Verification Design of Up-Down Frequency Converter Based on Double-Balanced Mixer and Its Performance Characterization

A mixer circuit which is doable up and down frequency conversion holds an essential role in wireless communication. It is also one of important parts in the data access technology development for high data rate communications. This paper discusses the verification design and characterization of up-down frequency converter implemented based on double-balanced mixer. To have a compact design, an integrated circuit (IC) component from Analog Devices is employed for each frequency converter, i.e. LT5579 and LT5557 for up and down frequency converter, respectively. The use of both ICs developed based on double-balanced mixer technique is due to their features which have integrated transformer and amplifier required for frequency converting process. The experimental characterization have demonstrated the feasibility of frequency converter performances in the frequency range of 3.3GHz-3.8GHz for up frequency converter and the frequency range of 1.7GHz-2GHz for down frequency converter suitable for some wireless communication applications. The characterization results of conversion gain have been performed to demonstrate the good agreement.