Distributed block frequency converter

A distributed block frequency converter for combining a plurality of channel signals into a combined RF signal, comprising:

• an up-converter synthesizer that generates an up-converter local oscillator (LO) signal;
• a plurality of up-converter mixers, each mixing the up-converter LO signal with a corresponding one of the plurality of combined channel signals and providing a corresponding one of a plurality of intermediate frequency (IF) signals;
• a plurality of bandpass filters, each receiving a corresponding one of the plurality of IF signals and providing a corresponding one of a plurality of filtered signals;
• a plurality of down-converter synthesizers, each generating a corresponding one of a plurality of down-converter LO signals, the plurality of down-converter LO signals separate from each other in frequency;
• a plurality of down-converter mixers, each mixing a corresponding one of the plurality of down-converter LO signals with a corresponding one of the plurality of filtered signals and providing a corresponding one of a plurality of radio frequency (RF) signals;
• a RF combiner that combines the plurality of RF signals into a combined RF signal output at a lower frequency than the plurality of filtered signals;
• wherein each of the plurality of combiners receives a subset of the plurality of channel signals, and wherein each channel signal of each subset of channel signals are separated in frequency by a predetermined frequency value;
• and
• at least two of the subsets of channel signals comprise a same set of channel frequency values.

A distributed block frequency converter for combining a plurality of channel signals into a combined RF signal, comprising:

• an up-converter synthesizer that generates an up-converter local oscillator (LO) signal;
• a plurality of up-converter mixers, each mixing the up-converter LO signal with a corresponding one of the plurality of combined channel signals and providing a corresponding one of a plurality of intermediate frequency (IF) signals;
• a plurality of bandpass filters, each receiving a corresponding one of the plurality of IF signals and providing a corresponding one of a plurality of filtered signals;
• a plurality of down-converter synthesizers, each generating a corresponding one of a plurality of down-converter LO signals, the plurality of down-converter LO signals separate from each other in frequency;
• a plurality of down-converter mixers, each mixing a corresponding one of the plurality of down-converter LO signals with a corresponding one of the plurality of filtered signals and providing a corresponding one of a plurality of radio frequency (RF) signals;
• a RF combiner that combines the plurality of RF signals into a combined RF signal;
• wherein each of the plurality of down-converter LO signals are separated by a predetermined block frequency value.

A method of block combining a plurality of channel signals into a combined RF signal for transport, comprising:

• combining each of a plurality of subsets of a plurality of channel signals into a corresponding one of a plurality of combined channel signals, each subset including at least two channel signals and including centering each of the combined channel signals at approximately the same frequency value;
• mixing each of the plurality of combined channel signals with an up-converter local oscillator (LO) signal to provide a corresponding plurality of intermediate frequency (IF) signals;
• bandpass filtering each of the plurality of IF signals into a corresponding plurality of filtered signals;
• generating a plurality of down-converter LO signals separated from each other in frequency;
• mixing each of the plurality of down-converter LO signals with a corresponding one of the plurality of filtered signals to provide a corresponding plurality of radio frequency (RF) signals;
• and
• combining the plurality of RF signals into a combined RF signal.