Transceivers Architectures For Mobile & Wireless Applications
Transceivers Architectures For Mobile & Wireless Applications
Hooman Darabi
hdarabi@broadcom.com
1
Wireless Transceiver Challenges
Desired TX
Wireless
Receiver
Out-of-band
Interferer TX
100dB
In-band
̶ IIP2, IIP3
2fB1-fB2 fB1 fB2
• Large signal linearity: Y
G
GD
̶ Gain compression
Operates here
• Harmonic mixing A A D B
X
10dB/
Blockers:
– Sets the TX linearity
Co-existence GSM Mask
– Determines TX phase noise
• Far-out noise 100kHz/
SNR:
Thru-put • Modulation quality: PE, EVM
SNR, EVM
Phase Noise
TX Out RX IN
Code: 3.84MHz Code
RX Desired
Duplexer
TX RX
RF IC
Demodulator
S1
Diversity
S2 Combiner
Inter-Band
Band A Band B 8
WLAN Design Challenges
• Bandwidth variability and detection
– 20MHz up to 160MHz
– OFDM .3125M
To help multi-path
f
0
• TX PAR of 12dB for 64QAM Q
ADC
ADC
SDR
fLO
DAC BB
DAC
-26dBm 0dBm
RF IF
-99dBm
fIF = fIN - fLO
• Filter only rejects out-of- • Invented by Armstrong in
band blockers 1918
• In-band blockers require • Frequency-conversion
a high-resolution ADC relaxes IF signal processing
• Power hungry • Lower power
10 Mitola, 2005 7 Armstrong, 1924 10
LO Harmonic Mixing Issue
• In a perfectly linear RX, blockers still problematic
PB
fIF fIF
PD IIPk
fLO nfLO
(nfLO±fIF)/k
…
Hard Switching Mixer
fLO 3fLO nfLO
(2fLO±fIF)/2
• Half-IF: n=k=2, Differential helps fLO
fLO IF
On-Chip
7 Armstrong, 1924 12
Zero-IF Receiver
IQ Channel-Select
Complex
0
OFDM
1/f noise
-ω
ωLO ωLO
f
Pros Cons
• Less severe image issue • Requires quadrature LO
• Channel selection on-chip • DC Offset, 1/f noise, IIP2
• Suitable for WB: LTE, WiFi • In band IRR
1 Abidi, JSSC 1995 13
3G RX NF Requirement
• For 12.2kbps reference measurement, SF=128, -
117dBm sensitivity, required NF = 9dB
-99dBm
SNR = 7dB
NF I^or = -106.7dBm/3.84MHz
Noise Floor = -108dBm
SF+CG=25dB (-174,3.84MHz)
DPCH_Ec = -117dBm/3.84Mz
A(t)2
fTX fRX
0
I ≈50dB
+24dBm +28dBm
…
(fRX-fTX)/2 …
TX Duplexer Isolation: 50dB
Duplexer Filtering: 30dB
• Stringent IIP3 due to TX leakage:
Polyphase
Active
fLOI
fLOQ
Digital IR
IR
0 IF∝
∝BW
Pros Cons
• IIP2, 1/f less problematic • Requires quadrature LO
• Image in-band • Higher IF, higher power
• Suitable for NB: GSM, BT • Tighter IRR
17
GSM Noise Figure
• The standard requires -102dBm
• Receiver NF sets the sensitivity:
Band X
…
≈3dB
fLO
IF
IF
• Trade-off between 1/f noise, IIP2, … vs. image rejection
-33dBm
45 400k -41dBm
IMRR, dBc
40
-73dBm
35 Tail of 400k -82dBm
30 Desired
200k
400k
600k
Mostly 200k
120
140
160
180
IF, kHz 19
GSM In-Band Blocking Requirements
PB
∆ fB SNR
PD Noisy LO
fLO
BW
BNF = 174 + PB + PN
-23/-26dBm
• LO PN of -140dBc/Hz at 3MHz -43dBm
• BNF = 174 – 26 – 140 = 8dB
• RX NF of 6dB: Total BNF ≈ 10dB -99dBm
• 3GPP NF requirement: 13dB
1.6M
600k
Desired
3M
• Compression degrades the BNF further
– -26/-23dBm blocker can heavily compress the front-end 20
Dual-Conversion Receiver
fLO2I Zero or
fLO2Q Low-IF
fLO1
fLO2 = fLO1/N
PN, IQ
Gain, dB
SNR, dB
20 & linearity
10 Ideal Slope
0
-97
-52
-37
-112
-82
-67
-22
-112
-97
-82
-67
-52
-37
-22
Input, dBm Input, dBm
U/D fading
