Programmable rate modem utilizing digital signal processing techniques

The engineering development study to follow was written to address the need for a Programmable Rate Digital Satellite Modem capable of supporting both burst and continuous transmission modes with either binary phase shift keying (BPSK) or quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation. The preferred implementation technique is an all digital one which utilizes as much digital signal processing (DSP) as possible. Here design tradeoffs in each portion of the modulator and demodulator subsystem are outlined, and viable circuit approaches which are easily repeatable, have low implementation losses and have low production costs are identified. The research involved for this study was divided into nine technical papers, each addressing a significant region of concern in a variable rate modem design. Trivial portions and basic support logic designs surrounding the nine major modem blocks were omitted. In brief, the nine topic areas were: (1) Transmit Data Filtering; (2) Transmit Clock Generation; (3) Carrier Synthesizer; (4) Receive AGC; (5) Receive Data Filtering; (6) RF Oscillator Phase Noise; (7) Receive Carrier Selectivity; (8) Carrier Recovery; and (9) Timing Recovery

Digital Radio Encoding and Power Amplifier Design for Multimode and Multiband Wireless Communications

The evolution of wireless technology has necessitated the support of multiple communication standards by mobile devices. At present, multiple chipsets/radios operating at predefined sets of modulation schemes, frequency bands, bandwidths and output power levels are used to achieve this objective. This leads to higher component counts, increased cost and limits the capacity to cope with future communication standards. In order to tackle different wireless standards using a single chipset, digital circuits have been increasingly deployed in radios and demonstrated re-configurability in different modulation schemes (multimode) and frequency bands (multiband). Despite efforts and progress made in digitizing the entire radio, the power amplifier (PA) is still designed using an conventional approach and has become the bottleneck in digital transmitters, in terms of low average power efficiency, poor compatibility with modern CMOS technology and limited re-configurability. This research addresses these issues from two aspects. The first half of the thesis investigates signal encoding issues between the modulator and PA. We propose, analyze and evaluate a new hybrid amplitude/time signal encoding scheme that significantly improves the coding efficiency and dynamic range of a digitally modulated power amplifier (DMPA) without significantly increasing design complexity. The proposed hybrid amplitude/time encoding scheme combines both the amplitude domain and the time domain to optimally encode information. Experimental results show that hybrid amplitude/time encoding results in a 35% increase in the average coding efficiency with respect to conventional time encoding, and is only 6.7% lower than peak efficiency when applied to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) signal with a peak to average power ratio equal to 9.9 dB. A new DMPA architecture, based on the proposed hybrid encoding, is also proposed. The second half of this thesis presents the design, analysis and implementation of a CMOS PA that is amenable to the proposed hybrid encoding scheme. A multi-way current mode class-D PA architecture has been proposed and realized in 130 nm CMOS technology. The designed PA has satisfied the objectives of wide bandwidth (1.5 GHz - 2.7 GHz at 1 dB output power), and high efficiency (PAE 63%) in addition to demonstrating linear responses using the proposed digital encoding. A complete digital transmitter combining the encoder and the multi-way PA was also investigated. The overall efficiency is 27% modulating 7.3 dB peak to average power ratio QAM signals

Correction of errors and harmonic distortion in pulse-width modulation of digital signals

Article number 153991Pulse-Width (PW) modulation is widely used in those applications where an analog or digital signal has to be encoded in the time domain as a binary stream, such as switched-mode power amplifiers in transmitters of modern telecommunication standards, high-resolution digital signal conversion using single-bit digital-to-analog converters, and many others. Due to the fact that digital signals are sampled in the time domain, the quality of the resulting PW modulated waveforms is worsened by harmonic distortion. Multilevel PW modulation has been proposed to reduce these adverse effects, but the modulated waveform is no longer binary. In this paper, the mechanisms by which harmonic distortion is produced are analyzed. As a result, the distortion terms are mathematically quantified and used to correct the errors. Note that a correction network based on a simple subtraction of the distortion terms from the PW modulated signal would produce a waveform that would no longer be binary. The proposed correction network is implemented in the digital domain and, by means of a sigma-delta modulator, preserves the binary feature of the PW modulated output.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España) RTI201- 099189-B-C2

