How to Build a High-Performance SSB Upconverter

Upconverters are ubiquitous in modern RF systems, translating everything from baseband quadrature DDS signals to many of today’s mmWave signals. An X-band upconverter with sideband suppression utilizing an IQ mixer is prototyped in this article to enable the reader to better understand the up-conversion process and the mathematics behind sideband suppression itself.

While integrated forms of upconverters are widely available for many applications, it is interesting to construct a modular upconverter with a significant number of Mini-Circuits’ parts to see how the components interact and how each contributes to overall system performance. Filtering, frequency multiplication, amplification, signals in quadrature, and sideband suppression are a few of the concepts covered when reviewing the system architecture. Finally, we discuss use cases where up-conversion combined with sideband suppression is essential for achieving RF system performance goals.

Affordable Solutions for Testing 28 GHz 5G Devices with Your 6 GHz Lab Instrumentation

The capabilities that define the 5G wireless standard will require utilization of wider bandwidths across more regions of spectrum than any current wireless technology.  5G communications will eventually occupy multiple bands from below 6 GHz to above 60 GHz.  For now, much of the development effort is divided among sub-6 GHz bands for vehicular connectivity and longer-range transmissions, and the 26, 28, 38 and 60 GHz bands for enhanced mobile broadband applications.  The migration to higher frequencies and the multi-band nature of the technology pose a variety of unique challenges for designers developing 5G devices and network equipment.  Significant among these is the high cost of instrumentation for test and measurement over such a wide range of frequencies.