The F6121 from Renesas is a Dual-Beam Rx Beamforming RFIC that operates from 10.7 to 12.75 GHz. This 16-Channel IC has been designed for Ku-Band SATCOM Planar phased array antennas. It has eight RF input ports, two RF output ports, and 16 (8 per beam) phase/amplitude control channels. The eight input ports of the IC may be driven by eight single-polarized elements or four dual-polarized elements of an electronically scanned array (ESA). Each channel has 6-bits of digital phase and gain control resolution spanning 360° and 28 dB of dynamic range with 0.45 dB step size enabling precise beam pattern and polarization control. When paired with the Renesas F6921 LNA, it achieves a nominal cascaded gain of 30dB, while minimizing the front-end feed loss due to the flexibility of LNA physical placement near the antenna feeds.
The F6121 requires a single supply of 2.1 to 2.5 V and includes SPI programmable power management features such as a low power standby mode, independent enable controls on every channel, low power bias mode, and single-beam operation mode. The device SPI bus and control pins operate from standard 1.8 V logic at speeds up to 50 MHz. Advanced digital modes and large on-chip memory allow for less than 100 ns beam position switching times at the array level, greatly reducing dead time and latency. It has an advanced digital mode with fast beam steering and on-chip beam-state memory.
This IC is available in a 63-pin FC-BGA package that measures 3.8 × 4.6 × 0.9 mm and is ideal for phased-array antenna systems, Ku-Band SATCOM Terminals, Aerospace, Maritime, and SOTM applications.
