Patent ID: 8189338

Claim:
A modular power amplifier system comprising: at least one cabinet, a plurality of power amplifier modules removably mounted within the at least one cabinet, each of the power amplifier modules comprising an embedded controller and a power amplifier; RF distribution panel comprising an input port for receiving an RF input signal, and at least one signal splitter for dividing the RF input signal for input to the plurality of power amplifier modules; a plurality of coaxial dividers configured to divide the RF input signal substantially equally among the plurality of power amplifier modules; and a plurality of passive waveguide combiners configured to combine a plurality of amplified RF output signals from the plurality of power amplifier modules at an output port to provide an RF output signal; wherein one embedded controller is designated as a master controller, the master controller configured to monitor at least one operating parameter associated with each power amplifier module, and wherein the master controller is further configured to transfer master control to another embedded controller selected from one of the remaining embedded controllers in response to the embedded controller sensing that the at least one monitored operating parameters indicates a failure of the master controller; and wherein a combined power rating of the plurality of power amplifier modules exceeds a rated power of the system by at least one power amplifier module.