National Instruments PXIe-3620 RF Upconverter / Downconverter Module

The PXIe-3620 (Part number: 159813B-01L) is an RF Upconverter and Downconverter Module from National Instruments. This transceiver module includes a transmitter with 8.5 to 13.5 GHz, as well as a receiver with 2 GHz of instant bandwidth. The adaptable LO system of the PXIe-3620 supports MIMO applications by enabling LO sharing in addition to driving external mmWave heads. When higher performance phase noise is desired, the module may also take external LO sources (such the PXIe-5653). The PXIe-3620 is a necessary module to properly run the MMRH-3647 (Part number: 784458-01), which is a high power 71-76 GHz MMWave TX Adapter.

The mmWave radio heads that are compatible with the PXIe-3620 creates additional phase noise that is typically 20 log10(x) dB greater than normal, where x is the multiplication factor of the LO1 signal. Depending on the radio head used, this LO1 multiplication factor is usually either 8 or 6. 

Both the PXIe-3610 (an arbitrary waveform generator), and the PXIe-3630 (a digitizer) are able to be connected to the PXIe-3620 through its analog I and Q differential baseband connectors. The PXIe-3620 features two different connection types for different interfaces. The IF Interface (both IF IN and IF OUT), has a 50 Ω SMA female connector. This connector type is also used with the LO1 interface for the LO1 TX/RX mmWave OUT. For both the LO1 TX/RX IN and LO1 TX/RX OUT of the LO1 interface, the PXIe-3610 utilizes a 50Ω MMPX female connector. 

The 500Ω MMPX female connector of the PXIe-3610 is also used for the LO2 interface, for LO2 IN, LO2 OUT, and LO2 REF IN/OUT. When using the baseband interface of the PXIe-3610, the I/Q OUT uses a 100Ω differential MMPX female connector, while the I/Q IN uses a normal 100Ω MMPX female connector.