K/Ka-Band Very High Data-Rate Receivers: A Viable Solution for Future Moon Exploration Missions

Electronics

Paolo Gervasoni¹  Paolo Glionna¹  Paolo Petrini²  Federico Alimenti³  Paolo Banelli³  Giuseppe Baruffa³  Luca Roselli³  Luca Rugini³  Valentina Palazzi³  Fabrizio Frescura³  Paolo Mezzanotte³  Roberto Vincenti Gatti³  Stefania Bonafoni³  Francesc Coromina⁴  Fabrizio Gemma⁵  Federico Bernardi⁵  Enrico Pagana⁶  Giambattista Gotti⁷  Mario Fragiacomo⁸  Anna Gregorio⁸  Federico Dogo⁸  Erica De Fazio⁸  Alessandro Cuttin⁸  Federico Pergolesi⁸  Gianni Nannetti⁹ 

[1] Analog Devices, Energy Park, 20871 Vimercate (MB), Italy;Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy;Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, via G. Duranti 93, 06125 Perugia, Italy;ESA-ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands;GMSpazio s.r.l., Viale Guglielmo Marconi, 19, 00146 Rome, Italy;Independent Researcher, 1023 Chieri (TO), Italy;Independent Researcher, 24030 Valbrembo (BG), Italy;PicoSaTs s.r.l., Padriciano 99, c/o Area Science Park, 34149 Trieste, Italy;Silicon Infusion, CP House, Otterspool Way, Watford WD25 8HP, UK;

关键词: microwave receivers;    K/Ka-band;    Moon;    cislunar space;    exploration missions;    cubesats;    phase-noise;    effective noise figure;   

DOI  :  10.3390/electronics8030349

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This paper presents a feasibility study for a very high data rate receiver operating in the K/Ka-band suitable to future Moon exploration missions. The receiver specifications are outlined starting from the mission scenario and from a careful system analysis. The designed architecture uses a low noise front-end to down-convert the incoming K/Ka-band signal into a $3.7\mathrm{GHz}$ intermediate frequency (IF). For maximum flexibility, a software defined radio (SDR) is adopted for the I/Q demodulation and for the analog to digital conversion (ADC). The decoding operations and the data interface are carried out by a processor based on field programmable gate array (FPGA) circuits. To experimentally verify the above concepts, a preliminary front-end breadboard is implemented, operating between 27.5 and 30 GHz. The breadboard, which uses components off the shelf (COTS) and evaluation boards (EVBs), is characterized by a $46\mathrm{dB}$ gain, a $3.4\mathrm{dB}$ noise figure and a $-37\mathrm{dBm}$ input-referred 1 dB compression point. Finally, a $40\mathrm{Msym}/\mathrm{s}$ quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signal is demodulated by means of a commercially available SDR, demonstrating the above concept. The importance of these results is that they have been obtained exploiting a class of miniaturized and low cost microwave integrated circuits currently available on the market, opening the way to a dense communication infrastructure on cislunar space.

【 授权许可】

Unknown