High Performance, Economical Frequency Synthesizer

OBJECTIVE: Develop and demonstrate a microwave ( 0.5-20 GHZ) frequency synthesizer design with improved performance and low cost. EFFORT: The design will be based on what we call "parallel signal processing synthesis" (PSPS). This concept uses a Ditial Synthesizer (DDS), direct synthesis step synthesizers, high speed phase-locked loops and very fast voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) operating at the desired output frequency. The overall design will be analyzed and performance specifications will be generated for each module. The performance levels of some of the modules in well known. For example, the VCOs that have been designed for our standard product line can be tuned to a frequency within 100 ns. A bread board of the other "key" modules, whose actual performance hasn't been previously evaluated, will be built and tested. Module data, from analysis or functional testing, will be generated for each module. This information will be used in the overall analysis of the synthesizer and complete phase I of this program.