Modeling and Digital Mitigation of Transmitter Imperfections in Radio Communication Systems

To satisfy the continuously growing demands for higher data rates, modern radio communication systems employ larger bandwidths and more complex waveforms. Furthermore, radio devices are expected to support a rich mixture of standards such as cellular networks, wireless local-area networks, wireless personal area networks, positioning and navigation systems, etc. In general, a "smart'' device should be flexible to support all these requirements while being portable, cheap, and energy efficient. These seemingly conflicting expectations impose stringent radio frequency (RF) design challenges which, in turn, call for their proper understanding as well as developing cost-effective solutions to address them. The direct-conversion transceiver architecture is an appealing analog front-end for flexible and multi-standard radio systems. However, it is sensitive to various circuit impairments, and modern communication systems based on multi-carrier waveforms such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) are particularly vulnerable to RF front-end non-idealities.This thesis addresses the modeling and digital mitigation of selected transmitter (TX) RF impairments in radio communication devices. The contributions can be divided into two areas. First, new modeling and digital mitigation techniques are proposed for two essential front-end impairments in direct-conversion architecture-based OFDM and OFDMA systems, namely inphase and quadrature phase (I/Q) imbalance and carrier frequency offset (CFO). Both joint and de-coupled estimation and compensation schemes for frequency-selective TX I/Q imbalance and channel distortions are proposed for OFDM systems, to be adopted on the receiver side. Then, in the context of uplink OFDMA and Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), which are the air interface technologies of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced systems, joint estimation and equalization techniques of RF impairments and channel distortions are proposed. Here, the challenging multi-user uplink scenario with unequal received power levels is investigated where I/Q imbalance causes inter-user interference. A joint mirror subcarrier processing-based minimum mean-square error (MMSE) equalizer with an arbitrary number of receiver antennas is formulated to effectively handle the mirror sub-band users of different power levels. Furthermore, the joint channel and impairments filter responses are efficiently approximated with polynomial-based basis function models, and the parameters of basis functions are estimated with the reference signals conforming to the LTE uplink sub-frame structure. The resulting receiver concept adopting the proposed techniques enables improved link performance without modifying the design of RF transceivers.Second, digital baseband mitigation solutions are developed for the TX leakage signal-induced self-interference in frequency division duplex (FDD) transceivers. In FDD transceivers, a duplexer is used to connect the TX and receiver (RX) chains to a common antenna while also providing isolation to the receiver chain against the powerful transmit signal. In general, the continuous miniaturization of hardware and adoption of larger bandwidths through carrier aggregation type noncontiguous allocations complicates achieving sufficient TX-RX isolation. Here, two different effects of the transmitter leakage signal are investigated. The first is TX out-of-band (OOB) emissions and TX spurious emissions at own receiver band, due to the transmitter nonlinearity, and the second is nonlinearity of down-converter in the RX that generates second-order intermodulation distortion (IMD2) due to the TX in-band leakage signal. This work shows that the transmitter leakage signal-induced interference depends on an equivalent leakage channel that models the TX path non-idealities, duplexer filter responses, and the RX path non-idealities. The work proposes algorithms that operate in the digital baseband of the transceiver to estimate the TX-RX non-idealities and the duplexer filter responses, and subsequently regenerating and canceling the self-interference, thereby potentially relaxing the TX-RX isolation requirements as well as increasing the transceiver flexibility.Overall, this thesis provides useful signal models to understand the implications of different RF non-idealities and proposes compensation solutions to cope with certain RF impairments. This is complemented with extensive computer simulations and practical RF measurements to validate their application in real-world radio transceivers

