Description

The RF sampling receiver captures signals directly in the radio frequency (RF) band. In a multi-band application the desired signals are not very wide band but they are spaced far apart within the spectrum. The reference design captures signals in different RF bands and digitally down-converts them to baseband.

The reference design showcases the ADC32RF80 dual channel, 14-bit, 3-GSPS RF sampling telecom receiver. The device includes two digital down converters (DDC) per channel. The DDC offers decimation values from 8 to 32 and includes a 16-bit numerically controlled. With the high sampling rate of the ADC32RF80 the reference design captures a large swatch of RF spectrum which contains signals in multiple bands and potentially undesired interferers. The DDC independently mixes the desired bands to digital baseband. Decimation reduces the output data rate to a lower level and provides digital filtering around the desired band to eliminate interference and to improve signal-to-noise ratio performance. This feature is critical for high end telecommunication receivers that require high dynamic range.