A New Type of E-Plane Upconverter for Space Applications

Published work on MIC mixers has dealt with downconverter applications [1-3]. This paper describes a low conversion loss upconverter which has been designed to operate over a wide bandwidth with a high level of intermodulation suppression in a space environment. The design and measured performance of an E-plane upconverter for frequency conversion from 4 to 20 GHz is described. The mixer uses beam-lead diodes and is realized in a single-balanced configuration on a soft substrate. The circuit is clamped in the E-plane of a waveguide housing. The conversion loss of the mixer is 6.5 ± 1.1 dB over a 700 MHz RF bandwidth for LO power levels of +11 dBm to +15 dBm, and more than 40 dB suppression of 3rd order intermodulation products is achieved. Thermal and vibration test data show that this configuration is rugged and thus has potential for application in space and other hostile environments.