, a re) NM etna olQ output of | ICs win 5) changes state. The edge | of this pulse also indicates whether the input signal exceeded the trig- | ger in a positive or in a negative ‘The output signal of the comparator is applied to a dual fourchannel | multiplexer, IC, The first part ofthis stage enables a choice to be made between the >Q output of the com: pparator and the external trigger input with the aid of the EXT signal. The second section, IC, is used to choose between the output of the fst multiplexer and the inverted out put signal, that is, between trig: gering atthe leading or atthe tailing edge of the input signal. The tigger signal is then fed 10 bistables FF: and FF where it is | combined with the CLK and INH | | signals. Bistable FF: also provides | the eighth data bit for the RAMS: a5 soon as the circuit is tiggered, its output goes high. The eighth data is also clocked in bistable FFs, after which itis used as ninth address bit for the memory via multiplexer | TCoo, During reading, the circuit is. | switched via ICan to the INH signal as ninth address line, whereas dur ing writing, the output of FF: is used for this purpose. ‘When the ninth address bit becomes logic 1, the address counter is reset via network RrCa Contro/ signals The connections between the drive arin Nome s066 11-21tt and the computer are shown in. | A logic Fig.4. A total of I? port lines a used: PAe to PAr, PB to PBs, a ore Signal MAN enables manual trig- | P@® gering via the keyboard. Bistable FF: | 1 data o} on the AC-DC line causes to be energized, so that ca: or Cr is short-circuited and DC in the input signal are the Te to Te lines deter- isthensetviaNs, which gate ensures | mines the trigger level. To enable that the MAN signal and the CLK | triggering at the zezo crossing of a | signal in the drive unit are syn- | signal, the value should be se! to chronized. | exactly half the signal level, that is, CPUL is the clock provided by the | 199000 because ofthe standard off. | computer for reading the RAMs (s_| sei of lV (Te = MSE pisces in tansrenee anes applied to ICzm). The INH signal prevents triggering ofthe circuil via bistable FF: until the RAM has been read completely by the computer. se ‘The computer uses the C/Isignal to | The READY signal indicates to the determine whether the RAM is being written to by the drive unit, or is being read by the computer (ogic 0 = readin: A logic | on the EXT line actuates | that instan the external trigger input. puter that The +/- line e: temal clock signal Lines TBs to TBs servo to choose ine of 8600 10 riVitiv, whil tivity of 8 Widiv. Data lines D; to Dr incl. are transporting the binary values from the drive unit to the computer (Drs = MSB). Line Dm» camties the trigger ves a se! 1610 gives a sed for ng into the RAM has been completed and that the | pi ss can begin. The in ‘This information makes it possible to ‘write a suitable program for tl puterscope. In many cases that will not be necessary, however, because is switched off at Lines OFs to OFs cary the offset | the required time base via IC. A | a co; : a smplete program listing for the | voliage that is added to the input | value of @@0 coresponds to | BBC the Electron, the Commodore signal via the D-A converter. The | mVédiv, and IN comesponds to | Cg4) and, very likely, MSX com standard value should be 1090000 or | 100 rv/div (TBs = MSB) hsities’ Will este oled “wane GFFFFFF to give an offset voltage of 1V (OFs = MSB. the Lines Vo to V: input 11-22 sintorininNowenie 1800 sensitivity via the e used for setting | printed-circuit board. More about this in Part 2 next month| | | | AIR DEFENCE SYSTEMS FOR COUNTRIES AND CONTINENTS Air provides the breath of human life, and the spac it occupies around the globe has become the dominant "play volume’ in man’s defence of his kingdom. The armed forces meet varying threats. The primary con- cern of navies is high and low flying attack weapons, armies have to contend with sirike aircraft and missiles, while air forces are required fo intercept bombers and fighters and eliminate all threats that exist In the air space. To maintain vigilance in times of peace and to meet the threats of in- surgents In times of war It Is vital that all the resources of the armed forces are co-ordinated Co-ordination is important | not only for the air battle but for the sate operation of civil aircraft, and re- quires close co-operation between the defence organizations and civil aviation authorities, | An air defence system pro- vides this co-ordination. It is able to detect, recog: nize, and monitor infor- mation on objects in the air space. It can provide the command and control of interceptor aircraft, the | dissemination of target in- | formation to field batteries | of guns and missiles, and it can provide the com: mand with a display of @ recognized air picture | nd sometimes of the sur | face as well, This includes ill information necessary for decisions to be made. Modular advantages Traditionally, only highly industrialized countries have been able to benefit from large scale air detence systems. Each system would be custom designed resulting In ex- pensive and specialized solutions. Analysis has | shewn that common func tions exist in all the elements of air defence sysiams around the world | and itis this that, for in. stance, Plessey Radar has capitalized on with its air space management prod- ucts. The result is a base of hareware and sofware models, which include ott ‘and on-line maintenance Gids able to be con- figured at low cost into vir tually any size or variety of air defence system by the addition of customer specitic facilities hn Nicholls, CEng, MIERE™ | by John Nicholls, CEng, iE" | The modular design ap- proach has additional ad- vantages. Rigorous speci- fications and method. ologies can be applied ‘and the modules sub- jected fo thorough in > use. It also makes the transter of technology more amenable and simplifies local mainten- Plessey Radar already has & number of such systems installed and an oper | ational development and demonstration air defence | facility at its systems head- quarters. It is now feasible for any nation to have an Gir defence system that nd is affordable — both initially and throughout the life of the system. The next few years should see @ large number being in stalled and integrated on an international scale, precisely meets its needs | | The air picture The first requirement of an Gir defence system is to. detect the targets. This can be done passively with electronic sensor measurement (ESM) equip: ment to detect audio, radio frequency, and in- frared emission. it con also be done with aclive sensors such as tadar and lesen cup ment Onai.g course, that original sensor, the eye, to report visual sightings. All the in formation from these sen- sors, whether they be static or mobile, on the land, at sea, or in the air, is processed by reporting posts. The data provided by reporting posts range | from crude directional | bearings to accurate recognition of the targets along with positional co- ordinates. From the reporting posts, the data are transmitted for processing at a contro! report post. Here, the data ‘are combined with known Information, such as civil Gircraft flight plans and in: formation from secondary surveillance radar, to pro- vide a track database | whose accuracy and completeness determines the quality of the air defence sysiem. Operators at display con: soles in the control repor: ting post use this track information to select their targets, to control fighter aircraft on their intercep- tion missions using air ground-air radios, or to Provide targeting infor mation to SAM (surtace-to- etna Nove 1086 11-23ir missiles) and gun counties with, say, six sen- | Command function. This | mobile cabins that can weapon sites sors giving coverage of up | air defence architecture | be transported by land, The information is also fed | to 930 x 930 kilometres, | meets the needs when 80, of Gir, as well Os I fo an air operations this is a suitable air several states are involved | static facilities. Software, centre where again itis | defence system architec- | or when a