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Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad Senior Member of Technical Staff Wireless Communications Group Maxim Integrated Products Sunnyvale, CA
10/26/01
Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad
TALK OUTLINE
Introduction: Example of present level of integration in an RF chipset for CDMA cellular radio Receiver Architectures Heterodyne Receiver Image-Reject Receiver Direct-Conversion Receiver Low-IF Receiver Transmitter Architectures IF-Modulation / Up-conversion Transmitter Direct-Modulation Transmitter Offset-PLL Transmitter Summary
10/26/01
Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad
10/26/01
Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad
Heterodyne Receiver
LNA RF SAW BPF Mixer
0 90
DUPLEXER 1st LO
IF SAW BPF
IF AGC
PLL1
2nd LO XREF
PLL2 XREF
Advantages:
Down-conversion to baseband I&Q is done at an Intermediate-Frequency (IF) lower than RF. This results in superior I & Q matching. Its selectivity, which measures the receivers capability to process a desired small channel in the presence of close-in strong interferes, is done partly at IF using a highly selective SAW filter and at baseband I&Q using low-pass baseband filters. The use of the IF SAW filter relaxes the linearity requirements (IIP2, IIP3) of the succeeding IF and baseband stages. DC offsets at baseband I&Q do not limit its sensitivity because they are minimized by the fact that the first LO frequency is not equal to the input RF carrier frequency.
10/26/01
Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad
2x2 product
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Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad
PI IIM3 IIP3
IIP31 G1
IIP32 G2
On-Channel Passband
Typical Two-stages cascaded IIP3 equation, in linear format:: ;g1 is gain of stage 1; il is insertion loss of IF filter
( g il) 1 = 1 + 1 iip3 iip31 iip3 2
Generalized equation for overall IIP3 of a receiver chain with M cascaded stages:
g1 g1 g 2 g1 g 2 L g M 1 1 1 = + + +L+ 3 iip3 iip31 iip3 2 s1 / 2 iip3 3 (s1 s2 )3 / 2 iip3 M (s1 s2 L sM-1 )3 / 2
10/26/01
Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad
PI IIM2 IIP2
Half-IF
IIP21 G1
IIP22 G2
fLO- fIF/2
fLO
Two-stages cascaded IIP2 equation, in linear format: ; g1 is gain of stage 1; il is insertion loss of image-reject filter
1 = iip2 ( g1 il) 1 + iip21 iip2 2
Equivalent IIP2 of mixers block, including selectivity S (dB) ahead of mixer stage:
IIM 22 = 2 (Po1 S ) IIP 2 2 = 2 Po1 (IIP 2 2 + 2 S ) IIP 2e = IIP 2 2 + 2 S; (dBm) 2
Generalized equation for overall IIP2 of a receiver chain with M cascaded stages:
1 = iip2 g1 g1 g 2 1 + + +L+ 2 iip21 iip2 2 s1 iip23 (s1 s2 )2 g1 g 2 L g M 1 iip2M (s1 s 2 L sM-1 )2
10/26/01
Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad
Image-Reject Receiver
Desired R LPF C
IF
Desired
Mixer I Image
Mixer I Image
IF
cos(LOt) 0
LO
cos(LO1t) 0
LO1
BPF
cos(LO2t) 90 0
RF Input
90 C
sin(LOt)
RF Input
90
sin(LO1t)
sin(LO2t)
Mixer Q LO
IF
IF
Advantages:
It facilitates the integration of the heterodyne receivers front-end by eliminating the use of the off-chip RF image-reject filter and accomplishing the image rejection on-chip through phasing. It works nicely in receiver systems which do not suffer from strong out-of-band blockers and do not require interstage filter between front-end LNA and MIXER blocks. It is suitable for receiver systems using a very low IF frequency (e.g. 10.7MHz, 45MHz), since it eliminates the need for a very high Q bandpass RF filter in order to reject the image .