Signal, dBm
ADC
close to ADC full scale Blocker
-60
• Trade-off between filter
-90 Signal
& ADC
Q-Noise
• ADC DR >> receiver SNR RF PGA1 PGA2
23
Example: 2G ADC Requirements
ADC Full Scale
6dB Margin: GC
10dB Up Fading
Blocker
41dB Blocker
87dB
Signal
(57dB below FS) 10dB Down Fading
-99dBm
1930
PCS Frequency, MHz
1990
2010
2070
1830
1910
Band
Multi-Band Receiver
15-20dB
Switch
0dBm
-99dBm
6.6V p-p
• Large blockers compress the receiver
• Impose stringent far-out phase noise
• External filtering is narrow-band and costly 26
Passive Mixers as N-Path Filters4
LO1
LO1 ZBB 0
LO2
LO3
VRF LO2
LO4
IRF LO3
Blocker
IRF
0 fLO
LO4 VRF
2 0 fLO
Z in ( s) ≈ RSW + 2
{Z BB ( s − jω LO ) + Z BB ( s + jω LO )}
π
High-Q BPF from low-Q LPF
4 L. Franks, Bell Syst. Tech. J., 1960
14 Mirzaei, TCAS 2010 27
Current-Mode Receivers
BUF
GM
BUF
0
fRF
fRF
0
TIA_I
LO2 I
NF, dB
RS 3
VS LO3 2
TIA_Q
LO4 Q 1
0
10
20
30
40
50
r (ON ) vbb
2 SW Resistance, Ω
• For M phases: F = 1 +
DS
RS
+
M ( 4 KTR S
)
× N Alia sin g
8-Phase
TIA K1
Σ √2
…
IRF VOUT
TIA K7
1
Harmonic
Combination 1/7
͌
LO7 GM I
Recombination
Weighting &
NF ≈ 1 + γ/GMRS
10Ω
Ω
I Q
÷2/4
fLO
Pros Cons
• Low power • Suffers from pulling
• Versatile • LOFT, IQ matching
• Highly integrated • Far-out noise
33
Dual-Conversion Transmitters
fLO2Q fLO2I
fLO1 ÷N
Pros Cons
• No pulling • Higher power
• LOFT/IR less problematic • More complex filtering
• Sliding IF needed
13 Zargari, JSSC 2002 34
Third Harmonic Folding
23 Mirzaei, TCAS 2011 A
fLO A/3 3fLO
f
vd (t) fLO +f1 fLO +f2 3fLO –f2 3fLO -f1 vu (t)
f
fLO +2f1-f2 fLO +2f2-f1
fLO -3f1
a3A 3/2
a3A 3/4
… 3a3vd 2(t)vu(t)
f
fLO -2f2-f1 fLO -2f1-f2
• EVM: 19%
36
WCDMA TX EVM
• In linear TX, IQ imbalance, LOFT & PN dominate
Error
1
IM3
+1.9M 5±1.92MHz
-1.9M
0
ACLR1, dBc
• ACLR1 requirement of -33dBc at the antenna
OIP3 = 15.5dBm
– PA WC -37dBc (optimized for efficiency) +3dBm
-31dBc
– 2dB production margin
0dBm
– Leaves RFIC WC of -40dBc
38
Folding Impact on PAD Linearity
Output 3G Signal
DAC
-20
Power, dBc
PAD
-40
w/ 3rd
DAC
-60
w/o 3rd
PAD Ideal vRF,1(ω)
-80
1 vRF,3(ω) vRF,5(ω)
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 ≅ 1/3 ≅ 1/5
Frequency, MHz fLO 3fLO 5fLO f
+24 ~ -50dBm
> 70dB 10-20dB
I
…
Q PAD Units
1 GC
EGSM RX
EGSM TX
-79dBm
≈
≈
915
960
880
935
20M Freq, MHz
400kHz
PFD/CP
PLL
Modulator/
MMD ∆Σ
Pre-distortion
Lowpass
100kHz/
-88dBc
100kHz
Frequency
44
Basics of Polar Transmitters
A(t)Sin(ω
ω0t+φ
φ(t)) Sin(ω
ω0t+φ
φ(t))
I + jQ = rejθθ
A(t)
Reference
PFD/CP
EDGE Constellation
PM
MMD ∆Σ
Modulator
AM
∆Σ
8PSK Ideal
PM 20nS
-20
Amplitude, dB
AM 40nS
80nS
-40 160nS
-60
-80
-800
-400
400
800
-800
-400
400
800
0
0
Frequency, kHz Frequency, kHz
AM-PM
PA or PAD
-55 Uncorrected
-60
AM
400kHz
-65
20dB/
Corrected
-70
PFT
-30
-15
0
15
30
45
AM-PM Relative Delay, nS 200kHz/
× 1/KVCO
0 + REF
Magnitude, dBc
PFD/CP
PM
-40
AM LP
-80 MMD ∆Σ
Modulator
3G PM
AM
10 20 30 40 50 ∆Σ
Frequency, MHz
ACLR, dBc
ACLR1
EVM, %
1.0 -50
0.5 -60 ACLR2
-0.8
-0.4
0.4
0.8
1 2 3 4 5
VCO Gain Error, % VCO Nonlinearity, %
AM
HP Path
REF LB
PFD/CP + ÷2 ÷2
PM
PLL (250kHz) F/V ÷4 OUT
HB
MMD ÷2
∆Σ
Linear VCO