A silicon bipolar monolithic down converter for the commercial Motorola Global Positioning System receiver

A silicon bipolar monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) down converter is described which has been developed for use in a commercial Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. The MMIC provides a dual down conversion function for the receiver and consists of an L-band amplifier, two mixers, IF amplifiers, L-band VCO, phase-locked loop circuitry, and a clock driver for a digital correlator. Design considerations are discussed and system applications of the chip are presented.