To make the switching impulse (SI) generator more compact, portable and feasible in field tests, a new approach based on transformer boosting was developed. To address problems such as triggering synchronization and electromagnetic interference involved with the traditional spark gap, an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module with drive circuit was employed as the impulse trigger. An optimization design for the component parameters of the primary winding side of the transformer was realized by numerical calculation and error correction. Experiment showed that the waveform parameters of SI and oscillating switching impulse (OSI) voltages generated by the new generator were consistent with the numerical calculation and the error correction. The generator was finally built on a removable high voltage transformer with small size. Thus the volume of the generator is significantly reduced. Experiments showed that the waveform parameters of SI and OSI voltages generated by the new generator were basically consistent with the numerical calculation and the error correction.