The F6123 from Renesas is a 16-Channel Dual-Beam Beamformer IC that operates in the Ku/CDL band from 14.4 to 17.3 GHz. It has eight RF input ports, two RF output ports, and 16 (8 per beam) phase/amplitude control channels. The eight input ports of the IC can be driven by eight single-polarized elements or four dual-polarized elements of an electronically scanned array (ESA). The IC provides a dynamic gain of 26 dB in 0.45 dB steps at each channel and achieves a cascaded gain of 30 dB when paired with the Renesas F6923 LNA. It requires a DC voltage of 2.1-2.5 V.
The F6123 has power management features such as low-power standby mode, independent enable controls on every channel, and a single-beam mode. The device SPI bus and control pins operate from standard 1.8 V logic at speeds of up to 50 MHz. Advanced digital modes and large on-chip memory achieve beam position switching times lower than 100 ns at the array level which greatly reduces dead time and latency.
The F6123 is available in a CTE-matched FCBGA organic package that measures 3.8 x 4.6 x 0.9 mm and is ideal for application in phased array antennas, Ku-band SATCOM terminals, Common Data Link (CDL) terminals, Ku-band radar, aerospace, maritime & SOTM, and instrumentation.