Algorithm-Architecture Co-Design for Digital Front-Ends in Mobile Receivers

The methodology behind this work has been to use the concept of algorithm-hardware co-design to achieve efficient solutions related to the digital front-end in mobile receivers. It has been shown that, by looking at algorithms and hardware architectures together, more efficient solutions can be found; i.e., efficient with respect to some design measure. In this thesis the main focus have been placed on two such parameters; first reduced complexity algorithms to lower energy consumptions at limited performance degradation, secondly to handle the increasing number of wireless standards that preferably should run on the same hardware platform. To be able to perform this task it is crucial to understand both sides of the table, i.e., both algorithms and concepts for wireless communication as well as the implications arising on the hardware architecture. It is easier to handle the high complexity by separating those disciplines in a way of layered abstraction. However, this representation is imperfect, since many interconnected "details" belonging to different layers are lost in the attempt of handling the complexity. This results in poor implementations and the design of mobile terminals is no exception. Wireless communication standards are often designed based on mathematical algorithms with theoretical boundaries, with few considerations to actual implementation constraints such as, energy consumption, silicon area, etc. This thesis does not try to remove the layer abstraction model, given its undeniable advantages, but rather uses those cross-layer "details" that went missing during the abstraction. This is done in three manners: In the first part, the cross-layer optimization is carried out from the algorithm perspective. Important circuit design parameters, such as quantization are taken into consideration when designing the algorithm for OFDM symbol timing, CFO, and SNR estimation with a single bit, namely, the Sign-Bit. Proof-of-concept circuits were fabricated and showed high potential for low-end receivers. In the second part, the cross-layer optimization is accomplished from the opposite side, i.e., the hardware-architectural side. A SDR architecture is known for its flexibility and scalability over many applications. In this work a filtering application is mapped into software instructions in the SDR architecture in order to make filtering-specific modules redundant, and thus, save silicon area. In the third and last part, the optimization is done from an intermediate point within the algorithm-architecture spectrum. Here, a heterogeneous architecture with a combination of highly efficient and highly flexible modules is used to accomplish initial synchronization in at least two concurrent OFDM standards. A demonstrator was build capable of performing synchronization in any two standards, including LTE, WiFi, and DVB-H

ワイヤレス通信のための先進的な信号処理技術を用いた非線形補償法の研究

The inherit nonlinearity in analogue front-ends of transmitters and receivers have had primary impact on the overall performance of the wireless communication systems, as it gives arise of substantial distortion when transmitting and processing signals with such circuits. Therefore, the nonlinear compensation (linearization) techniques become essential to suppress the distortion to an acceptable extent in order to ensure sufficient low bit error rate. Furthermore, the increasing demands on higher data rate and ubiquitous interoperability between various multi-coverage protocols are two of the most important features of the contemporary communication system. The former demand pushes the communication system to use wider bandwidth and the latter one brings up severe coexistence problems. Having fully considered the problems raised above, the work in this Ph.D. thesis carries out extensive researches on the nonlinear compensations utilizing advanced digital signal processing techniques. The motivation behind this is to push more processing tasks to the digital domain, as it can potentially cut down the bill of materials (BOM) costs paid for the off-chip devices and reduce practical implementation difficulties. The work here is carried out using three approaches: numerical analysis & computer simulations; experimental tests using commercial instruments; actual implementation with FPGA. The primary contributions for this thesis are summarized as the following three points: 1) An adaptive digital predistortion (DPD) with fast convergence rate and low complexity for multi-carrier GSM system is presented. Albeit a legacy system, the GSM, however, has a very strict requirement on the out-of-band emission, thus it represents a much more difficult hurdle for DPD application. It is successfully implemented in an FPGA without using any other auxiliary processor. A simplified multiplier-free NLMS algorithm, especially suitable for FPGA implementation, for fast adapting the LUT is proposed. Many design methodologies and practical implementation issues are discussed in details. Experimental results have shown that the DPD performed robustly when it is involved in the multichannel transmitter. 2) The next generation system (5G) will unquestionably use wider bandwidth to support higher throughput, which poses stringent needs for using high-speed data converters. Herein the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) tends to be the most expensive single device in the whole transmitter/receiver systems. Therefore, conventional DPD utilizing high-speed ADC becomes unaffordable, especially for small base stations (micro, pico and femto). A digital predistortion technique utilizing spectral extrapolation is proposed in this thesis, wherein with band-limited feedback signal, the requirement on ADC speed can be significantly released. Experimental results have validated the feasibility of the proposed technique for coping with band-limited feedback signal. It has been shown that adequate linearization performance can be achieved even if the acquisition bandwidth is less than the original signal bandwidth. The experimental results obtained by using LTE-Advanced signal of 320 MHz bandwidth are quite satisfactory, and to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first high-performance wideband DPD ever been reported. 3) To address the predicament that mobile operators do not have enough contiguous usable bandwidth, carrier aggregation (CA) technique is developed and imported into 4G LTE-Advanced. This pushes the utilization of concurrent dual-band transmitter/receiver, which reduces the hardware expense by using a single front-end. Compensation techniques for the respective concurrent dual-band transmitter and receiver front-ends are proposed to combat the inter-band modulation distortion, and simultaneously reduce the distortion for the both lower-side band and upper-side band signals.電気通信大学201

Semi-blind CFO estimation and ICA based equalization for wireless communication systems

