HamGeek RFNM Motherboard RF Development Board for Software Defined Radio/Signal Generator/Oscilloscope

Description: - The RFNM motherboard is a new concept, so it's worth taking a few seconds to understand it. - In a nutshell, the most complicated parts are consolidated into a single block, the motherboard, and all of the interesting and fun bits are exposed via the RFNM Interface to daughterboards. - What is packed into this motherboard are the common components required for many different applications, such as: Software Defined Radios Signal Generators Oscilloscopes Anything requiring good ADCs/DACs and clocking/timing - RFNM Interface: The RFNM Interface is what connects the complicated bits in the motherboard to the daughterboards implementing specific applications. - Those can be straightforward, like the Breakout Board that we are using for development purposes, or also be very complicated, like the Granita Board. - You are encouraged to develop your own RFNM Daughterboard. To do so, you can use the Template Board as your starting point. Functionality exposed to the daughterboards: - We have two daughterboard interfaces, a Primary (also called RBA for Radio Board A in the schematics or code) and a Secondary (RBB). - The Primary is physically closer to the LA9310, and is intended to offer the highest performance. It is also the only daughterboard that can transmit data via the DACs, as the LA9310 only has one DAC I/Q interface. - The secondary is close to a MIPI DSI interface, that can be used to offer a future display daughterboard for a portable spectrum analyzer application. Other than this, the functionality between the two connectors is mostly symmetrical. On each interface, we have: - 2x I/Q ADC pairs, 4x differential ADCs. - 2x I/Q DAC pair (for the current motherboard, only one pair is connected, only on the Primary interface). - 2x differential clocks directly from the Si5510 (up to 650 MHz fractional). - PPS input for synchronization (Time Appliance Project, only on Primary). - SPI, I2C, GPIOs and CAN. - Front-end latches. - Granita RF Board - The Granita is a RFNM daughterboard named after the Granita chip for Arctic Semiconductors. It is similar in performance to the chip for IceWings, for which a datasheet is available. 10-6300 MHz operation: - 600 to 6300 MHz directly via the Granita chip, with an external RFFC2071 mixer extending it down to 10 MHz. - Concurrent transmission and reception on two different frequencies, or two different receive channels active at the same time. - Two low phase noise synthesizers, each connected to a receive path, to allow tuning one PLL while using the other in a ping-pong manner to sweep extremely fast while sampling the same RF input (switched at the front-end). - Complex front-end with 13 preselection filters, several LNAs, two chained transmit amplifiers and variable attenuators. Transmission power of around 20dBm. Find a block diagram of the front-end here. - Two embedded antennas covering most of the operating frequency, Pulse W3796 and Partron ACS5200HFAUWB.Lime RF Board - This daughterboard can cover 1-3500 MHz in a simplex configuration (one transmit or receive chain active at any given time). It is based on the LMS7002M chip from Lime Microsystems. 1-3500 MHz operation, one transmit or receive chain active at a time. - 13 front-end filters, seven of which below 480 MHz. - 4x LNAs and 2x chained transmit amplifiers with variable attenuators. - While the current prototype doesn't have an embedded antenna, the release version will add the same Pulse W3796 we currently have on the Granita board. Package Included: - 1 x HamGeek RFNM Board