NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) 19910006638: Digital frequency synthesizer for radar astronomy

by: NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Publication date: 1990-08-15

Topics: NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS), DIGITAL RADAR SYSTEMS, FREQUENCY SYNTHESIZERS, OSCILLATORS, RADAR ASTRONOMY, DEEP SPACE NETWORK, DESIGN ANALYSIS, FREQUENCIES, PURITY, SPECTRA, Sadr, R., Satorius, E., Robinett, L., Olson, E.,

Collection: NASA_NTRS_Archive; additional_collections

Language: English

The digital frequency synthesizer (DFS) is an integral part of the programmable local oscillator (PLO) which is being developed for the NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) and radar astronomy. Here, the theory of operation and the design of the DFS are discussed, and the design parameters in application for the Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) are specified. The spectral purity of the DFS is evaluated by analytically evaluating the output spectrum of the DFS. A novel architecture is proposed for the design of the DFS with a frequency resolution of 1/2(exp 48) of the clock frequency (0.35 mu Hz at 100 MHz), a phase resolution of 0.0056 degrees (16 bits), and a frequency spur attenuation of -96 dBc.