In this thesis, a number of semi-blind structures are proposed for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based wireless communication systems, with Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO) estimation and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) based equalization. In the first contribution, a semi-blind non-redundant single-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) OFDM system is proposed, with a precoding aided CFO estimation approach and an ICA based equalization structure. A number of reference data sequences are carefully designed and selected from a pool of orthogonal sequences, killing two birds with one stone. On the one hand, the precoding based CFO estimation is performed by minimizing the sum cross-correlations between the CFO compensated signals and the rest of the orthogonal sequences in the pool. On the other hand, the same reference data sequences enable the elimination of permutation and quadrant ambiguities in the ICA equalized signals. Simulation results show that the proposed semi-blind MIMO OFDM system can achieve a Bit Error Rate (BER) performance close to the ideal case with perfect Channel State Information (CSI) and no CFO. In the second contribution, a low-complexity semi-blind structure, with a multi-CFO estimation method and an ICA based equalization scheme, is proposed for multiuser Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) OFDM systems. A short pilot is carefully designed offline for each user and has a two-fold advantage. On the one hand, using the pilot structure, a complex multi-dimensional search for multiple CFOs is divided into a number of low-complexity mono-dimensional searches. On the other hand, the cross-correlation between the transmitted and received pilots is explored to allow the simultaneous elimination of permutation and quadrant ambiguities in the ICA equalized signals. Simulation results show that the proposed semi-blind CoMP OFDM system can provide a BER performance close to the ideal case with perfect CSI and no CFO. In the third contribution, a semi-blind structure is proposed for Carrier Aggregation (CA) based CoMP Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, with an ICA based joint Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) mitigation and equalization scheme. The CFO-induced ICI is mitigated implicitly via ICA based equalization, without introducing feedback overhead for CFO correction. The permutation and quadrant ambiguities in the ICA equalized signals can be eliminated by a small number of pilots. Simulation results show that with a low training overhead, the proposed semi-blind equalization scheme can provide a BER performance close to the ideal case with perfect CSI and no CFO

Characterization and design of coherent optical OFDM transmission systems based on Hartley Transform

