On orbit programmable frequency generation system for JCSAT 9 spacecraft

The JCSAT 9 Communications Satellite, developed by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems using an A2100 [1] spacecraft, will use an on-orbit configurable Frequency Generation Unit (FGU) that is SEU hard and total dose tolerant. The spacecraft is due for launch in 2005. The FGU design [2] illustrates the principles and benefits of a single loop synthesizer generating low noise and multiple local oscillators for various frequency (up/down) converters in the payload. Nineteen phase-locked loops are configured to provide coherent, multiple, and redundant C and L band local oscillator frequencies by combining digital, analog and microwave concepts to achieve small size, low mass, low DC power consumption, low phase noise, and spectral purity.