Small Agile Filter-Tunable (SAF-T)

The use of multiple radios on a vehicle and dynamic, frequency-hopping communication methods increase the need for compact tunable filters. When operating high power radios in close proximity to one another, it is just as important to clean up the transmit spectrum as well as the receive spectrum to maintain good signal to noise ratio and link performance. Indiana Microelectronics is proposing a bank of reconfigurable filters using solid state switches and varactor diodes to cover a wide band of interest with fast tuning speeds, while still maintaining enough linearity to operate in the transmit path of a radio. The ability to control the center frequency, bandwidth, and number of poles of the filters will allow the system to optimize performance across a wide range of operational environments. The use of reconfigurable resonators consisting of lumped-element and substrate-integrated components where necessary allows for a compact, high performance, multi-pole design that can fit into applications where size and weight are critical.