large continen- | likewise, must be capable combined with inputs from | ture. tal area has to be de- of being maintained and other control reporting posts, processed with i multi-sensor algorithms, ‘ontrol options and displayed as a rec. Control op ognized air picture for the | Command and control fended. it isan extremely | amended on site to complex task to define the | handle local environmen: hierarchy of command, to | tal data. identity and allow for overlaps of data, and to whole play area covered | structures can be kept | distribute this information | Compatible by the sensors with each relatively simple and the | Ground the regions. It re- . forget having 6 uniaue | pumberof exper sia'e. | Gutes close co-operation | FeCANIQueS track identity. quired can be limited. The | between participating Mos! countries have many sensors, rarely from the same supplier. The other track database — targets | states. that can be effectively | Defensive monlored 5 eae | - command and control typically contain up to | International systems with which the oir network a0 fects end oontalens | f ee could handie up toten | INfegration Hetcca ae clea iat te At the air operations "elose” and 20 "loose" in- ane ELE ee centre, other information is | terceptions. As well as accom- inlikely that the data t also shown on consoles Second, where air space modating the many vari. SO Be atc see) be exchanged are of similar format. The air defence system and large screen displays | management demands a_| ants of command and fo enable the command —_| significant number of sen-_ | control, an air defence to plan the tactical and | sors {more than six) and__| system design must allow of the status and avail Qs guns and aircraft are | only within the country but | Ryans compan ay OU all abilly of aircraft, uns, | disfibuted over Iaige | cso for integration with in- | levels tom the reporting and missiles are available | areas, a system with cen- ternational air defence Post up 10 the air oper- along with mission desig- | tralized command but facilities. tions centre while nations and the logist decentralized control can | The data processing minimizing any impact on the central air defence situation from national —_| be used system is the key to this and allied forces. Groups of two or three versatility. A well-designed Seats ee alk The remaining task of the | reporting posts pass data | system will have modules | OP the other system: air detence system is fo | to tactical command —_| of hardware and software | "wont § ilertoced ass ihe recognized cir | reporting posis which are | thai can be integrated in | me Sisttbuted logle Picture toa central joint | normally termed secior | various forms depending | S¥Slem architecture can Operations centre. Here, a | operations centres when | on the requirements, | [ead accommodate tt totally integrated view mote than one sensor is | must at the same time be | $Pecic! normalizing pro can be obtained by com- | connected. These in turn | tolerant to failure and boca eaten: s bining the information transmit their information | able to aocommodate ait. | Gome hese problems an from the air operations _| to the air operations | ferent computor types and | ev can be interlaced to centre of centres with entre. This isthe most _| software languages that _ | the local area network by Similar mputs rom navy | eommon form of cir | are likely fo be inoduced | MN€ SPPrepriaie open and army systems to give | defence system. The as the sysiem expands | Hetem interconnection a complete recognized | dispersed sensors and __—_|-and equipment becomes ait ond surlace picture of | mobile command tepor- | obsolescent. | the country’s defensive _| ting posts concept is The idea! architecture network resilient to Gamage and | consists of distributed The command and contro! | the command organiz nodes of processing that aspects of an alr defence system will vary, depend- ation is relatively easy to implement. Typically, are expandable in power. These are coupled via ing on factors such as the | each sector operations local area network (LAN) size of the country, the centre — the decen: ‘open system interconnec- volume of air space to fralized control — can tion (OS) standard data be defended, and the handle 200 tracks and 30 | communications. Com- existing defence manage: | contol interceptors while | puters with applications ment organization. There | the air operations centre | software can be added to | are three fundamental — the centralized com: the local area network | mand — would have @__ | wih ne major impact on frack capacity of over 500 | the logie system. Avail | after combining all the in- | ability can also be en- pls trom the sectors sured by buildingin spare The thitd method is io | computers coupled with Gistibute commend ond | automatic foul celeciion | —_—.. contol responsibilty io | ane technigues tat em | “aon wena an methods of meeting ihe requirements. First, command and con- trol can be centralized, Activities undertaken by the control reporting post ond the air oper- erate WIN ote ed Sonne Wa Mey be oil [Sort sicemr dociaces [ale r ay molly Seowrlied inte | cuthomy mspeciled | fon Vester wee ties © Te Gen GRR: | room Exot eRe a entovemettet ee © | Saueen ean eel cer single building, For small! a centralized strategic capable of installation in | © Surrey KT9 4aZ 11-24 storia november 1986‘There is frequently a need, when exper: Volt eens e, ison on a ‘scope This simple circuit allows up to imenting with circuits, to measure or | four DC voltages to be measured compare several DC voltages at test points ete. Since most readers are un- likely to possess more than one multi- meter this can be rather tedious. Using this simple circuit, up to four voltages can be compared or measured on any oscilloscope that has a DC input and an external trigger socket, The circuit uses only three ICs, five resistors and a capacitor. The complete circuit of the voltage comparator is given in figure 1. The four Voltages to be measured are fed to the four inputs of a quad analogue switch IC, the outputs of which are linked and fed to the Y input of the ‘scope. NI to N3 and associated components form an astable multivibrator, which clocks counter IC3. This is a decade counter connected as a 0 to 3 counter by feed- back from output 4 to the reset input. Outputs 0 to 3 of the counter go high in tum, thus ‘closing’ each of the analogue switches in turn and feeding the input | voltages to the "scope in sequence. Output 0 of the counter feeds a trigger pulse to the ‘scope once every four clock pulses, so that for every cycle of the counter the ’scope trace makes one ‘or compared by displaying them side by side on an oscilloscope. (H. Spenn) sweep of the screen. A positive-going trigger pulse is available via R4, or 2 nogative-going trigger pulse is available from the output of N4 via RS. The resulting display is shown in figure 2. | four different input voltages being fed to the inputs in this case. The oscillo- scope timebase speed should be adjusted so that the display of the four voltage levels just occupies the whole screen width. The supply voltage +Uj may be from 3 to 15V, but it must be noted that the input voltage should be positive with respect to the V rail and not greater than +Up, If voltages greater than this fare to be measured then potential dividers must beused on the four inputs. Setting up To calibrate the circuit, simply feed a known voltage into one input and adjust the Y sensitivity of the ‘scope to give a convenient deflection (for example one graticule division per volt input). Th unknown voltages may then be fed in and compared against each other and against the calibration, The circuit can easily be extended to eight inputs by adding an extra 4066 IC and connecting IC3 as a 0 to 7 counter (reset connected to output 8, pin 9). 