Circuits and architectures for broadband spectrum channelizers with sub-band gain control

Broadband receiver architectures for full-band or concurrent multi-band reception of signals are required in several applications. One approach to implementing such receivers is a spectrum channelizer that employs a frequency-folded analog-to-digital converter (FF-ADC). The design downconverts and channelizes a broadband input signal into multiple sub-bands at baseband by employing the harmonics of non-overlapping rectangular clocks. The downconverted and aliased baseband signal in each path is digitized by a baseband ADC, referred to as a sub-ADC below, that operates with a sampling rate that is lower than the Nyquist sampling rate set by the full bandwidth of the input signal. Sub-band separation is performed through digital harmonic rejection (HR) and image rejection (IR). The design operates similar to a time-interleaved ADC, except that it significantly reduces the bandwidth requirement of the samplers. If rectangular pulse waveforms are used in the FF-ADC down-converter, all sub-bands experience nearly equal gain during frequency down-conversion. Since all sub-bands are aliased to baseband before they are separated in the digital domain, a sub-band with large relative power can reduce the sub-ADC dynamic range that is available for other sub-bands, in addition to appearing as a blocker for other sub-bands. The research presented in this dissertation addresses approaches to overcome this issue, by embedding sub-band gain control within an FF-ADC. Chapter 2 proposes an approach that employs pulse-width-modulated local oscillator (PWM-LO) waveforms in the polyphase paths of an FF-ADC for scaling individual sub-band signal levels at baseband before digitization. The PWM-LO waveforms, which directly drive switches in each path, can be used to vary the gain in each sub-band by varying the level of harmonics in the waveforms. This is achieved by controlling the pulse-widths of the PWM-LO waveforms. This design avoids the requirement for N ×N switch matrices and variable transconductance cells in prior demonstrated approaches. The proposed architecture makes it possible to vary the spectral response of the FF-ADC with low signal-path complexity. Prediction of pulse widths for the desired harmonic, and hence the gain profile across all sub-bands, is performed using an off-chip supervised learning approach employing a neural network. Chapter 3 presents the implementation of a spectrum channelizer employing the PWM-LO-based sub-band amplitude control. The design allows for scaling the relative gain of the sub-bands over a 20-dB range. This relaxes the compression performance of the channelizer baseband and the sub-ADC dynamic range in the presence of sub-bands with significantly higher signal levels. Gain control on individual sub-bands is performed by employing customized PWM-LO waveforms,where the PWM-LO pulses are generated using delay-locked loops (DLLs). The off-chip neural-network based learning technique for estimating the PWM symbol pulse widths required for setting the desired LO harmonic levels is described. A 1.6 GS/s spectrum channelizer IC is implemented in a 65-nm CMOS process to verify the architecture. The measured channelizer gain is 51.6-56.5 dB without gain scaling and provides a range of 37-59 dB with PWM-LO gain control. Gain-scaling at a specific harmonic improves blocker compression in an unattenuated sub-band from -34 dBm to -16 dBm. The in-band gain compression with gain-scaling also increases from -32 dBm to -17 dBm. Chapter 4 describes a spectrum channelizer that uses voltage-mode downconversion. The approach requires a single voltage-mode input amplifier to drive the downconversion switches. Frequency-folding and sub-band gain control are achieved in a single signal path. This contrasts with the current-mode approach that requires a main FF-ADC path and a separate auxiliary path for sub-band gain control. By avoiding the requirement for an auxiliary input path, the approach presented here significantly simplifies the signal chain with identical gain-scaling capability. The contributions of this research and scope for future related work are summarized in Chapter 5.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Circuits and architectures for the implementation of broadband channelizers

