Low Phase Noise Signal Generation

A new generation of radars with distributed signal processing is being developed. A critical need in these new radars is for a low phase noise exciter that is significantly smaller than the exciters currently in use in existing radars. The exciters needto be small so that they can be distributed into the array. A novel method of low phase noise frequency synthesis is presented which yields very high performance in only a fraction of the volume of the current solution. Hittite Microwave Corporation hasbeen developing low phase noise frequency generation products for several years and has developed many of the necessary building blocks to make this proposed synthesizer possible. Most notably, Hittite has developed a ultra low noise phase-frequencydetector with phase noise floor performance that is 10 to 15 dB better than its nearest competition. In addition to being a key building block for many military radar and communication applications, the outcome of this research will be directly applicableto the point-to-point radio VSAT markets where ever higher modulation complexities have led to very demanding phase noise requirements on the LOs used.