A miniaturized, high performance coherent direct synthesizer for airborne applications

A coherent direct Local Oscillator Synthesizer (LOS) with built-in serrodyning capabilities for Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) is presented. This miniaturized design consisting of 19 separate modules and circuit boards was developed for the defensive avionics of the B-1B Bomber. The paper discusses in detail the hardware design, analysis and performance specifications. State-of-the-art techniques include high isolation design (>80 dB channel-to-channel isolation) and a digital correction scheme for improved serrodyne characteristics (carrier and sideband suppression). The design techniques presented in this paper establish the basis for the next generation high performance, high reliability, miniaturized microwave systems for airborne applications.