K-band demodulator in a single-chip solution

It is suitable for next-generation K-band high-throughput, ground terminal satellite communication systems requiring a full outdoor unit.

The quadrature demodulator is a single-chip solution with a supply voltage of 3.3 V and less than 3.2 W of total power dissipation.

The device offers an integrated synthesizer with voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), downconverter, filtering baseband amplifiers, low-noise amplifier (LNA), and Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) control capabilities that enable designers to condense their designs into a smaller overall footprint.

The device’s RF front end consists of two LNA paths that allow support for multiple antenna polarizations, with an operating frequency range of 17 GHz to 22 GHz.

Each path has an optimal cascaded, 5 dB, double-sideband noise figure at maximum gain, where the LNA path is selectable through the device's programmable 4-wire SPI.

The ADMV4540’s integrated fractional-N phase-locked loop and low-phase-noise VCO generate the necessary on-chip local oscillator signal for the device's two double balanced I/Q mixers to enable the LNA output to downconvert to baseband. The demodulator’s excellent matching between channels and the high spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) overall gain are well suited for satellite communication systems with dense constellations, multiple carriers, and nearby interferers.

For development, Mouser also stocks the ADMV4540-EVALZ evaluation board, which includes a pre-installed ADMV4540 demodulator and all required external components. The board requires the System Demonstration Platform-Serial (SDP-S) controller board, available separately.