Since 1980, AKON has been a leading supplier of microwave products for airborne, ground, shipboard and space applications. AKON has maintained its leading position by combining engineering design excellence with manufacturing capabilities that are second to none. From highly customized engineering projects to high volume production runs, place your confidence in a proven source.

AKON-designed hardware can be found in almost every major EW program in the free world. Leading defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Raytheon, DRS Systems, Naval Research Laboratory, Jet Propulsion Lab, Indian Air Force, Turkish Navy, to name just a few have chosen AKON as their supplier of choice for tuners, log components, frequency measurement modules, miniature switches and filters, frequency synthesizers, phase shifters, front-end receivers, up/down-converters as well as other microwave components and subsystems.

PRODUCT OVERVIEW

SWITCHES.  AKON’s comprehensive product line of RF/microwave solid-state switches include both PIN-diode and MMIC switching technologies and are available in extremely compact packages with either SMA or GPO connectors. Standard model configurations are SPST through SP8T up to SP36T.  Custom switch arrangements are available upon request. Other special configurations include multiple switches in a common package, phase and gain matching, etc. Switching speeds are typically 50 nS or less with extremely low losses. Both REFLECTIVE and ABSORPTIVE types are available, with isolation greater than 60 dB.

SWITCH FILTER BANKS.  AKON, Inc., produces miniature filter banks and switch filter banks in the 2.0-18.0 GHz range. Filters, amplifiers, attenuators, and equalizers are put together using MIC techniques. Filter designs vary from lumped element to cavity or suspended substrate type, depending upon the requirements. Units can be tailored for specific customer requirements.

SWITCH MATRICES.  AKON, Inc’s. discrete switch capabilities, along with filter and amplifier expertise,  has enabled them to provide, from design through manufacture, leading-edge, complex Switch Matrix assemblies. These units operate in broad-and narrow-bands, from 0.5 – 18 Ghz, to satisfy military, commercial and space requirements. In advancing their capabilities, Akon has developed unique technologies which permit signal crossovers and multiway signal distribution lessoning the need for coaxial cables. By eliminating the cables, improvements in phase and amplitude matching, gain ripple and reliability, are realized, particularly in high-vibration environments.  Moreover, smaller package sizes may be accommodated.

TUNERS/CONVERTERS.  AKON, Inc. designs and manufacturers up/down RF & microwave frequency converters spanning 500 Mhz to 40 Ghz for EW, ELINT and SIGINT applications. These include discrete units for up-conversion or down-conversion, as well as “block” conversion, accomplished in wide and narrow-bandwidths for multiple system level requirements. Designs may or may not include the LO. Architectures are designed for single and multi-channel system applications.  These tuners incorporate multi-channel pre-selector filters for down-conversion to an IF output, and exhibit high channel isolation and fast switching time. Other attributes include high dynamic range, low phase noise, excellent spurious response, sensitivity, low noise and fast tuning-speed. Selectable output bandwidths as specified can also be provided.  A low noise amplifier(s) may be integrated prior to the pre-selector filtering, or post.

FAST STEPPING LOS.  AKON has developed a series of fast stepping LOs with speeds as low as 70 nS and step size as small as 10 MHz. Akon’s LO Assemblies use a crystal oscillator (TCXO or OCXO) as a reference. Active multiplication with filtering is used to achieve frequencies up to 20.0 GHz.

ECM TRANSCEIVER SUBSYSTEM.  AKON has developed highly integrated and ultra compact ECM transceiver subsystem. The unit accepts RF input covering the full 2-18 GHz band, and provides a 1.0 GHz output at 500 MHz bandwidth for driving the customer supplied digital receiver and DRFM. Conversely, the unit accepts the 1.0 GHz DRFM output and reconverts the signal to its original frequency using the same LOs as were used for the down conversion. Lastly the unit features a built in fast stepping LO assembly so that all needed LO  frequencies are internally generated. Unit is packaged in a very compact integrated package  which permits mounting in either aircraft equipment bay or in a pod.

DIGITAL FREQUENCY DISCRIMINATORS.  AKON’s Digital Frequency Discriminators (DFD) are key components in many modern ESM and surveillance systems and can be designed to operate from 0.5 to 40.0 GHz. Measurement resolution can be as fine as 16 bits. These units can operate in the presence of simultaneous signals, including CW, and with input SNR as low as 0 dB. Optional output flags include CW, out of band, simultaneous signals and data valid. The units can be either of the triggered sampling type, or the continuous sampling type. Input sensitivity is typically -65 dBm. Response times are typically in the order of 200 nS.

SDLA’s and ERDLVA’s.  AKON offers standard SDLA’s covering the 2.0-6.0, 6-18.0, and 2.0-18.0 GHz frequency ranges. Rise times down to 10 nanoseconds are available. Fall times in the order of 60 nanoseconds for 60 dB drop from 90 % of the trailing edge are also available. Unlike most SDLVA’s available in the market, Akon units maintain a fairly constant slope as a function of frequency and temperature. If required, units can also include limited RF output with excellent second and third harmonic performance. Their SDLAs are completely fabricated using a “chip and wire” technique. They have shipped units using this cableless method with up to 90+ dB RF gain. AKON also offers ERDLVAs with models covering 0.5-2.0, 2-6, 6-18 and 2-18 GHz are available.  Dynamic range exceeding 80 dB is available with a very tight accuracy window over entire operating frequency and temperature range.

RECEIVER SUBSYSTEMS.  AKON offers a broad capability in the design and manufacture of custom high performance receiver front-ends for use in ESM receivers and other EW applications.  These super components can incorporate channelization filters, down-converters, LNAs and switching functions. Phase matching of channels is available for interferometer and monopulse applications.

THREAT SIMULATOR RF SOURCES. AKON now offers a comprehensive line of frequency synthesizer products, available in two basic varieties. For general purpose applications, they offer a VCO based solution which can provide tuning speeds in the order of 110 micro-seconds. For high performance applications, they offer units utilizing Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS). VCO based units feature 1.0 MHz step size while DDS units feature 10 MHz step size. Both types are available with optional output pulse modulators and digitally controlled attenuators, making them ideal for use in EW threat simulators.

FRONT END AMPLIFIERS.  AKON has developed this FEA-FER unit for air-borne applications.  J1 is the 0.5-18.0 GHzRF input port and J4 is the 0.5-18.0 GHz RF output port. SP3T switch SW-2 is used to select either 0.5-18.0 GHz signal from antenna or external Bite signal in the frequency range of 0.5-18.0 GHz, or an internally generated noise signal (BITE).The external bite port J3 has input frequency from 0.5-18.0 GHz which can be processed as such or can be up-converted to 18.0-40.0 GHz. Port J2 processes external 18.0 - 40.0 GHz signal, down converted to 0.5 - 18.0 GHz band.  The signal is re-combined in SP2T (SW-3).