Spurious-free Ultra-wideband Downconveter in 3U Size for EW System

Modern Electronic Warfare (EW) Systems push for receivers with high dynamic range, wide instantaneous bandwidth and high sensitivity to provide signal detection and accurate measurements, even in crowded electromagnetic operating environment. Here we present a compact Downconverter module with high frequency selectivity of the ultra-wide E/J input band, high spurious suppression (≤ -50dBc), wide gain tuning range (30 dB) with associated wide instantaneous dynamic range (≥ 45 dB). The module is developed with high-density component technology in accordance to the VITA 46/67 standard. The proposed Downconverter represents an enabling component for any state-of-the-art Super Het receiver, which exploits the advances in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology to achieve large instantaneous bandwidth being processed in real time with minimum distortion on the incoming signals, which is a key feature when accurate signal analysis and identification is required.