Acoustic Transmitters for Underwater Neutrino Telescopes

In this paper acoustic transmitters that were developed for use in underwater neutrino telescopes are presented. Firstly, an acoustic transceiver has been developed as part of the acoustic positioning system of neutrino telescopes. These infrastructures are not completely rigid and require a positioning system in order to monitor the position of the optical sensors which move due to sea currents. To guarantee a reliable and versatile system, the transceiver has the requirements of reduced cost, low power consumption, high pressure withstanding (up to 500 bars), high intensity for emission, low intrinsic noise, arbitrary signals for emission and the capacity of acquiring and processing received signals. Secondly, a compact acoustic transmitter array has been developed for the calibration of acoustic neutrino detection systems. The array is able to mimic the signature of ultra-high-energy neutrino interaction in emission directivity and signal shape. The technique of parametric acoustic sources has been used to achieve the proposed aim. The developed compact array has practical features such as easy manageability and operation. The prototype designs and the results of different tests are described. The techniques applied for these two acoustic systems are so powerful and versatile that may be of interest in other marine applications using acoustic transmitters.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures,1 tabl

Frequency diversity wideband digital receiver and signal processor for solid-state dual-polarimetric weather radars

2012 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.The recent spate in the use of solid-state transmitters for weather radar systems has unexceptionably revolutionized the research in meteorology. The solid-state transmitters allow transmission of low peak powers without losing the radar range resolution by allowing the use of pulse compression waveforms. In this research, a novel frequency-diversity wideband waveform is proposed and realized to extenuate the low sensitivity of solid-state radars and mitigate the blind range problem tied with the longer pulse compression waveforms. The latest developments in the computing landscape have permitted the design of wideband digital receivers which can process this novel waveform on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips. In terms of signal processing, wideband systems are generally characterized by the fact that the bandwidth of the signal of interest is comparable to the sampled bandwidth; that is, a band of frequencies must be selected and filtered out from a comparable spectral window in which the signal might occur. The development of such a wideband digital receiver opens a window for exciting research opportunities for improved estimation of precipitation measurements for higher frequency systems such as X, Ku and Ka bands, satellite-borne radars and other solid-state ground-based radars. This research describes various unique challenges associated with the design of a multi-channel wideband receiver. The receiver consists of twelve channels which simultaneously downconvert and filter the digitized intermediate-frequency (IF) signal for radar data processing. The product processing for the multi-channel digital receiver mandates a software and network architecture which provides for generating and archiving a single meteorological product profile culled from multi-pulse profiles at an increased data date. The multi-channel digital receiver also continuously samples the transmit pulse for calibration of radar receiver gain and transmit power. The multi-channel digital receiver has been successfully deployed as a key component in the recently developed National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-Frequency Dual-Polarization Doppler Radar (D3R). The D3R is the principal ground validation instrument for the precipitation measurements of the Dual Precipitation Radar (DPR) onboard the GPM Core Observatory satellite scheduled for launch in 2014. The D3R system employs two broadly separated frequencies at Ku- and Ka-bands that together make measurements for precipitation types which need higher sensitivity such as light rain, drizzle and snow. This research describes unique design space to configure the digital receiver for D3R at several processing levels. At length, this research presents analysis and results obtained by employing the multi-carrier waveforms for D3R during the 2012 GPM Cold-Season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) campaign in Canada

