Multi-channel RF signal acquisition system design based on AD9361

The modern communication and radar systems has been faced with the constraint of size, weight and power (SWaP), and this also goes for their front-end acquisition systems. Currently, the AD9361 RF transceiver has been gradually employed due to its low cost and low power. However, its internal PLL mode can't support the fast frequency hopping because its time-cost calibration period, and also it doesn't support the multi-channel RF synchronization. Therefore, the AD9361 is unsuitable for some applications with severe requirements on phase and frequency hopping speed. In this paper, we proposed a fast frequency hopping technique by employing configurable external oscillator, and proposed a multi-channel phase synchronization technique based on phase pre-calibration. The techniques are validated on a 16-channel AD9361 acquisition system and the result show the design provides a reference for system design under the SWaP constraint.