`
`11111111111111111111111091101113111111111111111111111111111
`
`United States Patent [19]
`Lam et al.
`
`[n] Patent Number:
`[45] Date of Patent:
`
`5,937,013
`Aug. 10, 1999
`
`[54] SUBHARMONIC QUADRATURE SAMPLING
`RECEIVER AND DESIGN
`
`[75]
`
`Inventors: Marcos Chun-Wing Lam; Curtis
`Chih-Shan Ling, both of Kowloon, The
`Hong Kong Special Administrative
`Region of the People's Republic of
`China
`
`[73] Assignee: The Hong Kong University of Science
`& Technology, The Hong Kong Special
`Administrative Region of the People's
`Republic of China
`
`[21] Appl. No.: 08/778,676
`
`[22] Filed:
`
`Jan. 3, 1997
`
`[51] Int. C1.6
`[52] U.S. Cl.
`[58] Field of Search
`
` HO3D 1/00; HO3D 3/24
` 375/340; 375/376
` 375/340, 342,
`375/373, 376, 326, 229, 325, 324
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`5,490,176
`5,727,027
`5,729,173
`
`2/1996 Peltier
`3/1998 Tsuda
`3/1998 Sato
`
` 375/325
` 375/326
` 375/327
`
`Primary Examiner—Chi H. Pham
`Assistant Examiner Khai Tran
`Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Burns, Doane, Swecker &
`Mathis
`
`[57]
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`A receiver for down-converting a modulated carrier into its
`in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components for further
`processing is proposed. This is accomplished using a sam-
`pling method in which the signal is sampled directly using
`a sampling circuit which is driven by a single sampling clock
`frequency substantially lower than the carrier frequency
`while allowing the I and Q components to be precisely
`obtained. Each of the signal samples comprises sub-samples
`taken successively which represent the in-phase, quadrature,
`negative in-phase and negative quadrature components of
`the signal. The negative components permit flexible appli-
`cation of the invention in several modes, including differ-
`ential mode for the removal of common-mode noise. The
`invention is useful because it provides an integrated circuit
`means for precisely obtaining I and Q components of a very
`high frequency modulated carrier. This greatly eases the
`difficulty of implementing receiver architectures such as
`direct down-conversion or low-IF receivers, which permit
`on-chip integration of traditionally difficult-to-integrate
`components such as IF filters and VCO circuits while
`eliminating the need for image-rejection filters.
`
`21 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets
`
`r 31°
`360
`SAMPLING f
`S....ov o_id SAMPLING
`CLOCK
`CIRCUITS
`r 320
`
`
`
`DOWNCONVERTED
`I CHANNEL
`
`RF SIGNAL
`
`305
`315
`r
`ANTI-ALIASING
`BANDPASS
`FILTER
`
`370
`
`r 340
`
`FREQUENCY
`DIVISION
`
`SAMPLING f
`S
`CLOCK
`
`SAMPLING f
`S
`CLOCK
`c 350
`
`GATE
`
`I GATE
`Q GATE
`330
`VCO SAMPLING
`CLOCK GENERATOR)
`
`SAMPLING
`CIRCUITS
`
`DOWNCONVERTED
`Q CHANNEL
`
`1380
`
`CARRIER
`RECOVERY
`
`LG Ex. 1006
`LG Electronics Inc. v. ParkerVision, Inc.
`IPR2022-00245
`Page 00001
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Aug. 10, 1999
`
`Sheet 1 of 2
`
`5,937,013
`
`vi- 100
`
`-130
`
`IF/BASEBAND FILTERING, AGC
`r
`-I
`
`I CHANNEL
`BASEBAND ~
`PROCESSING _...._
`Q CHANNEL
`
`1 + I
`
`IkteRtial
`BPF
` a`-'
`
`4 -0 —
`
`140
`
`LNA
`
`110-1
`
`
`
`VCO 1
`0
`L7--- 1
`i
`120 -'
`
`r------- 1 1--- r ___I
`l
`'- 150
`FIG. 1
`
`UNMODULATED
`CO-SINUSOIDAL
`RF CARRIER
`
`SUB-SAMPLING
`CLOCK PULSES
`
`• • •
`
`UNMODULATED
`CO-SINUSOIDAL
`RF CARRIER
`
`SUB-SAMPLING
`CLOCK PULSES 66*
`
`I
`
`Q
`
`I
`
`-Q
`
`I
`
`Q •••
`
`•••
`
`-
`
`-
`
`FIG. 2A
`
`I
`
`-Q
`
`I
`
`Q
`
`I
`
`-Q • • •
`
`•••
`
`FIG. 2B
`
`IPR2022-00245 Page 00002
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Aug. 10, 1999
`
`Sheet 2 of 2
`
`5,937,013
`
`-310
`0,1 SAMPLING
`
`
`
`CIRCUITS
`
`-360
`
`RF SIGNAL
`
`305 r 315 H ANTI—ALIASING
`
`BANDPASS
`FILTER
`
`(-- 340
`
`FREQUENCY
`DIVISION
`
`SAMPLING f
`S
`CLOCK
`
`SAMPLING f
`CLOCK
`'S
`
`370
`
`SAMPLING f
`CLOCK
`
`S 1 350
`
`GATE
`
`
`
`I GATE
`Q GATE
`r 330
`
`VCO (SAMPLING
`CLOCK GENERATOR)
`
`
`
`r 320
`
`SAMPLING
`CIRCUITS
`
`1 380
`
`CARRIER
`RECOVERY
`
`...........