Arquiteturas paralelas avançadas para transmissores 5G totalmente digitais

The fifth generation of mobile communications (5G) is being prepared and should be rolled out in the early coming years. Massive number of Radio-Frequency (RF) front-ends, peak data rates of 10 Gbps (everywhere and everytime), latencies lower than 10 msec and huge device densities are some of the expected disruptive capabilities. At the same time, previous generations can not be jeopardized, fostering the design of novel flexible and highly integrated radio transceivers able to support the simultaneous transmission of multi-band and multi-standard signals. The concept of all-digital transmission is being pointed out as a promising architecture to cope with such challenging requirements, due to its fully digital radio datapath. This thesis is focused on the proposal and validation of fully integrated and advanced digital transmitter architectures that excel the state-of-the-art in different figures of merit, such as transmission bandwidth, spectral purity, carrier agility, flexibility, and multi-band capability. The first part of this thesis introduces the concept of all-digital RF transmission. In particular, the foundations inherent to this thematic line are given, together with the recent advances reported in the state-of-the-art architectures.The core of this thesis, containing the main developments achieved during the Ph.D. work, is then presented and discussed. The first key contribution to the state-of-the-art is the use of cascaded Delta-Sigma (∆Σ) architectures to relax the analog filtering requirements of the conventional All-Digital Transmitters while maintaining the constant envelope waveform. Then, it is presented the first reported architecture where Antenna Arrays are directly driven by single-chip and single-bit All-Digital Transmitters, with promising results in terms of simplification of the RF front-ends and overall flexibility. Subsequently, the thesis proposes the first reported RF-stage All-Digital Transmitter that can be embedded within a single Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device. Thereupon, novel techniques to enable the design of wideband All-Digital Transmitters are reported. Finally, the design of concurrent multi-band transmitters is introduced. In particular, the design of agile and flexible dual and triple bands All-DigitalTransmitter (ADT) is demonstrated, which is a very important topic for scenarios that demand carrier aggregation. This Ph.D. contributes withseveral advances to the state-of-the-art of RF all-digital transmitters.A quinta geração de comunicações móveis (5G) está a ser preparada e deve ser comercializada nos próximos anos. Algumas das caracterı́sticas inovadoras esperadas passam pelo uso de um número massivo de font-ends de Rádio-Frequência (RF), taxas de pico de transmissão de dados de 10 Gbps (em todos os lugares e em todas as ocasiões), latências inferiores a 10 mseg e elevadas densidades de dispositivos. Ao mesmo tempo, as gerações anteriores não podem ser ignoradas, fomentando o design de novos transceptores de rádio flexı́veis e altamente integrados, capazes de suportar a transmissão simultânea de sinais multi-banda e multi-standard. O conceito de transmissão totalmente digital é considerado como um tipo de arquitetura promissora para lidar com esses requisitos desafiantes, devido ao seu datapath de rádio totalmente digital. Esta tese é focada na proposta e validação de arquiteturas de transmissores digitais totalmente integradas e avançadas que ultrapassam o estado da arte em diferentes figuras de mérito, como largura de banda de transmissão, pureza espectral, agilidade de portadora, flexibilidade e capacidade multibanda. A primeira parte desta tese introduz o conceito de transmissores de RF totalmente digitais. Em particular, os fundamentos inerentes a esta linha temática são apresentados, juntamente com os avanços mais recentes do estado-da-arte. O núcleo desta tese, contendo os principais desenvolvimentos alcançados durante o trabalho de doutoramento, é então apresentado e discutido. A primeira contribuição fundamental para o estado da arte é o uso de arquiteturas em cascata com moduladores ∆Σ para relaxar os requisitos de filtragem analógica dos transmissores RF totalmente digitais convencionais, mantendo a forma de onda envolvente constante. Em seguida, é apresentada a primeira arquitetura em que agregados de antenas são excitados diretamente por transmissores digitais de um único bit inseridos num único chip, com resultados promissores em termos de simplificação dos front-ends de RF e flexibilidade em geral. Posteriormente, é proposto o primeiro transmissor totalmente digital RF-stage relatado que pode ser incorporado dentro de um único Agregado de Células Lógicas Programáveis. Novas técnicas para permitir o desenho de transmissores RF totalmente digitais de banda larga são também apresentadas. Finalmente, o desenho de transmissores simultâneos de múltiplas bandas é exposto. Em particular, é demonstrado o desenho de transmissores de duas e três bandas ágeis e flexı́veis, que é um tópico essencial para cenários que exigem agregação de múltiplas bandas.Apoio financeiro da Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) no âmbito de uma bolsa de doutoramento, ref. PD/BD/105857/2014.Programa Doutoral em Telecomunicaçõe

