Ultra-wideband (UWB) Analog Front-End (AFE) /Analog- to-Digital Converter (ADC)(9703)

Q-DOT proposes an innovative analog front-end (AFE) and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. Modern communications and radar signals combine complex modulation with wide bandwidth to reduce power and lower the probability of intercept. Current digital receivers do not offer both high dynamic range and wide bandwidth needed to detect and characterize these signals. The proposed AFE includes an LNA and novel track-and-hold to facilitate direct conversion to over 10 GHz. Two ADCs are proposed: a novel parallel UWB ADC, and a Nyquist ADC with unique circuits to provide high-resolution UWB performance. Each offers > 10 times the bandwidth of present devices with comparable resolution. Rather than channelizing using filters and mixers, the parallel ADC uses frequency domain encoding to spread the UWB input among baseband ADCs. Digital processing reconstructs the entire input bandwidth with high dynamic range. The Nyquist ADC uses a novel front end to reduce complexity and power while providing UWB performance. The proposed AFE/ADC is modular, expandable, and adaptable. After conceptual design, prototype high resolution UWB AFE/ADC chips can be realized during Phase II. The UWB AFE/ADC will help realize small, low-power, high-performance digital receivers for future surveillance and instrumentation systems.