AD9361 RF Transceiver Manufacturer, Features, Structure and Working Principle

Ⅰ. Overview of AD9361 RF transceiver

Ⅱ. Manufacturer of AD9361 RF transceiver

Ⅲ. Block diagram of AD9361 RF transceiver

Ⅳ. Structure and working principle of AD9361 RF transceiver

Ⅴ. Features of AD9361 RF transceiver

Ⅵ. Technical parameters of AD9361 RF transceiver

Ⅶ. Comparison of AD9361 vs AD9363 vs AD9364 vs AD9371

Ⅷ. Typical performance characteristics of AD9361 RF transceiver

Ⅸ. Applications of AD9361 RF transceiver

The AD9361 is a high-performance, low-power, software-defined RF transceiver chip designed to support a variety of programmable radio applications. This article mainly introduces its basic concepts, manufacturer, technical parameters, features, working principle and applications, so that you can better understand this RF transceiver.

AD9361 is a highly integrated radio frequency transceiver suitable for a wide range of application scenarios. The device integrates all necessary RF, mixed-signal and digital blocks to provide all transceiver functions. Its operating frequency range is 70 MHz to 6.0 GHz, and the transmitter operating frequency range is 47 MHz to 6.0 GHz, which covers most licensed and license-exempt frequency bands. In addition, it supports a channel bandwidth range from below 200 kHz to 56 MHz.

The wideband transceiver's programmability makes it suitable for a variety of communications standards, including frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) systems. In addition, this programmability allows it to interface with a variety of baseband processors (BBPs) through a single-channel 12-bit parallel data port, a dual-channel 12-bit parallel data port, or a 12-bit low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) interface connect.

The AD9361 provides a self-calibration and automatic gain control (AGC) system to maintain high performance over a wide range of temperature and input signal conditions. In addition, the device includes several test modes that enable system designers to insert test tones, create internal loopback modes to debug designs during prototyping, and optimize radio configurations for specific applications.

Replacements and equivalents:

• AD9364

• AD9371

AD9361 is a high-performance, highly integrated radio frequency solution launched by Analog Devices for 3G and 4G base station applications. Analog Devices is a well-known analog device company founded by Ray Stata and Matthew Lorber in 1965. It enjoys a leading position worldwide with its widely recognized data conversion and signal processing technology. The company develops, produces, and sells high-performance analog, digital, and mixed-signal ICs that are widely used in various types of signal processing, and is a leader in precision high-performance ICs for analog and digital signal processing. The company's main products include systems and ICs and general-purpose standard linear ICs. Furthermore, it manufactures devices utilizing assembly technology as well.

AD9361 mainly includes three aspects, namely radio frequency transceiver function, digital signal processing and control interface.

AD9361 has radio frequency transceiver function. It integrates the transceiver antenna interface, the transceiver and RF front-end, and the transceiver and RF mixer. The antenna interface is connected to the external antenna. The transmitter and receiver front-end is responsible for amplifying and filtering the radio frequency signal, while the transmitter and transmitter frequency mixer is responsible for converting the radio frequency signal into an intermediate frequency signal. With these functional modules, AD9361 can receive and transmit radio frequency signals.

It also has digital signal processing capabilities. It includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to convert analog signals to digital signals and digital signals to analog signals. The digital signal processor is responsible for efficient processing and demodulation of the received digital signals, and transmits the processed digital signals to the control interface for further processing. Through the digital signal processing function, AD9361 can perform demodulation, filtering, modulation and other operations on the received signal.

The AD9361 also includes a set of control interfaces for communicating with external control systems. The control interface includes SPI interface and GPIO interface, which are used for various operations, such as configuring AD9361 parameter settings, operating mode and status reading, etc. Through these interfaces, the external control system can flexibly control and configure the AD9361.

• The digital interface supports LVDS mode and CMOS mode, with a maximum transmission rate of 122.88M.

• The channel's gain control functionality supports both manual gain control (MGC) and automatic gain control (AGC).

• Both the DAC and ADC have a bit width of 12 bits.

• It integrates a fractional-N frequency synthesizer internally to generate local oscillator. Among them, the maximum step size of the local oscillator is 2.4Hz.

• It can perform sending and receiving functions at the same time.

• The transmit and receive channel bandwidth ranges from 200KHz to 56MHz (limited by the bandwidth of the analog filter).

