An Integrated K-Band Receiving Front-End Module for Satellite Communication

In this work, a four-channel RF receiving front-end module is developed in multilayer low-temperature co-fired ceramic for satellite communication with the operating frequency band of 17.7~20.2 GHz. The dies of low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, attenuators and series-to-parallel convertors are integrated within the volume of 28×28×1.25 mm³, together with an embedded power combiner and lowpass filters. In measurements, the in-band channel gain is greater than 31.5 dB, with the noise figure of 2.3~2.6 dB, and the suppression against the transmitting band of 28~30 GHz is over 50 dB. The controls of 6-bit phase shifting and 5-bit amplitude are also demonstrated.