Design aspects of scanning receiver systems

In this paper, a cost-effective approach on receiver systems for frequency scanning and direction finding applications is presented. It consists of a hybrid analog topology, combining direct sampling and double superheterodyne architecture, as well as a scalable digital platform that offers multi channel data acquisition requiring minimum hardware resources. The receiver front-end covers the VHF (very high frequency) and UHF (ultra high frequency) band from 30MHz to 3GHz while a 50MHz instantaneous bandwidth can be processed. Key modules like a reconfigurable filter and low noise PLL (phase-locked loop) as well as a digital platform are highlighted and the trade-off between cost effectiveness and performance is investigated.