Broadband spectrum channelizers sub-divide a broadband input spectrum into multiple sub-bands, where each of the sub-bands is down-converted and further processed at baseband. These designs can help to relax baseband design specifications. For example, baseband analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) that process the sub-bands at the channelizer output see only a part of the incident spectrum. The sampling frequency, and potentially the dynamic range of each sub-band ADC can thus be relaxed, compared to the case where a single ADC is used to digitize the full spectrum. Spectrum channelizers can be used for multiple applications. These designs can be used as general-purpose hybrid frequency-and-time domain ADCs. The designs can also be employed for spectrum analysis, as well as for wireless communication applications. In this dissertation, two circuit techniques for the implementation of broadband channelizers are proposed. A frequency-translational feedback-based interference canceler for attenuating large interferers at the output of the front-end low-noise amplifier (LNA) of a channelizer is shown. The design uses harmonic rejection mixers (HRMs) with embedded frequency synthesis capability. While channelizers reduce the bandwidth and potentially the dynamic range of the baseband ADCs, the analog signal paths in the channelizer can be broadband. Consequently the dynamic range required of the analog section of a sub-band path can still be limited by the presence of large signals in other, potentially distant parts of the spectrum. The demonstrated design is useful for relaxing the dynamic range requirement of the analog section that follows the front-end LNA in a channelizer. Reduction of the harmonic response and the frequency synthesizer tuning-range is also achieved in this design. Second, a two-stage HRM is proposed which shares the same bias current between the RF and baseband stages, thus reducing the power consumption. Issues arising from bias-current sharing, such as the 1/f noise of the RF stage and potential degradation of the 2nd harmonic response are identified, and circuit techniques are introduced to mitigate these potential degradation mechanisms.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

High Performance Local Oscillator Design for Next Generation Wireless Communication

Local Oscillator (LO) is an essential building block in modern wireless radios. In modern wireless radios, LO often serves as a reference of the carrier signal to modulate or demod- ulate the outgoing or incoming data. The LO signal should be a clean and stable source, such that the frequency or timing information of the carrier reference can be well-defined. However, as radio architecture evolves, the importance of LO path design has become much more important than before. Of late, many radio architecture innovations have exploited sophisticated LO generation schemes to meet the ever-increasing demands of wireless radio performances. The focus of this thesis is to address challenges in the LO path design for next-generation high performance wireless radios. These challenges include (1) Congested spectrum at low radio frequency (RF) below 5GHz (2) Continuing miniaturization of integrated wireless radio, and (3) Fiber-fast (>10Gb/s) mm-wave wireless communication. The thesis begins with a brief introduction of the aforementioned challenges followed by a discussion of the opportunities projected to overcome these challenges. To address the challenge of congested spectrum at frequency below 5GHz, novel ra- dio architectures such as cognitive radio, software-defined radio, and full-duplex radio have drawn significant research interest. Cognitive radio is a radio architecture that opportunisti- cally utilize the unused spectrum in an environment to maximize spectrum usage efficiency. Energy-efficient spectrum sensing is the key to implementing cognitive radio. To enable energy-efficient spectrum sensing, a fast-hopping frequency synthesizer is an essential build- ing block to swiftly sweep the carrier frequency of the radio across the available spectrum. Chapter 2 of this thesis further highlights the challenges and trade-offs of the current LO gen- eration scheme for possible use in sweeping LO-based spectrum analysis. It follows by intro- duction of the proposed fast-hopping LO architecture, its implementation and measurement results of the validated prototype. Chapter 3 proposes an embedded phase-shifting LO-path design for wideband RF self-interference cancellation for full-duplex radio. It demonstrates a synergistic design between the LO path and signal to perform self-interference cancellation. To address the challenge of continuing miniaturization of integrated wireless radio, ring oscillator-based frequency synthesizer is an attractive candidate due to its compactness. Chapter 4 discussed the difficulty associated with implementing a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) with ultra-small form-factor. It further proposes the concept sub-sampling PLL with time- based loop filter to address these challenges. A 65nm CMOS prototype and its measurement result are presented for validation of the concept. In shifting from RF to mm-wave frequencies, the performance of wireless communication links is boosted by significant bandwidth and data-rate expansion. However, the demand for data-rate improvement is out-pacing the innovation of radio architectures. A >10Gb/s mm-wave wireless communication at 60GHz is required by emerging applications such as virtual-reality (VR) headsets, inter-rack data transmission at data center, and Ultra-High- Definition (UHD) TV home entertainment systems. Channel-bonding is considered to be a promising technique for achieving >10Gb/s wireless communication at 60GHz. Chapter 5 discusses the fundamental radio implementation challenges associated with channel-bonding for 60GHz wireless communication and the pros and cons of prior arts that attempted to address these challenges. It is followed by a discussion of the proposed 60GHz channel- bonding receiver, which utilizes only a single PLL and enables both contiguous and non- contiguous channel-bonding schemes. Finally, Chapter 6 presents the conclusion of this thesis