9q Cd Figure 1. The eireuit diagram of the voltage ‘comparator. Figure 2. An example of 4 random voltage levels daplayed simultaneously on the Scope.INDOOR UNIT FOR SATELLITE TV RECEPTION-1 by J & R v Terborgh Following last months general introduction to satellite TV reception, this article describes the construction and operation of the indoor unit (IDU). This is in essence an interlace between the low-noise converter (LNB) at the dish aerial and a conventional television receiver. The first part of the article deals with the RF board contained In the IDU. Before embarking on this | make absolutely ce: ring and expert counsel in thi ter will prevent cost! | disappointment at a la | Ttshould be noted that at present itya e1omms 1c? mercrate) bret virally impossible for most home | constructors to build either the dish aerial or the low-noise converter, and these will, therefore, have to be ‘bought or rented. In this context, see Satellite TV reception (p49) and Har ison Electronics’ advertisement (p86) in the September 1986 issue of Elekior Electronics. Forunately, prices of these units have already started to come down due to the rap- idly growing interest in satellite TV reception. Although the construction of the in- door unit is not recommended to ab: solute beginners in electronics, it should be noled that a number of prototypes were built by construc ‘ors with only limited experience. In the main, the results were fully satisfactory, although all agreed that their task had taxed them to the full, requiring not only great precision and care in soldering, but above all close attention to the constructional, details. The present article, there: fore, aims at giving the maximum clarity toall matters conceming very- high-trequency techniques. Foran explanation of parameters and abbreviations used in this article see Satellite TV reception in the September issu of Blektor Elec tonics, Block diagram ‘The block diagram in Fig.1 shows that the indoor unit is a single conversion superlieterodyne tuner. A low-noise amplifier raises the level of the 980-1760 MHz input from the LNB, which is then mixed with the 1960-2360 MHz output of local, oscillators Ts and Ts. Itshould be noted that LNBs used for the reception of communication sat- ellite TV programmes use a 10 GHz local oscillator to give an output of 10.95-11.75 GHz. Fortunately, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has recommended (Literature refer- cence |Il) that LNBs for direct broad- casting satellite (DBS) services also have an output of 950-1750 Miz IF amplifiers T, IC, and Ty inter coupled by band-pass filters, pro- vide a gain of about 42 dB at the haltpower bandwidth (>36 MHz), A phase-locked loop (PLL) demodu- lates the 610 MHz IF signal an passes the baseband (about 08.5 MHz) to the video processing circuits (de. scribed in next montis issue) via buffer Te The relatively high IF of 610 MHiz en sures good ejection of the 2170-2970 MHe image frequencies, i C= fiorfe), Circuit description In the circuit diagram of Fig. 2, the SHF input stage, Ty, a Type BFGES transistor, has been designed for low-noise (Fas~45 4B. max) wide- band operation. It presents a S0-ohm impedance to both the input from the LNB and to mixer MX:. Its gain ranges from about 12 dB at 950 MHz to around 8 dB at 1750 Mil MX: is a Type HPFSII_ monolithic, wideband, double-balanced mixer (DBM) consisting of four Schottky diodes, which have a low junction capacitance and provide linear op eration over a wide range of LO and RF power levels. These diodes are fed via high-quality transformers to give 2 meticulously balanced setup suitable for operation at high RF. LO, and IF frequencies, The internal or ganization of the device is shown in Fig. $a, ‘The Type HPFSIL was chosen be cause of its robustness, excellent performanceto-price ratio, and. stable impedance at all three por's, which are designed to handle a wide range of RF input signal levels. Its drawbacks are its cost as compared with a discretely built mixer, and its conversion loss. However, an active mixer, which would have some con- version gain, is difficult 10 keep stable over the RF input range of 980-1780 MHz, Moreover, the passive DBM typically causes the cartiero noise ratio to be less impaired mixing process. ‘The characteristic curves in show some of the parameters HIPFSIL In particular, Fig. 4c shows | /DU. the excellent performance of the | 170 | device at a local oscillator power level of +7 dBm (about § mW), the input impedance, Z;, at pi 50 ohms, the output voltage, Uio, of | supply the I the local oscillator is given by Tio=) Pool '=\0.008 x 5 Vine output inthe | Fig. 1. Bloci chematic Fig.4 | diagram of the ofthe | AF board mn the Note that oscil: O1 and porated to Since in Bis | i 360 MHz ink tion signal Readers interested in balanced RF mixers should find the RFF Signal Processing Handbook, Volume ! (Literature reference (2) well reading, worth, Local oscillators Ts and 7’ cover the 1860-2360 MHz band at sufficient power for satisfactory operation of the mizer, and have the stabil quired for widehand FM TV recep: tion Since it proved virtually impossible to achieve this per ance with a single transistor, two varactortuned ‘Type BFWs2 sistors are used. The two secti the oscillator, LO., and LO: lity re- form: tran: jons of are tuned to the highest and lowest channels of satellite TV services re- spectively by Cz and Cx’ Section LO. covers a range of | 1800-2000 MHz, and LOs op over roughly 1800-2400 MHz stability of the oscillators is so that automatic frequency c (AFO) is not, strictly speakin¢ quired, The relevant oscillator secti selected with S\. Resistors Ris and Rev in LO: and Ree! and Res’ in LOw about erates ‘The good sontrol 19, Te are damping resistors, which pro- vide enouch inductance to ensure correct matching to the 50-ohm LO. input of mixer MX. ‘The common 3-32 V tuning voltage, Vowee, 18 applied to varactors (LO) and DeDe (Ox) via resistors | Rov and Rw’ respectively. ‘The oscillator stages operate ‘common collector mode: oscil is achieved through positive back via the base-emitter c tance of the transistors DyD: im the lation feed- apaci sntcrnta Nom 1000 11-27f2 tot ‘OMD6) xxx i i # 4 Te78'= orn‘The 610 Miz IF signal is taken from | pin 3 of MX; and capacitively fed to a corvertional amplifier, Ts, which provides about 10¢B gain ata rela tively low noise figure; it also en- sures correct termination of the IF output of MX:. ‘The first IF band-pass filter consists of two critically to slightly on critically coupled tuned line induc tots, ls and Ls. Corectiy aligned these have a dB pass band of about 40MHiz, a relatively low insertion Joss, and cause minimal stray radi | ation. Both the collector of Ts and the input of; are capactvely coupled toa lowimpedance matching tap on the relevant inductor. Second IF amplifier IC; is wide- band hybrid IC Type OME, which is primarily designed for VHF/UHF masthead aerial amplifiers and MATV systems. This single-in-line Il) device contains a Sstage RF amplifier a5 shown in Fig 3b. The ‘OM961 was chosen for its high gain (about 26 dB at 600 MHlz) and ease of input/output matching. Power to the final two cascaded transistors is sup- plied via choke Ls to prevent the BF signal rom being short-circuited by the thoroughly decoupled positive | supply rail Band pass filter Lacy and amplifier Ts have functions and characteristics similar to those of Lada and Ts re spectively. The IF signal at the col- lector of Ts is capacitively fed to phase-locked loop (PLL) decoder ICs It must be stressed that the overall performance of the IDU depends to a large extont on the bandwidth, rather than the gain, of the IF chain. Since the deviation of he satellite TV signal is typically £186 MHzrp, and the baseband occupies some 8 MHz, the IF bandwidth must be not less than 35 MHz for satisfactory per- formance. Its, therefore, clear that the IF band pass fillers are cmueial to the cor rect operation of the IDV. Since the combined gain of the IF amplifiors amounts to 48 dB and that of the IF | chain is abou 42 4B, it follows that the total insertion loss of the filters is around 6 dB Next montis article will ‘measurement data relevant to the RF sections of the IDU. PLL di is a purpose-de- elite TY FM demod Plessey an jportents intended for sat chip voltage-cont cillator (VCO) range of passive and | The Clapp oscillator generates the 610 Mhz sub-cartier for demodu- lating the IF signal. It is tuned