Mixed-Signal Front End Provides Full Signal-Chain Solutions

July 6, 2023

Analog Devices’ wideband Apollo MxFE front-end SiP, which covers 0.5 to 55 GHz, is software-definable to address a plethora of applications.

David Maliniak

Related To: Microwaves & RF

This video appeared in Microwaves & RF and has been published here with permission.

This video is part of Microwaves & RF's IMS 2023 coverage.

One of the most impressive launches at IMS this year was Analog Devices' Apollo MxFE, a wideband, software-defined, mixed-signal front-end platform. This video brings you two demos:

First, Mosleh Uddin, senior embedded-systems engineer at ADI, demonstrates the companys' new 6G spectrum-analyzer reference design. The demo uses the Apollo MxFE's 12-bit ADCs sampling at 20 Gsamples/s and ADI's 6- to 18-GHz RF front-end board as the RF signal chain. A Rohde & Schwarz signal generator sends a 7-GHz received carrier to the front end of the 6- to 18-GHz board. A local-oscillator signal of 5.5 GHz is mixed in to feed a 1.5-GHz signal to the Apollo MxFE board.

The Apollo MxFE board has a 1.3-GHz NCO frequency, which is further mixed down to a 200-MHz signal going into the ADCs. The live spectrum-analyzer output shows a 200-MHz peak. The reference design maintains a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 50 dB.

In the second demo (beginning at the 1:35 mark), Brad Hall, system applications manager for ADI's aerospace and defense unit, shows a chipset solution based on the Apollo MxFE that covers 0.5 up to 55 GHz. The Apollo MxFE contains four ADCs sampling at up to 20 Gsamples/s and four DACs sampling up to 28 Gsamples/s; the device has an analog front-end bandwidth of up to 18 GHz.

The demo pairs two other ADI devices (the ADMFM2000 LNA SiP and ADMV1455 mixer/downconverter) with the Apollo MxFE to extend and condition the RF signals up to 55 GHz. Also included is LO generation, performed by ADI's ADF4371 wideband synthesizer. The end result is a very low SWaP solution for a wideband front-end implementation.

For more information, visit the company's website

About the Author

David Maliniak | MWRF Executive Editor

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.