Design of a high-power failsafe radio-frequency switch module

Failsafe radio-frequency (RF) switch module is an important kind of RF device, but cannot transmit high RF powers due to its significant direct-current (DC) dissipation. This letter presents an effective way to improve its RF power transmission capability by adopting the latching switch to transmit high RF powers and developing a conversion circuit in the front of the latching switch to enable the module to be failsafe. It has been found that at the frequencies of 1 GHz, 8 GHz, and 18 GHz, this module can respectively transmit RF powers as high as 140 W, 50 W, and 25 W on the ground and 100 W, 45 W, and 20 W at the altitude of 10000 m. This novel failsafe switch module is expected to be better applied to high-power-transmission scenarios.