Photonic RF Channelization Based on Microcombs

In recent decades, microwave photonic channelization techniques have developed significantly. Characterized by low loss, high versatility, large instantaneous bandwidth, and immunity to electromagnetic interference, microwave photonic channelization addresses the requirements of modern radar and electronic warfare for receivers. Microresonator-based optical frequency combs are promising devices for photonic channelized receivers, enabling full advantage of multicarriers, large bandwidths, and accelerating the integration process of microwave photonic channelized receivers. In this paper, we review the research progress and trends in microwave photonic channelization, focusing on schemes that utilize integrated microcombs. We discuss the potential of microcomb-based RF channelization, as well as their challenges and limitations, and provide perspectives for their future development in the context of on-chip silicon-based photonics.Comment: This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

Circuit Techniques for Multiple and Wideband Beamforming

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation.June 2018. Major: Electrical Engineering. Advisor: Ramesh Harjani. 1 computer file (PDF); x, 102 pages.This thesis presents different architectures with regard to multiple beamforming and wideband phased array transceiver. Three different designs are implemented in TSMC 65nm RF CMOS to demonstrate different solutions. The design in this thesis have included major RF blocks in state-of-art wireless transceiver: RF receiver, local oscillator, and RF transmitter. First, a RF/analog FFT based four-channel four-beam receiver with progressive partial spatial ltering is proposed. This architecture is particularly well suited for MIMO systems where multiple beams are used to increase throughput. Like the FFT, the proposed architecture reuses computations for multi-beam systems. In particular, the proposed architecture redistributes the computations so as to maximize the reuse of the structure that already exist in a receiver chain. In many fashions the architecture is quite similar to a Butler matrix but unlike the Butler matrix it does not use large passive components at RF. Further, we exploit the normally occurring quadrature down-conversion process to implement the tap weights. In comparison to traditional MIMO architectures, that effectively duplicate each path, the distributed computations of this architecture provide partial spatial ltering before the final stage, improving interference rejection for the blocks between the LNA and the ADC. Additionally, because of the spatial ltering prior to the ADC, a single interferer only jams a single beam allowing for continued operation though at a lower combined throughput. The four-beam receiver core prototype in 65nm CMOS implements the basic FFT based architecture but does not include an LNA or extensive IF stages. This four-channel design consumes 56mW power and occupies an active area of 0:65mm2 excluding pads and test circuits. Second, a wideband phased array receiver architecture with simultaneous spectral and spatial filtering by sub-harmonic injection oscillators is presented. The design avoids using expensive delay elements by many conventional wideband phased array. Different from prior art of channelization which cannot solve beam-squinting issue among the sub-channels, we use sub-harmonic injection locking scheme, which make the center frequencies of all sub-channels point to the same spatial direction to overcome beam-squinting issue. The low frequency, low power and narrowband phase shifters are placed at LO in comparison to conventional way of placing delay elements or phase shifters in the signal path. This avoids receiver performance degradation from delay elements or phase shifters. The simultaneous spectral and spatial ltering dictates less ADC dynamic range requirement and further reduces power. The injection locking scheme reduces the phase noise contribution from the oscillators. The two-band prototype design realized in 65nm GP CMOS is centered at 9GHz, provides 4GHz instantaneous bandwidth, reduces beam-squinting by half, consumes 31.75mW/antenna and occupies 2.7mm2 of chip area. In the third work, a steerable RF/analog FFT based four-beam transmitter architecture is presented. This work is based on the idea of FFT based multiple beamforming in 1st work, but extended to the transmitter and make the all beams steerable. Due to the reciprocity between receiver and transmitter, decimation-in-frequency (DIF) FFT is utilized in the transmitter. All the beams are steered simultaneously by front-end phase shifters, while keep each of the beams is independent of the others. The steerability of FFT based multiple beamforming scheme makes this proposed prototype could tackle more complicated portable wireless environment. The first and second proposed architecture have been silicon veried, and the design of the third has been finished and ready for tapeout