exter- nally byline inductor Ls, varactor Ds, and trimmer Cx, and coupled to one of the (differential) inputs (pin 8) of | the phase detector via Cro. The input of the detector, pin 7, is de- coupled by Cx. The output power | the oscillators stated to be —I0 dBi | which is claimed to be the optimum, | figure for thweshold performance | Gisratue rlsrence [4 Varactor Ds provides a frequency-‘c voltage gradient of bout If MHz per volt: at the most commonly used de Viation of 18.3 MHzp>, therefore, the Baseband output swing is about 1Vrp (note, however, that some transponders are run at higher dev: ation values). ‘The RF amplifier in the PLL chip is @ differential type with one input (pin 12)decoupled, which results in an in ut handling range of —25 dBm to OaBm. Both video and inverted video are output: the former is fed to D: via Primary feedback loop Les, which cones SL1451 also seivesas an RF bloc seactance, Both outputs, pins IS and If respect ively, are fed back fo the relevent in- | put pins 16 and 1 respectivoly by | feats of capacitor, which define the secondary loop filer response, | the values of Cz» and C:: may be altered to suit the deviation of the re ceived signal; this will be reverted to of th in a forthcoming continuati article. The stated values. of components ensure a PLL s0ise threshold of about 10 dB C/N at devi- ations of 135 MHzpp to 20 MHzp: Careful redimensioning of the sec ondary loop arrangement may lower the PLL threshold to 8.5 dB C/N; this 's not at all easy, however, and tie matter will be taken up for examun- | ation in due course. Around the | 1 threshold level the PLls produces | sparklies or spikes on the picture | =: screen. This effect, however, dissap- | pears as soon as the C/N figure | is 1 rises some 25¢B above the Phu | threshold. ‘The automatic gain control (AGC) | output of the SLIMSI is used to drive a relative signal-strength ($) meter jenote scise 12V/ out eee Lor seeppacx: building Se ‘poara eae Type OM361 and (¢) FMV sioirini Novem 1888.11 -28Fig Aree ja. . Before ft ting any parts ‘onto the board, it finish all a and filing of the metal enciosure sized 100% 160 30 min (Wb x H) Fig. Sa shou the home-me version of feed: through Cus a Pugs *74am Wrst feed) Eesti cee b > Fine) Die ComersionlossvstOpower F(R) = 100M TPCT i 36m an 47 en 5 11-30 eterna tovamon 1008 circuit via pin 9, Buffer T. isa simple emitter follower that serves to output the baseband at low impedance. Note that its output is direct-coupled, since the DC com ponent is required for use in the AFC and video processing circuits It is important that feedthrough ca- acitor Cu has a capacitance of not more than about 30 pF to prevent it filtering or limiting the baseband. ‘The supply voltage to the PLL chip is stabilized at 82 V by zener diode D; and is also decoupled at several points to prevent oscillator instability and signal loss, ‘The dashed lines in Fig. 2 denote metal screens on the printed-circuit board: these provide elective pro- tection against stray inductive coup- ling of tuned circuits and parasitic oscillations, Finally all DC connections to the RF board are decoupled by InF feed- through capacitors. Construction Contrary to the normal order in which electronic projects are put together, itis necessary to finish all mechanical work as detailed below, before fitting any parts onto ready- made PCB Type 86082-1 First, prepare a 160x100 28 mm (i side) brass or tin sheet enclosure as shown in Fig. 5. If you can not obtain @ preformed enclosure, you will need to cut four suitably sized pieces of 1...2 mm thick brass, drill two of these as shown in Fig. 83 and 5b, and join them to form a neat box using Sellotape at the comers to maintain nght angles as you solder, uusing a heavy-duty (2100 W) iron. Brazing is, naturally, even better. Check whether the eight feed. through capacitors and BNC flange socket K fit snualy into the holes; if not, carefully ream the holes until they do. Do not solder anything as yet File a notch into the PCB to allow for the PTFE ring round the centre pin of Ks. Check whether the PCB needs any filing off the sides before it can bbe received into the box. Fit Ki by its four small screws, but do not secure these as yet. Pretin the holes provided for the feedthroughs, and insert these from the outer side of the enclosure. Point them downward as you apply heat and solder, if all goes well, the capacitors should slide snugly into place while hot solder runs smoothly round the conical metal bodies While soldering, carefully ma noewvre the capacitor into its final position Since low capacitance (10. ..27 pF) feedthrough capacitors are cifficultto obtain items, it may be necessary tomake a DIY version from a number of parts intended for the isolating of power semiconductors on heatsinks. Fig. §4 shows how a small washer, bush, two soldering tags and a bolt pplus nat can be put together to act as 1 low-capacitance feedthough. It is definitely less elegant than a real ca- pacitor, but it works satisfactorily and has capacitance of about 50 pF The PCB for this part of the project is a pretinned, double-sided type, ed with 8 mm holes for Ts to lots for Cie and Cos! lating is effected by soldering component leads at both PCB sides, where required. Star off by applying some solder conto all ground holes on the PCB, as well as onto its edges at both sides this will facilitate soldering at a later stage, and prevents overheating of grounded components when these are fined. Make sure, however, that | holes remain open (use solder wick). Resistors: with a few exceptions in the LO sections of the cireuit, these should have their leads neatly bent equidistant from the body wit snipe-nose pliers, Pre-tin any resistor lead that is to be inserted into a ground hole. All resistors should be sor ¥% watt (except Rre, which is f Wi) carbon film types; not metal film, Resistors should be fitted to rest securely on the PCB component side. Capacitors: In the case of a supply decoupling capacitor (nF, 10 nF, 22nf, 4,2 and 10), pretin the ‘grcund lead close to the capacitor body. With some types of 2.5 mm type ceramic capacitors, it may be necessary to carefully remove some of the where it leaves the capacitor body; retin as fast as possible, holding the far end of the lead in pliers. When soldering the ground terminal at the PCB component side, solder ‘can be, observed {0 creep right up to the ceramic body, and spread smoothly over the ground plane Coupling capacitors do not require this method of pre-inning, althouga. they should be mounted with the shortest possible lead length as well, ‘Trimmers are to be pushed securely into the relevant holes and soldered rapidly to prevent deforming of the foil material. Transistors; with the exception of the BEW92s and the BC5478, bande | leads should be cut off to about 2mm, e leads to 3-4 mm. Before fit- ting, note the terminal assignment of the BFG85 to get its position correct. Transistors Te and Ty should be mounted at the EPS side of the PCB, straight onto the relevant tracks and ‘with the type lettering visible from rittle material on the wire | Ss © the component side. The © should be soldered sh with | EPS side ground plane. | inductors should presen few prob | ems, esther constuction dita and | praca outokare given in Table | tnd Fig. 7 respectively, Noto. that only two types of wite are req | to make all inductors, except Lo, | whichis 4 commercial choke, The | Sverplated tuned lines should be | | sceuately eat and, with he excep: | fon ofthe longer ix, presinned 3! | | one end. With reference to the component overlay and track pattem shown in Fig. 6, and observing the foregoing directions, the fiting of pars onto | the PCB may now commence RF amplifier T) and mixer (see also Fig. 9) Fit all passive pans as set out above | Fay special anention to LNB block in | ductor In which is ited slightly off | the board surface, and tas one enc | soldered direct onto the RF inpot Table 1 [indotortane [SWE [ine eee tor “less | low aww. | (aoe i) | Nes load ae plane, Fit Ts in its predrilled hole soldering the b and c leads direct ‘onto the relevant tracks, the @ leads firmly fo ground. Solder SMD capaci- tors C1 and Ce with a lightduty (15 W) ion to prevent damaging | these devices. Alternatively, C: and Cs may be 6p8 ceramic types mounted onto the relevant planes with the absolute minimum of lead jength ($0.5 mm) Le and Ri must be | | | remark through 3 mm | axousn 3 tuned tne: lngth and tocaton | || |r tap governed by rolovant PCB | holos, fit 3 mm above ground | )ov8 but no tap. spacing 1% mm initially; see Fig. 8 eas tuned tine; see Fig. 8. Anse ms BFS eiderng ing D> enclosu Ee iolang washo:' sy \ ! ' g ' ‘q x 1 ae 1 aa db oi aa ea ! 