Simultaneous dual band Galileo/GPS receiver RF front-end

A result of the "IRGAL, Innovation and Research GALileo" project

The reconfigurable and simultaneous dual band Galileo/GPS front-end receiver has been realized on 0.13ìm RF CMOS technology.
The front-end uses only one fixed frequency PLL and VCO on a superheterodyne architecture to down-convert two RF (Radio Frequency) signals into two IF (intermediate frequency) signals in the range of 50MHz to 150Mhz. L1 and E1 signals are converted on one channel with two mixing stages (two mixers). L2, E6, E5, E5a, E5b signals are down-converted with one single stage conversion.
The two IF down-converted channels are filtered and then under-sampled by two on chip ADC (Analog to Digital Converter). The satellite channels can be selected and reconfigured simply by changing the ADC sampling frequency according to the frequency plan and the off chip RF/IF filters. No PLL and VCO reconfiguration is needed.