Nowadays, due to huge deployment of optical transport networks, a continuous increase towards higher data rates up to 100 Gb/s and beyond is observed. Furthermore, an evolution of the current optical networks is forecasted, acquiring new functionalities, e.g. elastic spectrum assignment for the optical signals. The target for these new challenges in transmission is to find techniques ready to deal with a growth of demand for bandwidth continuously asked by network operators, for whom the standard systems do not meet the new functionalities while higher rates are being set up. A solution for covering all of those needs is to adapt techniques capable to deal with such enormous data rates, and ensuring the same high efficiency for long distances and mitigate the optical impairments accumulated along the transmission path. Additionally, these transmission techniques are expected to provide some degree of flexibility, in order to enhance the network flexibility. A promising technology that can fully cope with those requires is the coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM). CO-OFDM provides several advantages, namely high sensitivity and spectral efficiency, simple integration and possibility to fully recover a signal in phase, amplitude and polarization. These systems are composed by digital signal processing (DSP) blocks that easily process data and can equalize and compensate the main impairments, providing high tolerance for dispersion effects. However, CO-OFDM systems are not free from drawbacks. Their high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduce their tolerance to nonlinearities. Furthermore, CO-OFDM systems are sensitive to any frequency shift and phase offset. Hence, a constant envelope optical OFDM (CE-OFDM) is proposed for significantly reducing the PAPR and solving high sensitivity to nonlinear impairments. It consists in a phase modulated discrete multi-tone signal, which is coherently detected at the receiver side. An alternative transform, the discrete Hartley transform, is proposed to speed up calculations in the DSP and eliminate the need to have a Hermitian symmetry. The optical CE-OFDM by its unique flexibility and rate scalability turns out as a great technology applicable to different configurations, ranging from access to core networks. In case of access solutions, several cases are investigated. First, the optical CE-OFDM is applied for radio access network signals delivery by means of a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) overlay in deployed access architecture. A decomposed radio access network is deployed over an existing standard passive optical network (PON), capable to avoid interference and cross talks with access signals between network clients. The system exhibited narrow channel spacing, while reducing losses fed into the access equipment path. Next, a full duplex 10 Gb/s bidirectional PON transmission over a single wavelength with RSOA based ONU is investigated. The key point of that system is the upstream transmission, which is achieved re-modulating the phase of a downstream intensity modulated signal after proper saturation. The reported sensitivity performances show a power budget matching the PON standards and an OSNR easy to reach on non-amplified PON. Next, a flexible metropolitan area network of up to 100km with traffic add/drop using WDM is investigated. There the narrowing effect of the optical filters is studied. Finally, an elastic upgrade of the existing Telefonica model of the Spanish national core network is proposed. For that, the transceiver architecture is proposed to be operated featuring polarization multiplexing. Respect to the existing fixed grid, the flexible approach (enabled by the CE-OFDM transceiver) results into reduced bandwidth occupancy and low OSNR requirement.Hoy en día, debido al gran despliegue de las redes de ópticas de transporte, se espera un aumento continuado hacia mayores velocidades de datos, hasta 100 Gb/s y más allá. Por otra parte, la evolución que se prevé para las redes ópticas actuales, incluye la adquisición de nuevas funcionalidades, por ejemplo, la asignación del espectro de forma elástica para las señales ópticas. Por tanto, el claro desafío en cuanto a las tecnologías de transmisión es encontrar técnicas preparadas para hacer frente a un crecimiento de la demanda de ancho de banda; demanda que continuamente se incrementa por parte de los operadores de red, para quienes los sistemas estándar no se acaban de ajustar a las nuevas funcionalidades que esperan para la red. Una solución para cubrir todas estas necesidades es la adaptación de técnicas capaces de hacer frente a estas velocidades de datos enormes, y garantizar el mismo nivel de eficiencia para las largas distancias y mitigar las deficiencias ópticas acumuladas a lo largo de la ruta de transmisión. Además, se espera que estas técnicas de transmisión puedan proporcionar cierto grado de flexibilidad, a fin de mejorar y hacer más eficiente la gestión de la red. Una tecnología prometedora que puede hacer frente a estos requisitos es lo que se llama multiplexación por división de frecuencias ortogonales, combinado con la detección óptica coherente (CO-OFDM). CO-OFDM ofrece varias ventajas, entre otras: alta sensibilidad y eficiencia espectral y, sobre todo, la posibilidad de recuperar por completo de una señal en fase, la amplitud y la polarización. Estos sistemas están compuestos por bloques de procesado de señales digitales (DSP) que permiten detectar los datos fácilmente así como también compensar las principales degradaciones, proporcionando alta tolerancia a los efectos de dispersión. Sin embargo, los sistemas CO-OFDM no están exentos de