Source and channel coding for low-bandwidth speech communication between optoelectronic devices

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2009.Leaf 99 blank.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 98).Optical communication is one solution to the communication problem that many military forces face in today's urban environments. The recent advances in optoelectronic fibers by the Photonic Bandgap Fibers and Devices Group allow optoelectronic fibers to be woven into standard military equipment. This thesis aims to design an optical communication system that would be capable of using these fibers. Since this project was undertaken with several collaborators this thesis focuses on the source and coding techniques used for an optical communication system. A freeware linear predictive vocoder developed by Speex was eventually adopted to compress speech to the bandwidth of the optoelectronic fibers. Several channel coding techniques were examined for an optical channel. This thesis describes the pulse modulation technique eventually used. Finally, this thesis explores how the optical communication system can be integrated into standard military equipment.by Daniel S. Perry.M.Eng

Three Dimensional Bistatic Tomography Using HDTV

The thesis begins with a review of the principles of diffraction and reflection tomography; starting with the analytic solution to the inhomogeneous Helmholtz equation, after linearization by the Born approximation (the weak scatterer solution), and arriving at the Filtered Back Projection (Propagation) method of reconstruction. This is followed by a heuristic derivation more directly couched in the radar imaging context, without the rigor of the general inverse problem solution and more closely resembling an imaging turntable or inverse synthetic aperture radar. The heuristic derivation leads into the concept of the line integral and projections (the Radon Transform), followed by more general geometries where the plane wave approximation is invalid. We proceed next to study of the dependency of reconstruction on the space-frequency trajectory, combining the spatial aperture and waveform. Two and three dimensional apertures, monostatic and bistatic, fully and sparsely sampled and including partial apertures, with controlled waveforms (CW and pulsed, with and without modulation) define the filling of k-space and concomitant reconstruction performance. Theoretical developments in the first half of the thesis are applied to the specific example of bistatic tomographic imaging using High Definition Television (HDTV); the United States version of DVB-T. Modeling of the HDTV waveform using pseudonoise modulation to represent the hybrid 8VSB HDTV scheme and the move-stop-move approximation established the imaging potential, employing an idealized, isotropic 18 scatterer. As the move-stop-move approximation places a limitation on integration time (in cross correlation/pulse compression) due to transmitter/receiver motion, an exact solution for compensation of Doppler distortion is derived. The concept is tested with the assembly and flight test of a bistatic radar system employing software-defined radios (SDR). A three dimensional, bistatic collection aperture, exploiting an elevated commercial HDTV transmitter, is focused to demonstrate the principle. This work, to the best of our knowledge, represents a first in the formation of three dimensional images using bistatically-exploited television transmitters

Techniques for Wideband All Digital Polar Transmission

abstract: Modern Communication systems are progressively moving towards all-digital transmitters (ADTs) due to their high efficiency and potentially large frequency range. While significant work has been done on individual blocks within the ADT, there are few to no full systems designs at this point in time. The goal of this work is to provide a set of multiple novel block architectures which will allow for greater cohesion between the various ADT blocks. Furthermore, the design of these architectures are expected to focus on the practicalities of system design, such as regulatory compliance, which here to date has largely been neglected by the academic community. Amongst these techniques are a novel upconverted phase modulation, polyphase harmonic cancellation, and process voltage and temperature (PVT) invariant Delta Sigma phase interpolation. It will be shown in this work that the implementation of the aforementioned architectures allows ADTs to be designed with state of the art size, power, and accuracy levels, all while maintaining PVT insensitivity. Due to the significant performance enhancement over previously published works, this work presents the first feasible ADT architecture suitable for widespread commercial deployment.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 201