0000 e ce a ea Se Parts tise copa Cucw tn TBF Mud) Macelonecis: (a tire cami, tobe nes —_Te:T>= BPROWA xs = HPP or febos feud pocig 25" Os@mi ci} hin: Mowe) Sharh ta Cana lise 5 rm cater fim une obennse aed) CNCaCixOn Cu; Tas BCA siemiatue SPOT wes) Chee psMD" Caco Tas BPW? Kr=guae flange NC FeeRachusRw:A; —CrxGacsenice; ——tealtough emptor, Moxa) "Sear of Stns eto GonbaCrs Cast Saree Regt metal eote Rrof2k CGC Ce Cu=10...47p with detachable lis: | ham castn itethvouh bier 100% 6030 em noah C2025 V ttm Sedan” witch |W BoRrRicRu=tk — Ceuta 10p Remoninp raven re PB pe SSH ee rear CmCCnibetor=8 p rome nade tang Rendon Senzes) so 0 {ol immer ory! Semon feet Fisk tn=i0n :=V2xneode (SWCD) eumaded fue) 2% W Cetin 20 i creel wee Ter fi'=220 9 Ca DrDsbs: 06 {Sweah che pines Ric =€8 2 cr Dea wit. Rafer to Tale 1 | os Ner= OMS Muar) bead Se | Cuo4i716 V tanaiun (Cra StHBt Pm) seein | soldered as close as possible to the transistor body (b and c terminals re spectively); note that Ri may have to be mounted slightly asymmetrically {to ensure minimal stray inductance at the transistor bese. MX: is located af the EPS side of the PCB, while its eight pins are soldered at the component side Note that the RF input (pin 1) is marked in blue for location pur- poses. IF amplifier. Solder the MX; connection of C> at oth PCB sides, but that to the base of Te at the EPS side only. Tuned lines Lo, la, le and L7 are best fitted as follows (see also Fig. 8b). 1n- sert a left over component wire into the PCB holes provided for the taps, and solder at the EPS side. Use the protruding pin at the far end of the vernier gauge handle to determine a wire length of 3 mm above the com- 11-32 ctetrindinnova moor 1886 ponent side ground plane; cut the wire and level its top with a fow stokes of a small file, while the wire is held securely in pliers, Pre-tin the top and position the wire at right angles to the PCR Mount the sil- vered line, pushing it into place until i rests on the tap wie end. Make sure that the inductor is precisely angled and that its horizontal partis always exactly 3mm above ground. Solder the timmer and double ground connections, and then the tap. Remember that any excess solder on its silver plated surface may deatade the inductor’s Q-factor. Make sure that the coupled lines run parallel and at identical height above ground. Alter inserting the pins of the OMS61 until all studs rest on the PCB sur- face, they must be soldered rapidly (five pins twice to ground), after which the Sil chip must be bent downward with its tyoe indication facing the PCB component side groune plane. Do not use too much force, or one or more of the pins may come break off. Fitting the remainder of the IF ampli fier components should not cause Gifficulty, as the suggested methods for mounting have already been de tailed above. PLL and baseband output. Mount IC: mithour an IC socket, and remember to solder pins 2 and 8 at both PCB sides. The surrounding capacitors and resisiors should be fitted as set out, while block inductor Rirls must be mounted at a small distance above the board (1 mm) to prevent ary likelihood of a shor circuit. Tuned line La is fitted at pre cisely 3mm above ground. Mount varactor De with the minimum of lead lengthat either side ofits class body. ‘Make sure that itis really a BB40SG;it should ring, jer indicating th connection. Local oseillaters (see also Figs. 8¢ and 9) You aren wards ing the RF board, but the t part is yet to come: no PCB oles in many cases, and a few parts mounted three-dimensionally, and tis not as difficult as it may seem | fir unless a specific description is thought necessary to make a distinc: ee eres to connect to other compo- | rated in Fig. a, the | Se nae ae | pe arcs eee eae | rao Spee | oS serene ee een should face one another, requiring Ts unlike 7; to lie with its type indi cation facing the PCB ground plane. Carefully solder the track an double ground connections of the chip capacitor, and make sure that solder creeps up along the metal- | lized area and the collector lead, whose excess length is then cut off Shorten the transistor's ¢ and b leads to2 mm and prestn them. Fit stopper, resistor Rie with the shortest ible lead length (<1 mm) as close a possible to the transistor body (b) this may require the other lead | than that of De to Ts (01). Shorten | | solute minimum of stray capacitance junction RreRy) to be rather longer than usual, but this is of no conse: quence. Sharply bend the anode lead of varactor Ds, pretin, and | solder to ground (2x) using the hole | provided. Note that the ground con- | nection of Ds’, (LOx) is closer to T. ps the Ds cathode lead to 2 mm, pretin, and do the same with Ds. Carefully join these parts and mun the ap propriate length of the D: anode | 79°70", wite to junction RieTs. Since jut tion RirDrD« should exhibit the ab- | stesringianonombu 196611-3311-34 stator | and inductance, Riv needs to be | prepared as follows. At one side of | the resistor body, the protective lacquer should be scratched off where the wire leaves the body. This is conveniently done by holding the relevant area in pliers and twisting the resistor until the brittle stulf comes off. Shorten the lead to 0.5 mum, prectin, and join ito junction Ds-Ds with a minimum of solder Note that the other lead of Ris! (and of Rvs) must be left much longer, so that it can reach junction RieRis:C Since these resistors act as current limiters and chokes to the SHF signal con the varactors, this length is of lt importance. Inductors Ine and Lr; are made from the terminal leads of Rie. One lead is, wound as 1¥ turns on a3 mm former, which may be nail, screwdriver shaft or even a ball-point refi, as long as it has a diameter of 3mm. Leaving the tums to revolve around the former, the resistor is gently pulled back until the lead length between resistor body and start of winding matches that given in Figs. 7 and 8c. Space the tums as shown. The other resistorlead is to act as Ly Observe its length, and edge the re mainder of the wire two times as shown in the illustrations. Put the prepared resistor & inductors aside for the moment, and proceed with the most exotic, yet simplest, part of the board: Cs, whish is simply some 10 mm of leftover component wire, 2mm of which is slightly bent soldered to the Ts e lead, and pointed towards Cx. The wire should not touch ground, of course. Solder Lre to junction CeTs(e); this requires some skill to prevent short cireuiting the inductor tums by either Cx or the Ts emitter lead. Check for any shorteircuits caused bby excess solder, and carefully bend Ce to point to the body of Cx Phe oscillators will not operate corectly it Cris left out. Run Rood exactly parallel to Dr-Dé and solder Ly to ground, st conto the PCB surface. Note that no cnound hole has been provided; use the relevant illustrations and’ the mponent overlay to find the cor rect location, level with MX: pins 7 and 8. Ree should now be positioned well above all other components, Solder Re very close to Ree and run the other end direct to mixer pin 8 As Roy’ should have exactly the same ‘otal length as its LO. counterpart, the Lyé-Rer'-La? line needs to be mounted slightly slanting with respect to the D:tDs' line, Ground In ‘at the appropriate location, and check the outlook of the LO sections | aga PCB. Recheck all soldering joins at both sides of the PCB, and remove any tray bits of wire or solder. With a harp appliance and a cotton bud dipped in 95% alcohol, zemove all cess solder flux, visible as brownish matter, from etched sur- ices in the RF input and mixer st Figs. 8c and 9. stage; do