10/26/01
Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad
10/26/01
Walid Y. Ali-Ahmad
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Direct-Conversion Receiver
Cext Mixer I BPF2 0 90 AGC Q LPF AGC I
BPF #1
LNA
Mixer Q
In current cellular systems where signals are either frequency- or phase-modulated, direct downconversion must provide quadrature outputs so as to avoid loss of information, since the two sidebands of the RF spectrum contain different phase information.
Advantages:
The problems of image frequency and half-IF spurious response are eliminated since FIF = 0. RF BPF after LNA is optional; it is only needed for additional rejection of out-of-band interferers and TX power leakage. The bulky off-chip IF SAW filter is eliminated. All channel selectivity is done at baseband with low-pass filters and baseband amplifiers. One VCO and one PLL are needed for the whole receiver.
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BPF #1
LNA
LO Leakage
Mixer Q
LPF
Design Issues:
1 DC offsets:
1st LO
Static offsets are caused by process mismatch and drift of analog circuitry that vary slowly vs. T, aging, and current gain setting. Time-variant offsets are caused mainly by parasitic LO coupling to mixer RF port, LNA input port, and antenna port. LO self-mixing occurs in mixer and it produces a dc component at the mixers I & Q baseband outputs. Time-variant offsets can also be caused by a large interferer which can leak from LNA or mixer input to LO input port and self-mix with itself to produce a dc offset at mixers outputs. The time-variance is due to reflection of LO leakage against moving objects back to receiver and due to receiver movements. Maximum frequency content of time-variant DC offset due to Doppler shift = 2max/; where max: maximum moving object or car speed.
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2 DC offsets Cancellation Techniques: DC offsets can easily saturate the receivers final baseband output stages. Hence, DC offset removal or cancellation is required in direct-conversion receivers: DC blocking or High pass filtering: it is feasible in non-burst mode systems which are receiving continuously (FDD). In order to minimize distortion of signal, the high-pass corner should be < 0.1% of the data rate for random binary Mary data. The baseband signal in the transmitter can be encoded to result in dc-free modulation scheme, such as FSK with m > 1 or wideband Direct-Sequence Spread-Spectrum signals. DC calibration loop: In TDD systems, periodic offset cancellation can be performed during idle times where the DC offset is stored on a capacitor and then subtracted from the received signal during actual reception. Adaptive DSP techniques have been used for DC offset-cancellation in TDD systems.
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b) Fc = 1% of Rb;
c) Fc = 0.1% of Rb
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RF
LNA
Feedthrough
7 Even-Order Distortion: Assume vRF(t) = A1cos(1t)+A2cos(2t), the LNA output will contain an IM term at frequency f1f2, resulting from 2nd order non-linearity in the LNA. This IM2 product at LNA output will leak to mixers output because of finite feedthrough from RF input to IF output (3040dBc). Special attention to the mixers design is required since IM2 product can also be generated in the mixers RF port by two tones interferes after being amplified in LNA. The 2nd order non-linearity in the LNA and in the mixer will also demodulate any AM component on the received signal due to fading during propagation or Nyquist filtering. Based on input two-tone interferers level and the resultant low-frequency IM2 level at baseband output, a receivers 2nd order intercept point (IP2) can be derived. Using differential LNA output and differential mixers input will suppress the generated commonmode 2nd-order IM products. As a result, receivers IIP2 can be improved.
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Low-IF Receiver
Cext Mixer I BPF2 0 90 AGC I
BPF #1
LNA
Mixer Q
PLL1
XREF
Advantages:
The received signal is down converted to a low-IF frequency, which is normally one to two times the signal BW. It has the same advantage of Zero-IF receiver in terms of the integration of channel filters. It is less susceptible to 1/f noise. It is less susceptible to DC offsets since the bulk of signal energy is not centered around DC. DC offsets cancellation scheme can be simplified. Very low frequency IM2 products can be easily blocked.
