Satellite D2D/IoT applications often use relatively narrowband waveforms, allowing the digital interface to be optimized for lower baseband data rates and reduced power consumption. Typically, a baseband data rate of 61.44MSPS is sufficient to receive 50MHz signal bandwidth for one band.

For satellite D2D and IoT payload applications, 12-bit converter sample resolution at 61.44MSPS can provide sufficient performance to meet link budget and dynamic range requirements. Compared with a 16-bit JESD sample configuration commonly used in terrestrial infrastructure, reducing the JESD sample resolution to 12 bits lowers the payload data rate by 25%, potentially enabling lower SerDes operating speeds, reduced interface power consumption and simpler board-level interconnect.

For the single-band use cases, with all eight receive channels active in single-band mode at 61.44MSPS, the JESD204C framing configuration LMFS = 1-16-24-1 and N’ = 12 bits produces a lane rate of approximately 12.165Gbps. This falls within the AFE8030’s half-rate SerDes operating range (9.5Gbps – 16.25Gbps), whereas the equivalent 16-bit configuration requires approximately 16.22Gbps per lane, pushing the SerDes into full-rate mode and its associated higher PLL frequency and core power. Running half-rate SerDes is therefore not merely a convenience, but a deliberate power-reduction strategy well suited to the thermally constrained environment of a satellite payload.

For the dual-band use cases, where the payload demands simultaneous coverage of two frequency bands, the AFE8030’s dual-DDC mode doubles the effective converter count to M = 32 by producing two independent complex IQ streams per receive channel. The corresponding JESD204C configuration LMFS = 1-32-48-1 and N’ = 12 bits with 61.44 MSPS baseband data rate per band yields a lane rate of approximately 24.33Gbps, which sits within the AFE8030’s full-rate SerDes range (19Gbps – 32.5Gbps) and still concentrates the entire dual-band payload across one physical SerDes lane, preserving a compact, low-pin-count digital interface to the downstream FPGA even as the spectral capacity of the payload doubles, an highly efficient interface option to multi-band D2D/IoT applications.