Microwave Photonic Signal Processing Using On-Chip Nonlinear Optics

The field of microwave photonics (MWP) emerged as a solution to the challenges faced by electronic systems when dealing with high-bandwidth RF and microwave signals. Photonic devices are capable of handling immense bandwidths thanks to the properties of light. MWP therefore employs such devices to process and distribute the information carried by RF and microwave signals, enabling significantly higher capacity compared to conventional electronics. The photonic devices traditionally used in MWP circuits have mainly comprised bulky components, such as spools of fibre and benchtop optical amplifiers. While achieving impressive performance, these systems were not capable of competing with electronics in terms of size and portability. More recently, research has focused on the application of photonic chip technology to the field of MWP in order to reap the benefits of integration, such as reductions in size, weight, cost, and power consumption. Integrated MWP however is still in its infancy, and ongoing research efforts are exploring new ways to match integrated photonic devices to the unique requirements of MWP circuits. This work investigates the application of on-chip nonlinear optical interactions to MWP. Nonlinear optics enables light-on-light interactions (not normally possible in a linear regime) which open a vast array of powerful functionalities. In particular, this thesis focuses on stimulated Brillouin scattering, resulting from the interaction of light with hypersonic sound waves, and four-wave mixing, where photons exchange energies. These two nonlinear effects are applied to implement MWP ultra-high suppression notch filters, wideband phase shifters, and ultra-fast instantaneous frequency measurement systems. Experimental demonstrations using integrated optical waveguides confirm record results

Microwave Photonic Signal Processing Using On-Chip Nonlinear Optics

The field of microwave photonics (MWP) emerged as a solution to the challenges faced by electronic systems when dealing with high-bandwidth RF and microwave signals. Photonic devices are capable of handling immense bandwidths thanks to the properties of light. MWP therefore employs such devices to process and distribute the information carried by RF and microwave signals, enabling significantly higher capacity compared to conventional electronics. The photonic devices traditionally used in MWP circuits have mainly comprised bulky components, such as spools of fibre and benchtop optical amplifiers. While achieving impressive performance, these systems were not capable of competing with electronics in terms of size and portability. More recently, research has focused on the application of photonic chip technology to the field of MWP in order to reap the benefits of integration, such as reductions in size, weight, cost, and power consumption. Integrated MWP however is still in its infancy, and ongoing research efforts are exploring new ways to match integrated photonic devices to the unique requirements of MWP circuits. This work investigates the application of on-chip nonlinear optical interactions to MWP. Nonlinear optics enables light-on-light interactions (not normally possible in a linear regime) which open a vast array of powerful functionalities. In particular, this thesis focuses on stimulated Brillouin scattering, resulting from the interaction of light with hypersonic sound waves, and four-wave mixing, where photons exchange energies. These two nonlinear effects are applied to implement MWP ultra-high suppression notch filters, wideband phase shifters, and ultra-fast instantaneous frequency measurement systems. Experimental demonstrations using integrated optical waveguides confirm record results