inconvenientes. Su alta relación de potencia de pico a potencia media (PAPR) reduce sensiblemente la tolerancia no linealidades. Por otra parte, los sistemas CO-OFDM son sensibles a cualquier cambio de frecuencia y desplazamiento de fase. Por tanto, se propone un sistema OFDM de envolvente constante (CE-OFDM) para reducir significativamente la PAPR y solucionar la alta sensibilidad a las degradaciones no lineales. Consiste en una señal OFDM modulada en fase, que se detecta coherentemente en el receptor. Una transformada alternativa, la transformada discreta de Hartley, se propone para acelerar los cálculos en el DSP. El sistema CE-OFDM por su flexibilidad y escalabilidad única, resulta una tecnología aplicable a diferentes escenarios, que van desde las redes de acceso hasta las redes troncales. En el caso de las soluciones de acceso, se investigan varios casos. En primer lugar, el CE-OFDM aplica para el desarrollo y soporte de datos de una red radio, reutilizando una red óptica de acceso ya desplegada. A continuación, se investiga la transmisión bidireccional dúplex a 10 Gb / s sobre una sola longitud de onda empleando un RSOA a las unidades de usuario. El punto clave de este sistema es la transmisión en sentido ascendente, que se consigue re-modulando la fase de una señal de intensidad modulada después de saturar de forma adecuada. A continuación, se estudia una red de área metropolitana flexible de hasta 100 km. Concretamente el efecto de concatenación de filtros ópticos es el objetivo de este estudio. Finalmente, se propone una actualización elástica del modelo de Telefónica I+D para la red troncal española. Por ello, se propone operar el CE-OFDM en multiplexación de polarización. Los resultados muestran que esta combinación reduce sensiblemente el empleo de ancho de banda esto como los requisitos de los enlaces transmisión, reduciendo también los costes tanto de desarrollo como de operación y mantenimiento de la red.Avui dia, a causa del gran desplegament de les xarxes de òptiques de transport, s'espera un augment continuat cap a majors velocitats de dades, fins a 100 Gb/s i més enllà. D'altra banda, l'evolució que es preveu per a les xarxes òptiques actuals, inclou l'adquisició de noves funcionalitats, per exemple, assignació de l'espectre de forma elàstica per als senyals òptics. Per tant, el clar desafiament pel que fa a les tecnologies de transmissió és trobar tècniques preparades per fer front a un creixement de la demanda d'ample de banda; demanda que contínuament es fa per part dels operadors de xarxa, per als qui els sistemes estàndard no s'acaben d'ajustar a les noves funcionalitats que esperen per a la xarxa. Una solució per a cobrir totes aquestes necessitats és l'adaptació de tècniques capaces de fer front a aquestes velocitats de dades enormes, i garantir el mateix nivell d'eficiència per a les llargues distàncies i mitigar les deficiències òptiques acumulades al llarg de la ruta de transmissió. A més, s'espera que aquestes tècniques de transmissió puguin proporcionar cert grau de flexibilitat, per tal de millorar i tornar més eficient la gestió de la xarxa. Una tecnologia prometedora que pot fer front a aquests requisits és el que s'anomena multiplexació per divisió de freqüències ortogonals, combinat amb la detecció òptica coherent (CO-OFDM). CO-OFDM ofereix diversos avantatges, entre altres: alta sensibilitat i eficiència espectral i, sobretot, la possibilitat de recuperar per complet d'una senyal en fase, l'amplitud i la polarització. Aquests sistemes estan compostos per blocs de processament de senyals digitals (DSP) que permeten detectar les dades fàcilment així com també compensar les principals degradacions, proporcionant alta tolerància pels efectes de dispersió. No obstant això, els sistemes CO-OFDM no estan exempts d'inconvenients. La seva alta relació de potència de pic a potència mitjana (PAPR) redueix sensiblement la tolerància a no linealitats. D'altra banda, els sistemes de CO-OFDM són sensibles a qualsevol canvi de freqüència i desplaçament de fase. Per tant, es proposa un sistema OFDM d'envolvent constant (CE-OFDM) per a reduir significativament la PAPR i solucionar l'alta sensibilitat a les degradacions no lineals. Consisteix en un senyal OFDM modulat en fase, que es detecta coherentment en el receptor. Una transformada alternativa, la transformada discreta d'Hartley, es proposa accelerar els càlculs en el DSP. El sistema CE-OFDM per la seva flexibilitat i escalabilitat única, resulta una tecnologia aplicable a diferents escenaris, que van des de les xarxes d'accés fins a les xarxes troncals. En el cas de les solucions d'accés, s'investiguen diversos casos. En primer lloc, el CE-OFDM s'aplica per al desplegament i suport de dades d'una xarxa radio, reutilitzant una xarxa òptica d'accés ja desplegada. A continuació, s'investiga la transmissió bidireccional dúplex a 10 Gb/s sobre una sola longitud d'ona emprant un RSOA a les unitats d'usuari. El punt clau d'aquest sistema és la transmissió en sentit ascendent, que s'aconsegueix re-modulant la fase d'un senyal d'intensitat modulada després de saturar-la de forma adequada. A continuació, s'estudia una xarxa d'àrea metropolitana flexible de fins a 100 km. Concretament l'efecte de concatenació de filtres òptics és l'objectiu d'aquest estudi. Finalment, es proposa una actualització elàstica del model de Telefónica I+D per a la xarxa troncal espanyola. Per això, es proposa operar el CE-OFDM en multiplexació de polarització. Els resultats mostren que aquesta combinació redueix sensiblement l'ocupació d'ample de banda això com també els requisits dels enllaços transmissió, reduint també els costos tant de desplegament com d'operació i manteniment de la xarxa

