Low Cost Ka Band Transceiver for Digital Radios

The wireless revolution has created a number of new opportunities for microwave technology. Point to point radios have been used to connect cellular and PCN cell sites with the central switching station as well as for private data links. 15,18,23 and 38 GHz radio bands have emerged as internationally accepted bands for the emerging of wireless applications. Point to multi point radios are being used for the last mile access at 24, 28 and 38 GHz. The radios however need to be cost competitive to leasing equivalent wireline capacity from local telephone or cable TV companies. The most expensive component is the transceiver in these frequencies. In this paper we describes a low cost, high performance transceiver for the 38.6-40 GHz band. A high performance low cost transceiver is presented using thin film technology and standard semiconductor devices and MMICs. Design of various components is described and some of the system design considerations are discussed.