CINCINNATI—Broadcast transmitter maker GatesAir said it will bow its new Maxiva ULXTE-G2 family of high-efficiency UHF television transmitters at NAB Show New York, Oct. 21-22 at Manhattan’s Javits Convention Center.
In Booth 345, GatesAir will show the new platform, designed for high-power digital UHF television systems and combining a fully redesigned RF architecture with significant cooling and pump-system innovations that deliver an AC-to-RF efficiency of up to 53%. This substantially reduces energy consumption and increases power density, GatesAir said.
The Maxiva ULXTE-G2 is the second generation of the flagship ULXTE liquid-cooled transmitter family that GatesAir introduced in 2017. It builds on nearly a decade of field-proven performance with an extensive redesign spanning RF amplification, cooling, power delivery and system management, GatesAir said. This results in a more compact, efficient platform that lets operators trim operating expenses while reclaiming space, according to the company.
It also increases power density, delivering up to 24.5 kilowatts of output power per cabinet, GatesAir said, up 21% from the prior generation. This reduces the number of transmitter cabinets needed while simplifying installation and maintenance, the company said.
“The economics of television transmission continue to evolve, particularly as energy prices remain elevated across many global markets,” Ray Miklius, vice president of technology at GatesAir, said. “Maxiva ULXTE-G2 was engineered to directly address those realities through dramatically improved efficiency, higher power density and a complete redesign of the cooling ecosystem. The result is a transmitter platform that operates cooler, consumes less energy and significantly reduces long-term operating costs without compromising RF performance.”
In addition to the RF technology, GatesAir said, its engineers redesigned almost every element of the transmitter’s liquid-cooling architecture, including new high-efficiency redundant pump modules, optimized liquid flow paths, reduced system pressures and a new multicore heat exchanger that improves thermal transfer with less pumping effort.
The new platform includes GatesAir’s new Maxiva XTK software-defined exciter, providing native support for ATSC 1.0, ATSC 3.0, DVB-T2 and ISDB-Tb. Built around GatesAir's FPGA-based modulation architecture, it lets broadcasters use software to switch between digital standards while maintaining outstanding RF performance and signal integrity, the company said.
Other enhancements include a redesigned system manager with an updated operator interface; new high-efficiency power supplies exceeding 96% efficiency; optimized power amplifier modules; and a hot-swappable amplifier and power supply architecture that minimizes service interruptions during maintenance, the company said.
