The 3U RF Up/Down Converter from Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions (CAES) operates from 0.5 to 18 GHz. This SOSA-aligned, single 3U slot up/down RF converter has an integrated LO and supports frequency preselection. It has an IF of 3.5 GHz and a tuning speed of 350 ns. The converter has a modular architecture and can accommodate various channel configurations such as 1 up and 1 down, 2 up or 2 down.
The synthesizer utilizes a wideband DDS, mixed with several fixed pickets, to provide agile LOs for fast tuning of the converters. This SOSA-aligned RF payload card provides a gain of 25 dB, has a noise figure of less than 19 dB, and an output P1dB of 17/20 dBm. It has an IF of 3.5 GHz and a tuning speed of 350 ns. The converter requires a DC supply of 12 V and consumes less than 85 W of power. It is available in a 3U, 1” single-slot form factor with a higher channel configuration available in a 6U form factor (coming soon as of Dec 21). The converter has been developed for use in phase-coherent applications in electronic warfare, ELINT, and electronic support/surveillance/attack systems.
