Getting all amped-up!

At the University of Minho, Carolina Melendez has reached the one-meter milestone between transmitter and receiver bender elements. This mark was made possible by the development of a signal amplification circuit by Marcos Martins and João Rocha. 

The amplification circuit is built around the PA96CE, a high-performance class A/B operational amplifier tailored for high-voltage and high-current applications. Engineered for robust performance, the circuit delivers up to 70 W of power output, supporting output voltages ranging from ±20 V to ±120 V and currents up to 1.2 A. It maintains a stable gain of 26 dB (G = 20 V/V) across frequencies up to 100 kHz, ensuring consistent and reliable operation.

The amped-up signal is an important milestone as we are getting the bender element testing setup ready to be installed in an experimental road in 2025.