A Measurement Summary of Distributed Direct Sampling S-Band Receivers for Phased Arrays

Increased analog-to-digital converters (ADC) sample rates currently enable direct sampling RF systems through S-band and beyond. Advancements in ADC technology have enabled the proliferation of digital beamforming phased arrays. With these advancements, industry questions remain both on the single-channel performance capability of a direct sampling receiver and also the dynamic range improvements possible when many direct sampling receivers are distributed in large phased arrays.

Despite the significant industry effort by both semiconductor companies developing the latest data converters and large company system integrators improving phased array architectures, there remain limited published data quantifying the achievable performance improvements from high channel count direct sampling receiver systems, which coherently combine data from multiple distributed receivers.

This white paper presents quantifiable measurements that system engineers can use to inform their own large phased array models. The data collection is merely one set of basic measurements to consider when creating a much more complicated phased array system model.

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