A Flexible RFIC Architecture for High-Sensitivity Reception and Compressed-Sampling Wideband Detection

Compressed sensing (CS) is a new signal processing approach that has disrupted the Shannon-Nyquist limit based design methodology and has opened promising avenues for building energy-efficient radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) for detecting and estimating particular classes (i.e. sparse) of signals. Whether in application domains where naturally occurring signals are sparse or where representations of signals subject to the fidelity limits or configuration settings of the radio equipment are often found to be sparse, the emergence of CS has forced us to re-imagine the radio receiver. While realizing some of the potential benefits promised by theory, CS-RFIC architectures proposed in earlier research were not particularly suitable for mass-market applications. This thesis demonstrates how to take a new signal processing technique all the way to the hardware level. So far, the main focus in literature has been how CS offers a significant advantage for signal processing. This work will show how CS techniques drive novel architectures down to the integrated circuit level. This requires close collaboration between communication system developers, integrated circuit designers and signal processing experts. The trans-disciplinary approach presented here has led to the unification of CS-inspired architectures for wideband signal detection with robust, legacy architectures for high-sensitivity signal reception. The result is a functionally flexible and rapidly reconfigurable CMOS RFIC compactly implemented on silicon with the potential to achieve the cost, size and power targets in mass-market applications. While the focus of this thesis is RF signal finding and reception in frequency, the CS-based RFIC design approach presented here is applicable to a wide range of other applications like direction-of-arrival and range finding. We begin by developing a signal-model driven approach for optimizing the performance of CS RF frontends (RFFEs). We consider sparse multiband signals with supports contained within a frequency span extending from fMIN to fMAX. The resulting quadrature analog-to-information converter (QAIC) is a flexible-bandwidth, blind sub-Nyquist sampling architecture optimized for energy consumption and sensitivity performance. The QAIC addresses key drawbacks of earlier CS RFFE architectures like the modulated wideband converter (MWC) that implement frequency spans extending from 0 to fMAX. While these earlier architectures, a direct implementation of CS signal processing theory, have several beneficial properties, the true cost of their proposed analog frontend significantly diminishes the sensitivity performance and energy savings that CS methods have the potential to deliver. They use periodic pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS) generators where the clock frequency fPRBS scales up with the maximum signal frequency fMAX. In contrast, fPRBS in the QAIC RFFE scales up with the instantaneous bandwidth IBW, where IBW = ( fMAX − fMIN ). This results in significant performance advantages in terms of energy consumption and sensitivity performance. The QAIC uncouples fPRBS from fMAX by performing wideband quadrature downconversion ahead of analog mixing with PRBSs at an intermediate frequency (IF). However, the dual heterodyne architecture of the QAIC suffers from spurious responses at IF caused by gain and phase imbalance in its wideband downconverter. We then show how the direct RF-to-information converter (DRF2IC) compactly adds CS wideband detection to a direct conversion frequency-translational noise-cancelling (FTNC) receiver by introducing pseudo-random modulation of the local oscillator (LO) signals and by consolidating multiple CS measurements into one hardware branch. The DRF2IC inherits benefits of the FTNC receiver in signal reception mode. In CS wideband detection mode, the DRF2IC inherits key advantages from both the earlier lowpass CS architectures and the QAIC while avoiding the drawbacks of both. It uncouples fPRBS from fMAX in contrast with the MWC. In contrast with the QAIC, the DRF2IC employs a direct conversion RF chain with narrow bandwidth analog components at baseband thereby avoiding frequency-dependent gain and phase imbalance. The DRF2IC chip occupies 0.56mm2 area in 65nm CMOS. In reception mode, it consumes 46.5mW from 1.15V and delivers 40MHz RF bandwidth, 41.5dB conversion gain, 3.6dB noise figure (NF) and -2dBm blocker 1dB compression point (B1dB). In CS wideband detection mode, 66dB operational dynamic range, 40dB instantaneous dynamic range and 1.43GHz instantaneous bandwidth are demonstrated and 6 interferers each 10MHz wide scattered over a 1.27GHz span are detected in 1.2us consuming 58.5mW

