W- to Ka-band Frequency Converter for Ultra-High Throughput Satellite Systems

Abstract

This paper presents the design and test results of a W-to Ka-band Frequency Converter (Docon) for satellite communication application developed in Thales Alenia Space Italia (TAS-I) under a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) operating in the frequency ranges from 81–86 GHz to 17.2-20.2 GHz. The Docon features 65 dB of conversion Gain compensated in temperature, a Noise Figure of 5.5 dB at ambient temperature, including the input isolator, and linear amplification of the useful multicarrier signal resulting in a total Third Order Intercept point (OTOI) of +30 dBm. The output spectrum is practically spurious-free in band, only showing the residual out-of-band LO signal at a level well below −40 dBm. Docons are key elements in satellite communications payloads, allowing the translation of uplink frequency to the downlink user frequency band. The rationale for exploiting the W - band is the larger and continuous bandwidth at disposal, roughly twice the one currently available in Q/V-band. Consequently, the number of user beams associated with a single gateway is almost doubled. Several custom MMICs have been developed for this project by using the space qualified PH10 GaAs process from UMS. To the best of the knowledge of the authors, this is the first Docon operating in W-band ever realised for space applications