Modular, Multi-Function Digital-RF Receiver Systems

Superconductor digital receiver systems of increasing functionality, modularity and user-friendliness have been developed. The modular design methodology ensures that within its input-output and heat load capacity, the system can be reconfigured to perform a different function by changing the chip module and by reprogramming FPGA-based digital signal processors. One of the systems (ADR-004), originally equipped with a 10 × 10 mm² channelizing receiver chip for signals intelligence application, was reconfigured with a 5 × 5 mm² 1.1-GHz bandpass ADC chip to perform world´s first multi-net Link-16 demonstration at a U.S. Navy facility. Substantial improvements in system integration have been obtained in each successive generation of digital-RF receiver systems. The latest (third) generation system (ADR-005), hosting a 5 × 5 mm² 7.5-GHz bandpass ADC chip and an FPGA channelizer, successfully repeated the over-the-air SATCOM demonstration performed previously using a 1-cm² single-chip bandpass digital receiver with an on-chip superconductor channelizer. This system ran error-free for over 12 hours with and without a low-noise amplifier. To our knowledge, this is the first time an X-band SATCOM receiver has been operated without analog amplification and down-conversion in a military application.