volume | PIER Journals

2011-04-01

Design of a Microstrip Balanced Mixer for Satellite Communication

Jian Guo,

Dr. Jian Guo

Southeast University

China

Homepage

Zhengbin Xu,

Dr. Zhengbin Xu

Southeast University

China

Homepage

Cheng Qian,

Dr. Cheng Qian

Southeast University

China

Homepage

Wen-Bin Dou

Dr. Wen-Bin Dou

Southeast University

China

Homepage

Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 115, 289-301, 2011

doi:10.2528/PIER11022109

Abstract

The design and measured results of a compact, low cost, low conversion loss microstrip single balanced Schottky diodes mixer is proposed. This mixer is designed for Ka-band satellite transponder simulator to convert the 30 GHz radio-frequency (RF) signal down to the 20 GHz intermediate-frequency (IF) signal with 9.8 GHz local oscillator (LO) frequency. This design takes full advantage of the frequency relationship of the RF, IF and LO, which is 3 : 2 : 1. A microstrip rat-race ring is designed at the LO frequency, which also functions as a 180-degree hybrid coupler at the RF frequency by its intrinsic multi-band characteristic. The amplitude and phase balance at both LO and RF frequency are analyzed, which guarantee the state-of-art performance of this single balanced mixer. The multi-function open/short stubs and a lowpass filter (LPF) with bonding wires across the rat-race ring are optimized to realize this low conversion loss mixer. The measured results show that the conversion loss is less than 9 dB at the IF frequency from 20.0 to 21.6 GHz, and the power of the second harmonic of LO is -45dBm with +6.5dBm LO drive power. The 3rd order inter-modulation products (IMD3) could be lower than -50 dBc with LO power higher than +7.8dBm at the input RF power of -15 dBm.

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Jian Guo, Zhengbin Xu, Cheng Qian, and Wen-Bin Dou, "Design of a Microstrip Balanced Mixer for Satellite Communication," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 115, 289-301, 2011.
doi:10.2528/PIER11022109

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