4. What does a typical receiver chain look like and what is the role of the components?
A typical receiver chain for a 11.7-12.2 GHz satellite system is shown above. We have an LNA (low
noise amplifier), a filter, followed by a mixer/oscillator which translates ±the frequency to 1.2-1.7 GHz,
and then in IF (intermediate frequency) amplifier, an IF filter, followed by yet another mixer/oscillator at
1.2-1.7 GHz to bring us to the baseband.
So what is mixer? And why do we need to translate the frequency to 1.2-1.7 GHz and then again to
baseband? Well, read on to see the role of each component:
LNA: This component amplifies the signal at 11.7-12.2 GHz and adds the lowest noise possible
to the receiver. Typical amplification level is 10-16 dB. This is, of course, not enough knowing
that the signal is at -100 dBm, but we just need to boost the signal to overcome the mixer
loss/noise.
Before we go on, can we just amplify the signal by 110 dB at 11.7-12.2 GHz to get a signal level of 10
dBm (this is about 0.7Vrms in a 50 ohm system), then take off the modulated signal from the 11.7-12.2
GHz spectrum? The answer to this is: No! First, 110 dB gain amplifiers at 11.7-12.2 GHz (or even at 2
GHz for cell phones) are very hard to build and are prone to severe problems since any fF-level
capacitance feedback from the input to the output can cause oscillations. Also, they consume an immense
amount of current since we are working close to the unity-gain frequency of the transistor. Third, once we
have amplified the signal to 10 dBm, it is still at 11.7-12.2 GHz, and we need extremely fast digita