Digital Array Analog to Digital Converter

Phased-array systems depend on high-speed Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) devices for digitization of signals, but the present state-of-the-art technology limits application of these ADC devices to mostly frequencies of a few giga-hertz. For military SATCOM, space-based or airborne sensor/radar applications at Extremely High Frequency (EHF), digital receivers will be implemented using one or more frequency conversion devices. During Phase I of this program, Hittite investigated integrating MMIC down-converters with advanced ADCs currently in the marketplace. An extensive study of available ADCs lead to selection of a candidate device and its evaluation. In addition, two single-chip MMIC down-converters at X-band and K-band were developed for EHF applications. The Phase II research will establish a design baseline for high sampling rate ADCs with fully integrated down-converters, including fabrication and demonstration of prototypes. The down-converter/ADC incorporates a built-in MMIC Phase-Locked Oscillator (PLO) used for the Local Oscillator (LO) source and ADC clock generation, which translates the applied EHF signals to lower Intermediate Frequency (IF) ranges for ADC processing. The proposed Phase II program will establish efficient and practical subminiature hybrid down-converter/ADCs exhibiting high digital/bit precision, to support future deployment of Government/military and Air Force systems designed to operate in the EHF range.