A SiGe low noise Local Oscillator MMIC with fractional N frequency synthesis at 10 GHz and 18 GHz

For upcoming applications in the communication market, broadband transmission and a large number of individual channels will be demanded. This will increase the number of RF-elements e.g. frequency converters and synthesizers in future satellite payloads. The costs for satellite payloads and the risk of malfunction due to the high number of elements will increase significantly. One countermeasure is to reduce the number of critical RF elements. This can be achieved by the use of highly integrated RF-modules like synthesizers. Due to new technologies the complete integration of a frequency synthesizer and converter is now possible which is an increasing request from the satellite payload community. In addition the integration of multiple functions into MMICs will reduce development and assembly costs for future products. This MMIC will be space qualified. This paper describes the technology used, the system architecture and first promising measurement results.