the same at the PLL sec: | tion. If you have so far followed the instructions, terminal holes 1-8 incl. should still be open, Enclosure. Fix Ky securely by its four screws, whose heads should be at the inside of the enclosure. File off any pro- fruding thread until it is flush with the socket flange. | Insert the completed board into the enclosure, making sure that the centre pin of the BNC socket rests on. the RF input plane (Ls-C:); file or eut coi any excess pin length. Refer to Fig. Sb for the positioning of the ‘board and make sure that the bottom lid can be pressed or screwed on without touching MX Use a heavyduty iron (>50W) to solder the PCB into the enclosure: depending on the type of metal sheet, some pre-heating may be called for to be able to solder at all Use an additional soldering iron or place the enclosure on the het sur- face of a thermostatically-controlled smoothing iron; you will find that once the metal surfaces are reason: ably warm to the touch soldering becomes much easier. ‘Mount eight soldering pins inthe ter minal holes if the wires of the feed: through capacitors are not long enough. Using the dotted lines on the PCB overlay as a guide, solder three Mmm high metal screens onto the PCB component side (take care not to damage nearby parts). Note that the longest screen isto run right over ICz, so that a 20x4 mm recess hole should be made at the correct lo- If you have made your own metal enclosure, do not forget the top and bottom lids, which are to be screwed. on after the box has been fitted with at least eight square brass nuts, soldered into the upper comers. A ‘ew additional nuts and serews along he enclosure side panels are, of course, good practice to make for an RPtight unit. Finally, dil the top lid as shown in Fig. 5c. Next time | Part two of the article in next month's issue will describe details of the vision and sound processing cir cuits, the power supply, and the S- meter driver. Also, the alignment of the IDU will be gone into, and measurement data relating to its per formance will be presented and dis. cussed Bu Literature references: Ul] Document 46: Choice of the first IF frequency range for DBS receivers. EBU Technical state ‘ment ref. EBU D4-1885 (E). [RFAP signal processing hand: book, volume i. Mini Cixeuits, New York, (SSatedlite Cable and TV imegrated citeit handbook. Plossey Semi conductors. (S|Apphicaion note 56/31/0013 (SLIMI8) Plessey Semiconductors, Important notice Information on component avail ability for this project will be given in Part 2, to be published in next month’s issue, Meanwhile, many paris are available from Bonex Limited; 102 Churchfield Road; Acton; London W3 6DE; telephone 01-992 7748; Universal Semiconduc tor Devices; 17 Granville Cour; Granville Road; Hornsey; London N4 4EP; telephone 01-498 9420; or (Cirkit; Park Lane; Broxbourne; Herts EN10 7NQ; telephone: (0992) 444111,| JOCKEYING FOR SUPREMACY IN EUROPE’S OWN SPACE RACE by Tim Furniss Within the next ten years, the European Space. Agency (ESA) will be operating an autonomous space station known as Columbus. It will comprise manned modules and laboratories, free-flying platiorms, and other equipment launched by the United States Space Shuttle and the proposed European Ariane 5 rocket. Ht will be serviced by the European manned space- plane, Hermes, and poss- ibly by the British un manne Hotol shuttle. As a member of ESA, the United Kingdom will play {an important role in these pe cations enabling passer: gets to take and make telephone calls on civil aircratt The Eurostar satellites can generate as much as 2.3 KW of power but this is weak compared with the world's largest commun'- Cations satellite, Olympus, one model of which can generate 8 kWW, enough fo Power 12 direct broadcast television channels. The next British Aerospace satellite under develop: ment Is called the Bi Communicator. The con. cep! envisages clusters of powerful communication satellites (comsats) sharing projects, not only with geostationary orbit, pro- Hotel, but also particularly | More versatile | channels, and two re- viding television broad: the treesiying platiorms for peaters to handle bus —_| cast and fixed and mobile Earth observation, astron- | These include GEC- ness traffic. They have a__| communications services, ‘omy, and materials pro: Marconi for communi- | 1kW capacity. Intersatellite laser links will cessing. Britains financial | cations payloads and Three military communt- | allow communications contribution to ESA is 129 | ground equipment, while | cations satellites known as | within and between clus per cent and its partici others involved are Ferran. | Skynet are being buill, too. | ters via «jateway satellites. Pation in mandatory ESA _| ti ©, Logica, Klystrons, These are also based on _| Three versions of the programmes represents 16 | Centronic, Thorn-EM the ECS "bus" and include | Big Communicator are per cent of the effort and | Racal, Software System a. communications pay- | planned, the largest be- manpower. | BAJ Vickers, and IMI Sum- | load from GEC-Mareon ing for direct broadcast There is c thriving space | merfield. These manufac- | comprising four super television. This would industry in the United ture and supply other high frequency channels, | generate 45 kW from a. been involved in the microwave tubes, detec- | channels for voice data_| carry 46 high power tele- b ‘and operation of | tors, solid state devices, | and telex, and one extra _| vision channels. BAe also over 60 sotellites, 2000 digital data recorders high frequency ex has 0 contract to build sounding rockets, and sofware, gyro packages, | perimental uplink. ower | equipment for Intelsat 6, ‘over 100 ground stations. | and rocket motors generation is 4.25kW, | the next generation of || Unlike that of many Bho pioneered the use of satellites for the inter: | European countries, British | three-axis controlled com national telecommuni- | influence in space tech- | munications satelites, Aircraft phone | estiens organization | nology and commerce —_| which are more versatile | | spreads beyond the cont- | and canbe bull ona | Calls | nent itself, and especially | much larger scale for Ione Unied States ot” | mutitide ot Gewloping, | Thres Eutter soiettes _ | SPECHACUIAr America, applications, such as | are being bull for the dota British Aerospace (BAe) is | direct broadcas' tele __|_ London-based inter the largest manufacturer | vision, mobile and | national maritime organiz: | The company produced of communications maritime communications, | ation, Inmarsat, on a significant Spacelab hard: satellites outside the and business services | contract worth $400 million. | ware which flew on Space United States and is a The company has devel- | Producing 0.75 kW of Shuitle missions dedicated major contractor 10 oped a stable of com- | power, the Inmarsat 2 to Europe, the United | Ammancon ceripehics on | MGnleetanreeteiine | Salelles provide Indeper | Sales unl Wee Geamany ‘a number of key projects. | platforms: the European | dent L band ship-t Although BAs tends to be | Communications Satellite | and C band shore-to-ship | Twenty of the Spacelab the most familiar, several | (ECS), Eurostar, and Olym: Mmunications, with 250 | pallets have been de- | other companies are also | pus. The ECS 2utelsat and 425 voice circuits re- | livered to America’s | actively engaged in the _| series satellites being built | spectively. National Aeronautics and | hore | in particular in 1983 to 85. space industry on a large | by BAe have 12000 voice | Eventually, they will also. | Space Administration scale. Ircuits, two televisioy | provide aircraft communi- | (NASA). These are used as 11-36 sieve Novorber 1998the essential mounting points for equipment in the Shutile payload bay. The European spacecratt Giotto, which had its rendezvous with Halley's comet last March, retucn- ing spectacular date, was bull in Britain with BAe as the main contractor. the $45 million contract 1s just one of a number of key science and applications sotellites operated or planned fer Europe and to be built using British ex: pertise These spacecratt include the Ulysses International