PLL frequency synthesis in on-board satellite L-band front-end

Abstract

A new concept of local oscillator signal generation in an L-band front-end is presented. The front-end is designed as part of the new AMSAT phase 3E satellite. High reliability and low power consumption of the receiver is required. For slow rate data transmissions such as telemetry PSK, highly stable local oscillators in the double conversion receiver are required as well as retuning of the first oscillator. The conventional solution uses a stable quartz oscillator with frequency multipliers. The invention of the receiver design consists in replacement of frequency multipliers by the double PLL synthesizer synchronized by an ultra stable oscillator positioned on-board the satellite.