish national identity discourse is not only sometimes politicized but arguably is also too simplified and results in blindness towards other identity narratives that have also been important through Finnish history, and that are also evident (but rarely recognized) today as well. In this article we aim to highlight one of these that we argue has played a key role in locating Finland in the world and in formulating notions of what Finland is about, what historical role and mission it has been understood as destined to play, and what futures for the nation have been conceptualized as possible and as providing a source of subjectivity and national dignity.