A K/Ka-Band mmWave Radio-over-Fiber Transceiver Front-End with co-designed SiGe EIC and SiPh PIC for Intra-Satellite Links

To meet the demand for low cost, size, weight, and power (C-SWAP) signal routing in the growing satellite and space markets, we propose and demonstrate an all-silicon fully-integrated mmWave radio-over-fiber transceiver front-end for frequency bands in the 18-36GHz range. The RX uses a Ge PD, followed by a resonant photoreceiver and a resonant driver on the RFIC. The TX uses a resonant pre-driver and resonant driver on the RFIC, and a SiPh TW-MZM on the PIC. The RX and TX, both designed in a radiation-tolerant SiGe BiCMOS technology, exhibit a total DC power consumption of 212mW and 230 mW, respectively. The full radio-over-fiber link is characterized through VNA-measurments and its performance is verified through time domain experiments at different carrier frequencies, resulting in 1GBd 128QAM with 5.4% EVM, 5GBd 64QAM with 9.1% EVM on a 22GHz carrier, and 10GBd 16/32QAM with 11.2% EVM on a 28GHz carrier.