Technical Insight
TRW produces frequency synthesizer (GaAs NEWS)
TRW has used its InP device technology to produce a direct digital frequency synthesizer operating at 7 GHz, which the company claims is the world s fastest such IC. Developed under contract to the US Navy s Office of Naval Research (ONR), the circuit contains more than 3000 HBTs and operates up to three times faster than current synthesizers (see ). Digital synthesizers look set to benefit future military electronic systems such as radar by providing fast, accurate frequency and phase change information, which is needed to detect the position of rapidly moving targets. In addition, direct digital synthesis technology contributes to lower phase noise and improved system sensitivity. "High-speed direct digital frequency synthesis will enable us to develop the Navy s next-generation electromagnetic systems employing Advanced Multifunction Radio Frequency Concepts (AMRF-C)," said Max Yoder, director of the Electronics Division at ONR. "AMRF-C is expected to provide the basis to combine communications, radar and electronic warfare functions into a single, integrated aperture. Direct digital frequency synthesizers provide better control over signal frequency and phase than conventional analog synthesizers." "Our development of InP for commercial markets gives us the volume production we need to reduce the cost of this breakthrough technology, benefiting the Navy and positioning us to bring high-speed digital frequency synthesizers to telecommunications system developers," said Dwight Streit, president of Velocium.
