RADIO FREQUENCY SUBSYSTEM

The RF subsystem usually contains:

On receiving side
Low noise amplifying equipment and
equipment for routing the received carriers to the
demodulating channel.

On transmitting side
Equipment for coupling the transmitted
carriers and power amplifier

SYSTEM NOISE TEMPERATURE

Line loss:
Consider a lossy line having power loss L. Let
TL, the effective noise temperature of line.
TL = (L-1) TF
Where TF= Thermodynamic temperature (close to
290K)
If G is the gain of the lossy line then
G=1/L

COMPOSITE NOISE TEMPERATURE

TCOMB = TL + (TR/ GL)

= TL + L TR
=(L -1)TF + L TR

RECEIVING EQUIPMENT
The noise temperature may be
determined at two point

At the antenna output, before

the feeder losses, temp T1
At the receiver input, after the
losses, temp T2
Temperature T1 is the sum of
the noise temperature of the
antenna TA and the noise
temperature of the subsystem
(feeder and the receiver in
cascade)
T1= TA + TCOMB

TCOMB= TFRX + (TeRX/GFRX)

= (LFRX - 1) TF + (TeRX/GFRX)
T1 = TA +(LFRX - 1) TF + (TeRX/GFRX)

At a receiver input, the noise must be attenuated by a factor LFRX

T2 = (T1/LFRX)
T2 = (TA/LFRX) + TF (1 - 1/LFRX) +TeRX

The noise temperature T2 (noise generated by the antenna and the

feeder together with the receiver noise) is called the SYSTEM NOISE
TEMPERATURE at the receiver input.

RECEIVER FRONT END BLOCK

DIAGRAM

TeRX = TLNA + (TFRX/GLNA) + (TMX/GLNA G1) + (TFRX2/ GLNA GMX G1) +( TIF/ GLNA G1 GMX G2)

substituting G1=1/L1 and G2=1/L2

TeRX = TLNA + (TF(L1-1)/GLNA) + (L1 TMX/GLNA ) + (TF(L2-1) L1/ GLNA GMX) +(L1 L2 TIF/ GLNA GMX )

At a given antenna temperature TA,

The total system temperature T = TA + TeRX

Our main goal is to reduce the total system temperature at

receiving side

TeRX = TLNA + (TF(L1-1)/GLNA) + (L1 TMX/GLNA ) + (TF(L2-1) L1/ GLNA GMX) +(L1 L2 TIF/ GLNA GMX )

So at a given antenna temperature, the system noise temperature

T is reduced by
1. Minimising the feeder loss (i.e L1 and L2)
2. Increase the gain of amplifier ( eg GLNA)
Contribution of the feeder loss is efficiently reduced by locating
the first stage of the receiver as close as possible to the antenna
feed
For small stations, frequency conversion and low noise
amplification (LNA) can be combined in equipment called LOW
NOISE BLOCK (LNB) so that L1=0

LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER

Basic amplifiers: BJTs and FETs

BJT cause (shot) noise other than thermal noise and can
provide mediocre performance at high frequency
FET noise is mainly due to thermal origin and can be
reduced by selecting
1. the type of semiconductor used
2. the geometric characteristics of the transistor

Finally, the appearance of high electron mobility

transistors (HEMTs) has enabled the noise temperature to
be further reduced, particularly at high frequencies (20
GHz)

FREQUENCY DOWNCONVERSION

Frequencies are down converted because filtering and

signal processing is easy at low frequencies.
Two methods
1. Fullband conversion
2. Carrier by Carrier conversion

TRANSMISSION EQUIPMENT

The available carrier power PT at the antenna

PT = (PHPA)(1/LFTX)(1/LMC)

PHPA: Power of power amplifier

LFTX: Feeder loss between output of the amplifier and the
antenna interface
LMC: power loss due to multiple carrier operation

POWER AMPLIFIERS

The power amplifier subsystem uses a tube or transistor

power stage which may be associated with a preamplifier
and a lineariser.
Tube Amplifier:
1. klystrons
2. Travelling Wave tube

Tube amplifiers enable high powers to be produced.

The choice between klystron and TWT depends on required
bandwidth (TWT has large bandwidth); for equal powers,
the cost advantage is with klystron.
Transistor amplifier
Semiconductor amplifiers provide power upto few 100W.
Usually use GaAs FET mounted in parallel
Used because of their low cost, linearity and wide
bandwidth

POWER AMPLIFIER
CHARACTERISTICS

Non Linearity

The maximum output power at saturation in single carrier

operation (PO1)sat is the rated power given in the manufacturers
data sheet (PHPA).
With solid state amplifiers that cannot be operated at saturation,
the maximum output power is specified by 1dB compression
point.
When the carriers are modulated, the intermodulation products
which fall within the useful bandwidth of the amplifier behave as
a noise.
To limit intermodulation noise when several carriers are
amplified simultaneously to a value compatible with the overall
link budget requirement, amplifiers are operated below
saturation region.

The output back-off(OBO), defined as the ratio of the

output power delivered on one of the n carriers(PON) to the
saturation power, determines the position of the operating
point.
OBO=PON/PHPA

The power delivered at the amplifier output for the carrier

concerned is
PON = PHPA* OBO

The total back-off is sometimes defined as the ratio of the

total power available on all N carriers to the saturation power
in single carrier operation.

LINEARISERS

Used in order to limit the effects of amplifier non-linearity.

Combined with the pre-amplifier, or located before it, most
linearisers produce amplitude and phase distortion of the
signal in order to compensate for the specific characteristics
of the power amplifier .
For a given level of intermodulation noise, the lineariser
permits a reduction of back-off (in absolute value); that is
the amplifier is operated closer to saturation.
The reduction of back-off provides a considerably greater
available carrier power for an amplifier of given saturation
power and potential cost, power consumption and bulk
reduction.

CARRIER PRE-COUPLING

Carrier coupling can be performed at a low power before

power amplification.
The power loss LMC caused by multicarrier operation is
given as
(LMC)ES = -(OBO)ES

ADVANTAGES

The advantages of pre-coupling lie in the simplicity of coupling

and the flexibility to adapt to changes in the number and
bandwidth of carriers.
The number of amplifiers is also minimised.

DISADVANTAGES

This mode of coupling introduces a source of intermodulation

noise in the earth segment which affects the overall link budget.
The amplifier must have a sufficient bandwidth to amplify the
different carriers (this can prohibit the use of a klystron which
would otherwise be more economic).

CARRIER POST-COUPLING

Coupling can also be performed after separate amplification of

each carrier.
It is then necessary to have as many amplifiers as there are
carriers (plus any back-up equipment).
Each amplifier amplifies only one carrier; the amplifiers can
therefore operate at saturation.
Since each carrier is amplified separately, the required
bandwidth is limited.