Reconfigurable Receiver Front-Ends for Advanced Telecommunication Technologies

The exponential growth of converging technologies, including augmented reality, autonomous vehicles, machine-to-machine and machine-to-human interactions, biomedical and environmental sensory systems, and artificial intelligence, is driving the need for robust infrastructural systems capable of handling vast data volumes between end users and service providers. This demand has prompted a significant evolution in wireless communication, with 5G and subsequent generations requiring exponentially improved spectral and energy efficiency compared to their predecessors. Achieving this entails intricate strategies such as advanced digital modulations, broader channel bandwidths, complex spectrum sharing, and carrier aggregation scenarios. A particularly challenging aspect arises in the form of non-contiguous aggregation of up to six carrier components across the frequency range 1 (FR1). This necessitates receiver front-ends to effectively reject out-of-band (OOB) interferences while maintaining high-performance in-band (IB) operation. Reconfigurability becomes pivotal in such dynamic environments, where frequency resource allocation, signal strength, and interference levels continuously change. Software-defined radios (SDRs) and cognitive radios (CRs) emerge as solutions, with direct RF-sampling receivers offering a suitable architecture in which the frequency translation is entirely performed in digital domain to avoid analog mixing issues. Moreover, direct RF- sampling receivers facilitate spectrum observation, which is crucial to identify free zones, and detect interferences. Acoustic and distributed filters offer impressive dynamic range and sharp roll off characteristics, but their bulkiness and lack of electronic adjustment capabilities limit their practicality. Active filters, on the other hand, present opportunities for integration in advanced CMOS technology, addressing size constraints and providing versatile programmability. However, concerns about power consumption, noise generation, and linearity in active filters require careful consideration.This thesis primarily focuses on the design and implementation of a low-voltage, low-power RFFE tailored for direct sampling receivers in 5G FR1 applications. The RFFE consists of a balun low-noise amplifier (LNA), a Q-enhanced filter, and a programmable gain amplifier (PGA). The balun-LNA employs noise cancellation, current reuse, and gm boosting for wideband gain and input impedance matching. Leveraging FD-SOI technology allows for programmable gain and linearity via body biasing. The LNA's operational state ranges between high-performance and high-tolerance modes, which are apt for sensitivityand blocking tests, respectively. The Q-enhanced filter adopts noise-cancelling, current-reuse, and programmable Gm-cells to realize a fourth-order response using two resonators. The fourth-order filter response is achieved by subtracting the individual response of these resonators. Compared to cascaded and magnetically coupled fourth-order filters, this technique maintains the large dynamic range of second-order resonators. Fabricated in 22-nm FD-SOI technology, the RFFE achieves 1%-40% fractional bandwidth (FBW) adjustability from 1.7 GHz to 6.4 GHz, 4.6 dB noise figure (NF) and an OOB third-order intermodulation intercept point (IIP3) of 22 dBm. Furthermore, concerning the implementation uncertainties and potential variations of temperature and supply voltage, design margins have been considered and a hybrid calibration scheme is introduced. A combination of on-chip and off-chip calibration based on noise response is employed to effectively adjust the quality factors, Gm-cells, and resonance frequencies, ensuring desired bandpass response. To optimize and accelerate the calibration process, a reinforcement learning (RL) agent is used.Anticipating future trends, the concept of the Q-enhanced filter extends to a multiple-mode filter for 6G upper mid-band applications. Covering the frequency range from 8 to 20 GHz, this RFFE can be configured as a fourth-order dual-band filter, two bandpass filters (BPFs) with an OOB notch, or a BPF with an IB notch. In cognitive radios, the filter’s transmission zeros can be positioned with respect to the carrier frequencies of interfering signals to yield over 50 dB blocker rejection

Contribution to the optimization of 4G mobile communications by means of advanced carrier aggregation strategies