• It covers a wide operating frequency ranging from 70MHz to 6.0GHz.

• Dual receivers support 6 differential or 12 single-ended inputs; dual transmitters support 4 differential outputs.

AD9361, AD9363, AD9364 and AD9371 are a series of high-performance RF transceiver devices launched by ADI. The differences between them are as follows:

The AD9361 stands as a high-performing, energy-efficient RF transceiver designed for applications in wireless communications, aerospace, medical equipment, and various other domains. It accommodates a range of communication standards, including 2G, 3G, 4G, and LTE, boasting a maximum bandwidth of 20 MHz and a sampling rate of 61.44 MSPS.

AD9363 is a low-power, high-performance radio frequency transceiver suitable for the Internet of Things, wireless sensor networks and other fields. It supports multiple communication standards and features up to 20 MHz bandwidth and 61.44 MSPS sampling rate.

AD9364 is a high-performance, low-power RF transceiver suitable for aerospace, medical equipment, wireless communications and other fields. It is compatible with various communication standards, boasting a bandwidth of up to 20 MHz and a sampling rate reaching 61.44 MSPS. Additionally, it offers the benefits of minimal power consumption and a compact form factor.

AD9371 is a high-performance, highly integrated radio frequency transceiver suitable for 5G, satellite communications, LTE-Advanced Pro and other fields. It supports multiple frequency bands and has a bandwidth of up to 200 MHz and a sampling rate of 100 MSPS. It also integrates digital front-end, digital back-end and clock management functions.

• Medical equipment: AD9361 can be used in a variety of wireless sensor networks and medical imaging equipment, and its configurability features enable it to adapt to different medical application needs.

• Wireless communication systems: It is widely used in wireless communication systems such as base stations, RF front-ends, software-defined radio (SDR), etc. It supports multiple communication standards, including LTE, GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, etc., and can be flexibly adapted to different applications.

• Test and measurement instruments: The AD9361's flexibility and highly configurable features make it ideal for use in test and measurement instruments, especially in scenarios where different frequencies and signal types need to be processed. Its highly configurable features allow customized settings to meet a variety of testing needs.

• Satellite communication: It is applicable in satellite communication systems, accommodating diverse standards and frequency bands for satellite communication.

• Radar systems: It is well-suited for radar systems, particularly in scenarios demanding flexibility and adaptability. Its extensive array of configuration choices renders it appropriate for various radar applications, such as speed measurement, distance measurement, and target tracking.

• Radio spectrum monitoring: Due to its highly flexible frequency and bandwidth range, the AD9361 is commonly used in radio spectrum monitoring systems. This application can be used to monitor and identify signals in the radio spectrum, helping to manage and ensure efficient use of the spectrum.

• Software Defined Radio (SDR): The AD9361 can be used to build SDR systems, where the processing and modulation of radio signals is implemented in software without relying on hardware circuitry. This feature makes the system more flexible and able to adapt to different frequencies and communication standards.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is AD9361?

The AD9361 is a high performance, highly integrated radio frequency (RF) Agile Transceiver™ designed for use in 3G and 4G base station applications. Its programmability and wideband capability make it ideal for a broad range of transceiver applications.

2. What is the AD9361 RX signal path?

The AD9361 RX signal path passes downconverted signals (I and Q) to the baseband receiver section. The baseband RX signal path is composed of two programmable analog low-pass filters, a 12-bit ADC, and four stages of digital decimating filters. Each of the four decimating filters can be bypassed.

3. What is the range of AD9361?

The AD9361 chip operates in the 70 MHz to 6 GHz range, covering most licensed and unlicensed bands. The chip supports channel bandwidths from less than 200 kHz to 56 MHz by changing sample rate, digital filters, and decimation, which are all programmable within the AD9361 itself.

4. What is the difference between AD9364 and AD9361?

The AD9361's transmitter LO operates from 47 MHz to 6 GHz range and the receiver LO operates from 70 MHz to 6.0 GHz covering most licensed and unlicensed bands. The AD9364 is a 1 x 1 channel programmable transceiver that operates in the 70 MHz to 6.0 GHz range.

5. How does a RF transceiver work?

RF transceivers consist of an antenna to receive transmitted signals and a tuner to separate a specific signal from all of the other signals that the antenna receives. Detectors or demodulators extract information that was encoded before transmission. Radio techniques are used to limit localized interference and noise.