Microelectromechanical devices for multimode communication systems

Several new microelectromechanical (MEM) devices are being applied in the development of a 20 MHz to 40 GHz, multimode digital programmable software radio known as Ultra Comm. Utilization of these MEM devices, along with numerous other miniaturization technologies, has allowed the Ultra Comm program to achieve unprecedented advances in size, weight, power and performance. MEM devices are used extensively for tunable filters, radio frequency (RF) switches, and tunable matching networks. These devices have the characteristic of extremely high-Q operation (filters, resonators) and/or low insertion loss/high isolation (switches), while drawing negligible quiescent current because of the electrostatic principles upon which they operate. In addition to a detailed description of the MEM devices being developed and utilized by Ultra Comm, this paper will describe the overall radio architecture used and highlight some of the other advanced technologies being employed.