A CMOS RF front-end IC for multi antenna diversity applications in the S-band

In recent years the reception of audio broadcast signals via satellite has become popular, especially in the United States with the SDARS-system, supplying high quality broadcast services in particular to customers with mobile usage scenarios like in cars. There, the problem of reception impairments due to multipath wave propagation in urban areas or influences from dense foliage of the surrounding vegetation affects the broadcast quality. A possibility to minimize signal interruptions and to enhance the reception quality is the application of fast switchable multi antenna diversity receivers. In this paper we present the concept of an integrated RF front-end IC for such a system and describe the design of several important building blocks. The circuits are implemented in a 150 nm CMOS technology from LFoundry in Landshut, Germany.