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Baseband I&Q signals undergo quadrature modulation at an intermediate IF frequency (IF). The following IF filter (BPF1) rejects the harmonics of the IF signal. The IF modulated signal is then up-converted to (FIF FLO2). The unwanted sideband imposes tough rejection requirements on BPF2, typically 50-60dB, in order to meet transmitters spurious emissions levels imposed by standards. This topology does not allow full transmitters integration because of use of off-chip passive devices such BPF2 and BPF1. On-chip I and Q matching is superior since modulation is done at IF and not at RF. This will lead to better EVMs and lower cross-talk between I & Q channels. IF filtering reduces transmitted noise in RX band. Wide power control dynamic range because control it is distributed between RF and IF sections.
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Direct-Modulation Transmitter
Mixer I I cos(LOt) 90 0 PA carrier Feedthrough I cos(LOt) 90 0 PA carrier Feedthrough Mixer I
In direct-conversion transmitters, the baseband signal is directly modulated unto the RF carrier. The output carrier frequency is equal to the LO frequency at mixers inputs. This topology is attractive for full transmitters integration since it does not use an intermediate IF stage with upconversion and interstage IF filter. Its main disadvantage is the corruption through injection pulling of the VCO spectrum by the high level PA output. Isolation required is normally > 60dB. The isolation can be highly improved by offsetting the LO frequency by using 2xLO off-chip and dividing by 2 on-chip or by adding or subtracting another oscillator. The power control dynamic range is limited by the carrier feedthrough. A fully integrated differential transmitter architecture will minimize carrier feedthrough because of higher of common mode rejection (differential LO inputs and modulator output).
10/26/01
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sin(LOt + e)
O I & OQ are DC offsets at baseband I & Q inputs, respectively; AI & AQ are amplitude errors of I & Q paths, respectively. e is modulator quadrature phase error; I(t) and Q(t) are input baseband signals. 1 - The Error Vector magnitude (EVM) and phase (EVP) components can be calculated as following : EVM(t) = (( AI 1) I (t ) + O I AI + (Q (t ) + OQ ) AQ sin( e )) 2 + ( AQ cos( e ) 1)Q (t ) + OQ AQ cos( e )) 2 EVP(t) = tan 1 AQ cos( e ) 1)Q (t ) + OQ AQ cos( e )
[(
) (( AI 1) I (t ) + OI AI + (Q(t ) + OQ ) AQ sin( e ) )]
2 - The carrier and sideband suppression can be calculated as following : (assuming single tone modulating signal m ; I(t) = cos (m t); Q(t) = sin (m t))
2 A A 2 O I2 + 2 Q O I OQ sin (e ) + Q OQ Carrier Suppression (dB) = 10 LOG AI AI 2 1 2 AQ cos( ) + AQ Sideband Suppression (dB) = 10 LOG e AI AI 2 1 1 + 2 AQ cos( ) + AQ e AI AI 4
2 1 + 2 AQ cos( ) + AQ e AI AI
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Offset-PLL Transmitter
Mixer I I cos(IFt) 90 0 LPF IF PD LPF PLL Tank PA TX VCO Tank Offset MXR LO2
LPF MXR
Baseband I&Q signals undergo quadrature modulation at an intermediate IF frequency (IF). Instead of upconverting the IF signal, the phase modulation in the IF signal is transferred faithfully to the TX VCO via the offset PLL topology, with condition that the loop BW of PLL is chosen properly. This phase translation scheme to RF is only valid for constant envelop modulation signals such in GSM (GMSK). The PLL LPF helps tremendously at suppressing the out-of-band noise generated by the modulator and, hence, meeting the stringent GSM requirements for the thermal noise in the receive band. This eliminates the need for the off-chip bulky Duplexer. This topology is quite attractive for low-cost high performance integrated transmitters using constant-envelop modulation. However, enough isolation is required between the TX VCO and the PA in order to suppress VCO pulling by PA output noise.
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SUMMARY
Need for Fully Integrated VCOs. Need for Mixers with low level of 2nd-order Distortion (High IIP2). DC offset cancellation schemes have to be implemented without distorting signal. High Dynamic Range Baseband filters are key for direct-conversion receivers. Variable Gain PAs improve power control dynamic range in Direct-Modulation Transmitters. Low Noise Direct-Modulation Transmitters and Direct-Conversion Receivers enable low-cost radios for 3G applications.
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