Recommended solution for Metop-SG satellite direct readout

General Discussion
1

The satellite is transmitting QPSK modulated data stream with bitrate of 186.6Mbps at 7.825GHz.

We are evaluating if LMS8001 + LMS7002M could be used for the signal reception.

One of possible problems we have identified is the fact that maximum sampling rate of LMS7002M with internal ADC in SISO mode is 96MHz which may not provide sufficient oversampling factor for successful demodulation. The only possible solution we have identified is to use external LA9310 baseband processor with sample rate of 153MHz. Are there any other options? Is faster sample rate possible with the internal ADC if sample resolution could be reduced from 12-bit?

2

Where did this number come from? We are using LMS7002M SISO with 122.88 MHz sampling rate with the internal ADC.

3

@ricardas you are right, 96MHz is actually limit for RF modulation bandwidth. ADC sampling rate limit is declared to be 160MHz according Table 9 in the datasheet. Is this rate feasible or 122.88MHz is practical limit?

4

I’m not a hardware engineer so I can’t really answer that. At least the limit of 122.88MHz on the devices that I worked with, as far as I know was imposed by the limits of FPGA interface clocking, not by LMS7002M chip.