solar polar spacecratt, the European Remote Sensing spacecratt (ERS 1), Exosat, Iniemnational Ultraviolet Ex ploter (UB, Infrared Astronomical Satellite (RAS), and the Geostation: ary Orbiting Satellite (Gtos 2) The solor panels thot will generate electrical power for the giant Hubble space telescope, hope- fully to be launched by Shuttle later this year, were manufactured by BAe os ¢ huge foldable array. The company expects fo build 4 set of replacement panels under @ $7 million contract. Britain is investing $58 million in joint science and industry programmes covering remote sensing data acquisition, process: ing, dissemination, and forecast, The Royal Aircraft Establishment’s National Remote Sensing Cenire at Farnborough co-ordinates this activity. In the meteorological field, GEC-Marconi is developing Europe’ fist advanced microwave sounding unit to fly on a United Siates' National Oceanographic Adminis: tiation Agency (NOAA) sotellite in 1990. Britain is @ world leader in satellite insirumentation for remote sensing spacecratt Close relationships The British National Space Centre (BNSC), formed in 4985, will in future co- ordinate the countrys burgeoning space in- dustry. Based in London with @ small staff, it will for muiate o national space | policy to be presented to the Government in June 86. To be etfective, It should cover the next 15 years The BNSC will need to es fablish close relationships with industry, including the non-aerospace sector, both in contractual devel opment and exploitation, and commercial space operations. It needs to pro- vide a coherent voice on space matters, seeking comprehensive rather than a fractional ap- proach, and fo consider its role in education and public policy. The cenire’s ditector- general is Dr Roy Gibson, who, as the European Space Agency's own first director-general, helped establish it and develop Europe's prestige in space It's expected that Britain's space budget under his control will be doubled over the next !wo years to ‘bout $300 million to reflect the increased im- portance the country places on space. Although the United Kingdom only plays a small part in the Ariane launcher programme — Avica, Badg, Forranti, and Midland 8ank’s share represents just 24 per cent — BAe has proposed a revolutionary launcher to beat them all, including the proposed Ariane 5 Hotol, an initially un- manned spacepiane, will be the world’ first single stage-to-orbit ($S10) sat- ellite launcher and the first to take off and land like an cirliner. ft will cut byy half the cost of depioy- ing satellites inio orbit. in deed, the measure may be greater than that, BAe says it could place a tive tonne payload into tow Earih orbit at a fifth the cost of current vehicles. | Ye to fly Shuttle later this year | Complemen- | sidfcaiy in 187, primer | fary or ily to help in the depioy- ment of Skynet 4A and 48 | replacement military communications satellites. They will begin British experiments into microgravity processing. The potential of this business is enormous and the BNSC is anxious to | educate British industry as | to its possibilities. Kodak Ud, a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak in the United States, has already flown experiments on the Shuttie and a fluid | physicist from the | company may be joining |g crew in 1987 to 88 to | The revolutionary engine for Holol is designed by Rolls-Royce and will be | duai-tunctioning. it | breathes outside air like | an ordinary airliner and mixes it with on-board sup: plies of liquid hydrogen | during the initial climb | through the atmosphere. Hotol then switches fo in ternal fuel supplies of liguid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, once the | air at altitude gets too thin to be usable itis expected to cost $520 000 million to develop, and whether it | goes ahead will depend on whether it is accepted by Europe as a com- plementary vehicle to ‘Ariane § and Hermes, or | even as a replacement for | Hermes which does not | meet with universal ap: proval within Europe. So far, only about $6 million has been forthcoming for | already forging ahead in @ prootot-concept study | this field. (LPs) ‘and Dr Gibson hopes 10 | be able fo present the Hotol case to ESA before the end of this summer | ‘Although the French Hermes manned space- plane has mote short-term support, Hotol Is con- ceived as compatible with the United States’ Space | Station and its eventual | European counterpart. It will also be manned for some sorties. Ultimately, | | visionary engineers see Hotol as the successor to Concorde, carrying a passenger pod in its payload bay on a journey beiween Londen and Sydney, Australia, in 67 | minutes ‘operate his own ex- periments. Clearly, commercial oper tions are some way off, perhaps 20 years away, bul vital research anc development work needs to be done in space now. This is an area where Britain has been slow fo move but it has the capability to catch up with France and West Germeny, which are oem * Tim Furniss is Associate Editor of Soace Report Enormous potential | Like France, the | Netherlands, West | Germany, and aly, Britain has @ squad of astronauts, | or more correctly, Space Shutile payload special- Isis. Two of these are due | Albans, Hi England, ALA 0) Ferry Road, Edinburgh,RF CIRCUIT DESIGN | The fourth in this series on RF circuit design* describes a superregenerative short-wave receiver that can be coupled to a frequency counter for an accurate read- | out of the frequency of the received signal. short-wave receiver A superregenerative receiver is 1 provided with ample positive | back so as to be capable of osc: lation at the desired radio freque: It is also provided with a means by which oscillations can be stopped or superregenerative [xl Stated at wil. During normal oper Block diagram Esl | From the block diagram in Fig. | seen that the RF signal by the aerial is fed to an which not only serves to amplify signal but also to decouple 1 from the remainder of the ‘The amplified signal is f and a detector stage. The output cutoff frequi are que ed by the resistance o | the buffer may be used to drive then applied to Pr, depending on its setting, so quency counter to give a read-out of | audio output is this potentiometer affords a m | the received frequency. The de- | pair of headphones, but may also be | bringing the tuned cireuit just into | modulated output from the detector | used to drive a more powerful AF | oscillation. amplifier The demodulated output at the source of T is applied to low-pass Circuit description | ‘iter iS»CuCu, which tas a cut olf frequency of about 5 kiiz. Since to the cireuit | many shortwave stations operate at | turns diagram in Fig. aration, the filter applied acr ntiometer Ps | provides effective adjacent-channel ch enables the sig correct level, as will plained later. | is passed through AF output a dio output is én nplifier, the value of should be reduced to 1 F. | The signal at the drain of Ts is also 6 RF toroid available f MATIN oF Bonox hears of ob upin the | fequency of the ned civcuitat the frequency ofthe | which makes ope a __| | received signal, These oscilations | ceiver immeasurably easier 11-38 sionerinisnoverber 1966Fig, 2. Circuit diagram of the Parte let esisos: RisRe~100 | Rak Re 1002 ReiRa=470 9 Rr-829 Fs-2009 Fe=ak7 is=220 k Bi=85 k i560 @ =65 2 Pr=1 king gersone: = 415 = 803800 apactrs Ci=100p CeCe 100 n 200, Fs, 2F807, AF a6; AF 381 Ge Ween Cains ncwamic oes 3 Ce=10 p trimmer = Geotp 68» NPO 409 trmer Cy=82 p NPO se Cre= 100» variable canactor je various shortwave bands are given | justing Cr til oscillations just oceur: | C310 Construction in Table 1 It is imperative for correct | this is indicated by a whistle in the | C=22n ‘The receiver is constructed on the | operation of the receiver that the | headphones or loudspeaker. Cun 30 n Universal RF Board ‘Type 85000, | cols are wound in the dizection | The input level i then set with Pr if | C= 1aF16V which is available through our} shown and that correct polarity is ob- | this is to0 high, cross modulation | C'° 2) 1g y Readers’ Services. As it is an un | served (this is facilitated by the large | occurs, ie. apart