RF Front-End Concept and Implementation for Direct Sampling of Multiband Signals

The placement of the analog-to-digital converter as near the antenna as possible is a key issue in the software-defined radio receiver design. Direct sampling of the incoming filtered signal is a compact solution enabling channel simultaneity. In this brief, in the context of evenly spaced equal-bandwidth multiband systems, sufficient conditions for the channel allocation assuring that the minimum sub-Nyquist sampling frequency does not imply aliasing are provided. Subsequently, as a validation example, the design of a minimum-sampling-frequency acquisition system for quad-band applications within a ultrawideband frequency range is shown. Moreover, an innovative solution for its radio-frequency front end, basically consisting of a signal-interference multiband bandpass filter, is reported. Experimental results of the built microstrip-filter prototype for the proposed 1-3-GHz-range quad-band system are also given.