Ka-band upconverter supports next-generation satcoms

The highly integrated upconverter supports the next-generation high-throughput satellite communications for converting lower input frequencies to Ka-band frequency range of 27 GHz to 31 GHz.

It offers both size and power savings by integrating a mixer, frequency doubler, gain control blocks with automatic gain control (AGC), voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with synthesizer, and a driver amplifier, removing the need for these discrete components.

The device features an in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) mixer, supporting two upconversion modes without the need for external frequency synthesis.

It enables direct upconversion from differential baseband I/Q (I/Q mode), as well as single upper sideband upconversion (IF mode). It also has an integrated low-phase noise, fractional-N phase-locked loop (PLL) with a VCO, generating the necessary on-chip ultra-low phase-noise local oscillator signal for both I/Q and IF modes.

When operating in I/Q mode, the upconverter supports fully differentially complex baseband signal with bandwidth up to 500 MHz, while IF mode takes a single-ended IF input frequency up to 3GHz.

This versatility enables flexible radio architectures with backward compatibility with legacy L-Band systems.

The device is RoHS compliant and is housed in a 40-terminal LGA package.

Analog Devices' ADMV4530 evaluation boards connect to the EVAL-SDP-CS1Z controller board to enable efficient evaluation of the ADMV4530 upconverters in either I/Q or IF mode. The two evaluation boards, ADMV4530IF-EVALZ and ADMV4530IQ-EVALZ, incorporate the ADMV4530 Ka-band device with low-dropout (LDO) regulators, which allow the upconverter to be powered on by a single supply.