Mixer Design for Global Navigation Satellite System

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is a satellite navigation system with global coverage. It refers to constellation of satellites that provide precise location and timing data to GNSS receivers via space signals. One of the critical components of the receiver is the mixer. The received Radio frequency (RF) signal after filtering and amplification is given to the mixer. The mixer at receiver downconverts to an Intermediate Frequency (IF) signal. This helps in the frequency band of interest to be moved down the spectrum so that the filter requirements and further processing on the signal become easy. The paper presents the designing of a Double Balanced (DB) mixer and an Inphase Quadrature (I/Q) mixer in 180 nm CMOS technology using Cadence Virtuoso SpectreRF. The mixers are to work in 1.8 V power supply, with 2.4 GHz RF signal and giving IF of 50 MHz. They are intended to have conversion gain greater tha 5 dB, IP3 greater tha -5 dBm, Noise figure less than 20 dB.