Safety-Critical Power Control for a Fielded RF Front End

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:33:39 +0000

A new L3Harris radio needed far more output dynamic range than the fielded RF front end it had to work with was designed to give.
The front end’s transmit chain had two gain stages: a coarse driver with three setpoints (low, medium, high) and a downstream fine stage adjustable in dB. The radio commanded a single power level. I designed and implemented the control software that turns that level into a safe setpoint pair for both stages.
Reaching the required range meant disabling the equipment’s built-in protection interlocks, so the software became the only thing standing between a command and hardware damage. Both stages maxed, or either past its limit, could destroy the amplifier and drop a pilot’s radio link.
Acted as de-facto software lead: direction for a small team, and project status reporting to organization management.

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