High-Q Millimeter Wave RF Filters and Multiplexers

For a long period of time, millimeter waves (mm-Wave) were considered unsuitable for wireless data transmission due to high attention while propagating in the atmosphere. Over the past few years, due to the vigorous developments of multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) antenna technology and semiconductor technology, it is now feasible to have reliable wireless data transmissions using mm-Wave. Traditionally, mobile communication networks operate in the frequency spectrum under 6 GHz. In order to meet the ever-increasing demand for high communication data rate and high-quality multi-media services, the current fifth generation (5G) and the emerging 6G mobile communication systems will start to utilize the mm-Wave spectrum due to its bandwidth advantages, which in turn translates into a high data transmission rate. Millimeter-wave technology is also widely used in radar, imaging, medical therapy, and sensing applications. For those reasons, over the past few years, the interest in mm-Wave spectrum has significantly increased. RF filters are essential components in any communication systems to provide frequency selectivity. As the operating frequency of communication systems is extending to the mm-Wave spectrum, the conductor loss, the dielectric loss, and the radiation loss increase rapidly, which makes it challenging to develop high-Q mm-Wave filters. Three-dimensional (3D) waveguide filter structures exhibit excellent RF performance at mm-Wave frequencies and have been widely employed in high-performance RF systems. Nevertheless, as the operating frequency increases to mm-Wave frequency, the physical sizes of the waveguide filters become miniature in size impeding the use of post-fabricated tuning elements to compensate for the manufacturing tolerances of the traditional machining technologies. The silicon-micromachining technology has the potential to develop very accurate miniature 3D filters. This thesis focuses on the development of high-Q ultra-wideband mm-Wave planar filters using multilayer superconductor technology and 3D filter structures using silicon micromachining technology, making use of recent advances in deep reactive ions etching (DRIE) techniques. This thesis first introduces a new technique for filter design and tuning using the phase of the input impedance (PII) as the design parameter. This novel method is applicable to both narrow and wideband filters. Compared with conventional filter design and tuning methods, this approach requires less computation time and provides a clear step-by-step procedure for identifying the proper inter-resonator coupling and the resonant frequencies of the resonators. In practice, the physical realization of the filter always has a non-ideal I/O port, which can introduce an unexpected unknown transmission line between the physical reference plane and the port of the corresponding inverter in the circuit model. In this thesis, the PII response is used to determine the equivalent electrical length of this unknown transmission line. The validity of the proposed technique is demonstrated through the design of a wideband planar filter with a fractional bandwidth of 72%, the tuning of filters with transmission zeros and the design of a wideband diplexer. The multilayer superconductor technology allows to realize high-Q planar structures with highly miniature physical dimensions. The superconductor digital receivers can directly digitalize RF signals up to very high frequencies, eliminating the need to use mixers and oscillators to convert the RF signals to lower frequencies. This thesis demonstrates the feasibility of an ultra-wide band superconductor mm-Wave continuous triplexer that can be integrated with superconductor analog to digital converter (ADC) on a single niobium chip. A wideband high-Q mm-Wave highly miniature niobium-based superconductor multiplexer realized on an 8-layer niobium process has been developed, fabricated, and tested covering the frequency range 20 GHz - 80 GHz. In addition to monolithic integration of the superconductor multiplexer with the superconductor ADC, the thesis also demonstrates the feasibility of mounting the triplexer chip on a multi-chip-module (MCM) substrate using flip-chip technology interfaced with 1 mm mm-Wave connectors. This thesis also demonstrates using a unique behavior of spiral inductors designed intentionally to have a large parasitic capacitance in the realization of a tunable band reject filter. It is shown that, regardless of the operating frequency, the conductivity of the metal strips forming the inductor has a significant impact on how the spiral inductor behaves as an inductor or a capacitor. The concept is used to demonstrate a band reject filter made from a multilayer niobium circuit operating at 4 Kelvin. Such band reject filters are needed in the front-end of superconductor digital receivers to eliminate interference. Micromachining fabrication processes provide much higher manufacturing accuracy than traditional CNC machining technologies. Moreover, the DRIE silicon micromachining process is more economical for mass production and makes it possible to produce highly accurate 3D waveguide structures. This thesis presents filter designs composing of highly miniature silicon-micromachined ridge waveguide resonators. The proposed filter designs provide highly compact physical size with reasonable high Q values. An ultra-high-Q mm-Wave cavity filter employing a silicon-micromachined barrel-shape cavities operating in TE011 mode has been developed, fabricated and tested. The barrel-shape is proposed to realize a high-Q cavity, while circumventing the spurious issues of the degenerate TM modes that exist in traditional cylindrical-shape cavities. The filter was realized on silicon using DRIE techniques