from the wanted | ‘yee ion pierced copperclad board with ity: | black dots in the circuit and on the | station, others are also audible. Ithe | seven isolated islands and three | coil drawing) aerial signal is too weak, the detector | Semiconductors: isolated tacks, it is also available does not operate comectly, and the | 7,7,.7)-arset from most electionies retailers. & signal is hardly audible = BFEM0 F205 suggested component layout | Operon It may be necessary to adjust Ps | BF) Fa shown in Fig. 3 Operation slightly before optimum perform- | Ts Ts Bco50C Chokes Li and Ls are commercially | For optimum performance, the G:-D | ance is achieved: only when this is | available components, but inductor | section of T: should just oscillate, | so, does the frequency counter indi | lz must be wound as shown in| This is achieved by seting P: to | cate the frequency of the received Fig. 2, The number of turns for the | roughly its centre of travel and ad- | signal. seetaneos: Lith Lev seo ton and Tone 1 Lo mi AF erp socket | RF out sock | RF oor emma | Met cove of bo | St oT 3 tetorinda November 998 11-39It sounds rather strange, ‘against the background of the present development ‘of microelectronics, 10 ask how much longer silicon will be used. The first quantities of one-megabit dynamic memories using ‘existing silicon technology have been announced recently while tourmega: bit dynamic memories are expected in 1988. These are the most outstanding current examples of the state of the at of silicon microelectronics. These developments in large- scale integration (LSI) have been due fo process tech: nology oF, fo put it the other way around, it was mastery of process tech- nology that made this progress in large-scale in- tegration possible. A reduction in costs per bit on an integrated device went hand in hand with this large-scale inte- gration. This is demonstrated by Fig. 4, which shows the evolution of costs per bit for the various gener. tions of dynamic RAMS as "learning curves’. The learning curves fer one- megabit and fourmegabit dynamic RAMS are esti mated values. Before turn: ing to the question of the limits of silicon technology and its replacement by gallium arsenide, we shall first briefly outline the development of silicon technology. By the standards of micro- electronics, silicon tech: nology is @ "very ola! technology. It was 25 years ago, in 1964, that the first IC was developed by Kilby in germanium and one year later in silicon This process led in only 25 years from a small number of transistors on a chip to more than one million transistors in regular logic devices on the one hand and to more than a hundred 41-40 stetorndie over 606 BE USED? thousand transistors on chip in nonsegular logic Gevices on the other hand. In other words, the Complexity of the circulry has increased by more than @ hundred thousand times in this period of time Aller these developments, is a competitor now ap: pearing on the horizon in the form of gallium drsenide? The worldwide market potential of gallium arsenide is estimated at 3:2 billion | dotlars for 1992, a con siderable omount when fone considers that, 23 | the German mictoelec- | tronics markel was worth | about one bition dotiars | in 1998, | Against this background, | one might after all be Justified in asking how much longer silicon wil be used, In order fo answer this question we | shail consider the follow ing points ‘the mechanisms of |” substitution which result | in the replacement of | technique oF technology | by another. @ the limits of silicon; «ihe limits of integration techniques; the development of the market for silicon and. gallium arsenide. Mechanisms of substitution A technique or tech- nology is only replaced by another under the fol lowing conditions: * Techno-economic limi: tations of a technique become apparent, ie. substitution results in cost savings '* A faster evolution of an aliemative technique is expected and at the same time a tendency towards greater efficiency. In such G case o subst tution is frequently made 98 G future investment. ‘* As welll as the actual replacement of the existing technique, a new technique promises com: pletely new applications, A substitution is made with @ View fo innovative po- tential HOW MUCH LONGER WILL SILICON ies ae | | 103 102 | 10" | ; 16K-RAM | a | soe ees | | Limits of silicon In order to assess the limits of silicon and possiblities of the aliemative material gallium arsenide, itis first necessary to consider the Physical properties ang also the technological status of the two materials A comparison of the physi: cal properties of the two basic materials reveals three salient factors: the much greater elec: tron mobility of GaAs, which means that con: siderably faster circuits can be realized with Gass # the much greater ther mal stability of GaAs and greater resistance to | radiation, which would be of particular advantage | with very fost and highly Integrated memories a wore ratio of elec: tron mabiliy to cefec- five election mobility in the case of GaAs, which 80 mnt fr 1 Gaas — 3 | > 108) em? 10-15 mm? 10 thin line the evolution of GaAs circuits. | We can see how silicon has evolved to the four- and 4émegabit dynamic RAM, while GaAs has developed to the four kilobit RAM. Fig. 2 does not show the preduction status of these circuits but the time at which the first design models were pre- sented. | Ifwe look at the two | curves for silicon and | GaAs, we have fo con- clude that, even if we as- | sume a more rapid devel- | opment for GaAs than for | silicon, it will not attain the degree of complexity of silicon until 1995. Such rapid development of GaAs is not 0 be ex: pected and we should as- sume thet the broken line with shorter strokes is more probable, so that even in the year 1995 we can ex. pect o difference in com: | plexity of more than ten between silicon and GaAs | If GaAs is not going 10 | catch up with silicon in the next ten years as regards complexity, what bout the advantage of | ateater speed which com- ponents constructed on GaAs have? An indication is provided byy the evolution of the gate delays of integrated circuits based on silt con technology. AS an example, lable 2 shows how gate delays in MOS processes in the Valvo plant (part of Philips GmbH in W.Germany) have developed from 4979180 to 1986, together with the expectations for 1988. Along with the reduction | in the smallest geometries and the associated re- duction in gale delays we can also observe a simul- taneous increase in the | size of the chip surtace | and in the number of \2 2 | au are nae Bead seusi-ta y 7_| 197 a aner-RReee tat RAMs wD ic Ae | i sag 7 ee GAKDIt-RAM, fs He 107 —| 1960 1985 1970-«1875 «1980 teas 9808085 Fae Selim coyeaeniy at inlecreiad circ ‘components per chip and per mm?, This means, therefore, that not only the individual components on the chip have become foster, but that the total chip sizes and number of components have grown very rapidly. At present chips are produced which are 40-50 mm? in size, while chips up to 100 mm? are being developed and will be produced in 1987. This implies that from 4988 chips between 50 and 400 mm? will represent the state of the ar At the same time, the lengih of the circuit on such chips will also increase, so that @ length of 10 mm on a chip of approximately 80 mm? will not be excep: tional. tf, however, we wish to determine the propa gation delay on a circuit which is 10 mm in length and assume a value of 10 cmis for the signal propagation, we obtain propagation delays of 0.4 ns. This means, there: fore, that with chips whose geometry is smaller than 4 um and with chip sur- faces of 100 mm? the speed of the components and the propagation delay between the com: ponents are in the same order of magnitude. From the above obser- vations, ii can be de- duced that with highly integrated circuits it is no longer the properties of the components on the ICs which determine the speed of signal pro- cessing, bul that the ar rangement of the circuitry | has @ major influence. This | ‘also applies to GaAs. I, | theretore, we substituted GaAs for all the silicon 11-41 stetor nia Nova 18