ADI’s EV-RADAR-MMIC2 evaluation board is designed to evaluate the performance of the ADF5901, a 24 GHz transmitter; the ADF5904, a 24 GHz receiver (Rx) MMIC; and the ADF4159, a 13 GHz PLL for a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar system. This board requires either EVAL-SDP-CS1Z or EVAL-SDP-CB1Z to operate.

The ADF5901 is a 24 GHz Tx monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) with an on-chip, 24 GHz voltage controller oscillator (VCO) with PGA and dual Tx channels for radar systems. The on-chip, 24 GHz VCO generates the 24 GHz signal for the two Tx channels and the LO output. Each Tx channel contains a power control circuit. There is also an on-chip temperature sensor.

The ADF5904 is a 4-channel, 24 GHz, receiver downconverter. Each channel contains a single-ended RF input with an on-chip balun followed by a differential low noise amplifier (LNA) and a downconverter mixer with differential output buffers. The RF LO path also has an on-chip balun.

The ADF4159 is a 13 GHz, fractional-N frequency synthesizer with modulation and both fast and slow waveform generation capability. The part uses a 25-bit fixed modulus, allowing subhertz frequency resolution. ADF4159 consists of a low noise digital phase frequency detector (PFD), a precision charge pump, and a programmable reference divider. The Σ-Δ-based fractional interpolator allows programmable fractional-N division. The INT and FRAC registers define an overall N divider as N = INT + (FRAC/225).