Ka-Band Transponder for Deep-Space Radio Science

A one-page document describes a Ka-band transponder being developed for use in deep-space radio science. The transponder receives in the Deep Space Network (DSN) uplink frequency band of 34.2 to 34.7 GHz, transmits in the 31.8- to 32.3 GHz DSN downlink band, and performs regenerative ranging on a DSN standard 4-MHz ranging tone subcarrier phase-modulated onto the uplink carrier signal. A primary consideration in this development is reduction in size, relative to other such transponders. The transponder design is all-analog, chosen to minimize not only the size but also the number of parts and the design time and, thus, the cost. The receiver features two stages of frequency down-conversion. The receiver locks onto the uplink carrier signal. The exciter signal for the transmitter is derived from the same source as that used to generate the first-stage local-oscillator signal. The ranging-tone subcarrier is down-converted along with the carrier to the second intermediate frequency, where the 4-MHz tone is demodulated from the composite signal and fed into a ranging-tone-tracking loop, which regenerates the tone. The regenerated tone is linearly phase-modulated onto the downlink carrier.