Mobile broadband subscriptions and data traffic have increasingly grown in the past years with the deployment of the 3G and 4G technologies and the massive use of mobile devices. In this sense, LTE-A has been presented as the next step in wireless communications where higher data rates are targeted and fully packet switched services are held. The ultimate goal of 4G and the forthcoming 5G technology is to increase the Quality of Experience (QoE) of users. In this context, several challenges open up to face the increased bandwidth demands in both uplink (UL) and downlink (DL). To this end, LTE-A has proposed the use of Carrier Aggregation (CA) which allows the simultaneous data transmission in separate fragments of spectrum. The improvements brought by CA in the DL can be almost straightforward appreciable, since the evolved Node B (eNB) is in charge of transmissions, and power availability is not typically an issue. Conversely, the UL presents many open challenges to introduce aggregated transmissions, since it relies on the user terminal for transmission procedures. Lower transmission power and increased interference variability turn the UL more complex than the DL. For this reason, this Ph.D. thesis provides a contribution to the field of CA for UL mobile systems. The novelties here presented address the main limitations the UL encounters when introducing CA; new methods and strategies are proposed with the final aim of enhancing the UL communications with the use of increased bandwidth transmissions, and reducing the unbalanced data rate between the UL and DL. Throughout an exhaustive literature review, the main research opportunities to successfully implement CA in the UL were identified. In particular, three main blocks can be recognized. First, the need for introducing intelligent Radio Resource Management procedures that provide the user with increased QoE, specially in the cell edge, where users are more likely to be power limited, and CA is typically discarded. Consequently, the first part of this dissertation places emphasis on topics related to scheduling and the power limitations to face the increased bandwidth. In this sense, mechanisms that tackle the throughput improvement are proposed and scheduling schemes that specifically assess the gain or deterioration of CA are designed. Indeed, these strategies strongly rely on an accurate Channel State Information (CSI); it is of utmost importance to possess precise CSI to effectively support these assessments. In this line, the second part deals with the imperfect CSI where the efficient use of reference signals provides a high value. Channel prediction techniques have been proposed with the use of the splines method. However, the increased variability of interferences and the high delay in measurements still impairs the CSI accuracy. In this manner, interference management methods are introduced to support the CSI acquisition process. Finally, since CA constitutes the most transverse topic of the new features added to the 4G standard, the last block of research focuses on the opportunities that emerge with the use of CA in the context of heterogeneous networks, and new system designs are addressed. It is proposed to use dual connectivity in the form of decoupled uplink and downlink connections in a CA context, where aggregated carriers may have different coverage footprints. An analysis of two different cell association cases that arise has been driven. Stochastic geometry is used to study the system analytically, propagation conditions in the different tiers and frequencies are considered and the different association cases are compared to a classical downlink received power association rule. Conclusions show that decoupling the uplink provides the system with outstanding gains, however, being connected to the cell that receives the highest received power may not always be profitable, since issues like interferences or load conditions shall be also considered.El número de usuarios móviles y el tráfico de datos generado han aumentado en los últimos años con el despliegue de redes 3G y 4G y el uso masivo de dispositivos móviles. De este modo, LTE-A surge como el siguiente escalón de las comunicaciones móviles, dónde se apunta a mayores velocidades de transmisión y los servicios se basan en la conmutación de paquetes. El objetivo principal de las redes 4G y de la inminente red 5G es mejorar la experiencia del usuario. En este contexto, se presentan nuevos retos para hacer frente a las demandas de incrementar el ancho de banda en ambos enlaces: ascendente (UL) y descendente (DL). Por ello, LTE-A propone el uso de portadoras agregadas (Carrier Aggregation (CA)), tecnología que permite la transmisión simultánea en dos fragmentos del espectro. Las mejoras que aporta CA en el DL son casi inmediatas dado que las transmisiones corren a cargo de la base, la cual no sufre la falta de potencia. Al contrario, el UL presenta más retos para introducir CA, ya que es el terminal quién se encarga de la transmisión. La baja disponibilidad de potencia y la alta variabilidad de la interferencia lo convierten en un entorno mucho más complejo. Por ello, esta disertación presenta una contribución al campo de CA en el UL de comunicaciones móviles. Las novedades presentadas tratan las principales limitaciones para incorporar CA; se proponen nuevos métodos y estrategias con el objetivo de mejorar las comunicaciones en el UL mediante el uso de CA; todo ello, para reducir el desajuste que existe entre la velocidad de transmisión del UL y DL. Mediante una extensa revisión de la literatura, se han detectado las principales líneas de investigación y potenciales mejoras para incorporar CA exitosamente. Se han identificado tres grandes bloques de investigación. Primero, la necesidad de introducir estrategias de gestión de recursos inteligentes, que proporcionen al usuario una mejora de la experiencia, especialmente en el límite de la celda. Es allí donde los usuarios tienen una mayor probabilidad de estar limitados en potencia, razón por la que se les aparta de CA. Consecuentemente, la primera parte de esta tesis pone énfasis en la asignación de recursos y las limitaciones en potencia por parte del usuario para hacer frente a un incremento del ancho de banda. Se proponen mecanismos que mejoran la velocidad de transmisión evaluando las ganancias o pérdidas de incorporar CA a la transmisión. Para apoyar el funcionamiento de estas estrategias de asignación, y asegurar su máximo rendimiento, es necesario un método que proporcione un conocimiento preciso y fidedigno del estado del canal (Channel State Information (CSI)). De este modo, la segunda parte de la investigación lidia con el CSI, donde el uso eficiente de las señales de referencia es de gran importancia. Se proponen técnicas de predicción de señal mediante el uso de Splines; sin embargo, la alta variabilidad de las interferencias y el gran retardo entre dos muestras de CSI perjudican la precisión. Por ello, se introducen métodos de gestión de interferencias que apoyan el proceso de adquisición del CSI. Finalmente, dado que CA es una de las funciones más transversales de las introducidas por el estándar 4G, la última parte de investigación se centra en las oportunidades que surgen con su uso en las redes heterogéneas. Se propone el uso de la conectividad dual, desacoplando el UL del DL junto con CA, donde el área de cobertura de las portadoras puede ser diferente. Se analizan dos escenarios de asociación posibles. Con el uso de geometría estocástica se estudia analíticamente el sistema, considerando diferentes condiciones de propagación en los distintos tipos de celda y frecuencias; los escenarios de asociación se comparan a uno tradicional, en el cual los usuarios se asocian en función de la potencia recibida de las bases. Las conclusiones destacan que el desacoplo aporta mejoras en el UL. Sin embargo, temas como interferencias o carga deben también considera