`
`DOWNCONVERTED
`I CHANNEL
`
`DOWNCONVERTED
`Q CHANNEL
`
`FIG. 3
`
`UNMODULATED
`CO—SINUSOIDAL
`RF CARRIER
`
`Isub I
`
`I
`
`Q
`
`—I
`
`—Q
`
`SUB—SAMPLING
`CLOCK PULSES ..•
`
`FIG. 4
`
`IPR2022-00245 Page 00003
`
`

`

`5,937,013
`
`1
`SUBHARMONIC QUADRATURE SAMPLING
`RECEIVER AND DESIGN
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention relates to high-speed receivers for
`narrow-band communication systems. In particular it relates
`to high speed receivers which perform quadrature demodu-
`lation by sub-harmonic sampling of incoming information
`carrying RF signals. It also relates to a method for accurately
`separating the in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components
`of a modulated signal.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`In modern wireless communication systems, it is the task
`of the receiver to recover with high sensitivity and accuracy
`baseband signal data or messages which have been trans-
`mitted or broadcast by way of modulation on an radio
`frequency (RF) carrier. With the advent and popularity of
`mobile hand-held communication systems which operate in
`the gigahertz region, it is the goal of communication engi-
`neers to monolithically integrate the complete high-speed
`receiver circuit onto a single integrated circuit (IC) chip, the
`so-called single-chip receiver, so that very light weight
`handsets can be made available at an affordable price.
`Indeed, studies of handheld portable and mobile technolo-
`gies indicate that cost savings by integration alone are in the
`region of 20-30%. Apart from the direct benefits of size and
`cost reduction, the benefit associated with the reduction in
`power consumption, e.g. heat dissipation and battery opera-
`tion time, is also considerable.
`There are however major hurdles which lie on the way to
`monolithic integration of digital receivers. Firstly, conven-
`tional high frequency receivers comprises a large number of
`discrete components for radio frequency (RF) signal pro-
`cessing. These components often introduce parasitics and
`other unknowns which are much less repeatable and pre-
`dictable than circuits made from the IC process. Individual
`trimming and tuning of such components which are required
`to make up for the parasitic and other unknown effects
`further increase costs. On-chip integration of all such com-
`ponents would thus appear to provide an obvious solution.
`In addition, reduction of off-chip components also mini-
`mises the number of power-hungry drivers which are needed
`to overcome packaging and interconnect parasitics.
`However, adaptation of current technologies to integrating
`some of these passive components on-chip is expensive and
`requires a change of process which requires money and time.
`Secondly, monolithic integration of a high speed digital
`receiver means that high-speed, low-noise small-signal
`front-end circuitries and high-density, low-power analogue
`and digital baseband processing circuitries must be put close
`together. Finding an integrated circuit technology with the
`right balance of cost and performance is not an easy com-
`promise.
`
`RECEIVER DESIGNS
`Heterodyne Receiver
`The heterodyne receiver design, as illustrated in FIG. 1, is
`the most widely used topology for handsets for mobile
`communication systems. In this design, the RF signal
`received by the antenna 100 of the receiver is firstly ampli-
`fied by a low-noise amplifier 110 which determines largely
`the overall noise figure of the complete receiver system. The
`amplified signal is then down-converted to a fixed interme-
`diate frequency (IF) which is characteristic of the system for
`further processing. Down-conversion is usually performed
`
`2
`by mixing the received RF signal with a pure sinusoidal
`signal produced by a tunable local oscillator 120 (LO). The
`local oscillator frequency (f„) is chosen so that the IF, LO,
`RF frequencies are related by the formula:
`
`5
`
`fIF - VLO fRFI
`
`After the down conversion, the IF signal is further ampli-
`fied by amplifier 140, filtered by a highly selective IF filter
`150 and processed until the embedded signal data is finally
`10 recovered.
`From the formula above, it is clear that an RF signal
`which is present at a frequency fLo-EGF as well as one which
`is present at a frequency fLo—f,F will both be down con-
`verted to the IF. In typical applications, only one of these is
`15 the desired signal, while the other undesired RF signal is
`referred to as the "image" signal. To avoid receiving the
`undesirable image signal, an image-rejection filter 130
`which substantially suppresses the image signal is always
`introduced before the mixer stage. To achieve high image
`20 rejection, a high performance image rejection filter must be
`used. Alternatively, a relatively high IF frequency may be
`chosen so that the stringent requirements on the image
`rejection filters may be lessened. Indeed, IF frequencies in
`the range of 10-100 MHz are quite common. Nevertheless,
`25 RF and IF filters are indispensable in such receivers if high
`performance is to be attained.
`One of the greatest challenge in achieving monolithic
`heterodyne receiver design is the on-chip integration of high
`performance RF and IF filters using commercially available
`30 integrated circuit processing technology. In practice, most
`RF and IF filters have to be realised by means of off-chip
`discrete components.
`Homodyne Receiver
`Another commonly known alternative receiver topology
`35 which may be used is the homodyne, or direct conversion,
`receiver design. In this design, the LO and RF carrier
`frequency are identical and the IF frequency is therefore
`zero. When the RF signal is mixed with the LO signal,
`baseband signal is directly obtained and the problem of
`40 image signal is not present.
`While the conventional direct conversion approach looks
`promising, it has several drawbacks which adversely limit
`its performance:
`1) the weak RF signal is shifted directly into a noisy DC
`environment where DC drift, 1/F noise and other low-
`frequency noise exist. These adverse conditions put a
`heavy demand on the quality of amplification and the
`dynamic range provided by the RF circuitries,
`2) non-linearity of mixer circuits causes intermodulation
`distortion of the received signal which means that a highly
`linear mixer is required,
`3) local oscillator signal leakage can jam the receiver since
`the LO and RF frequency are the same, and
`4) very accurate I and Q demodulation at RF is required to
`recover any signal which is asymmetric about the carrier,
`including a broad class of signals such as single-sideband
`or digitally phase-modulated signals. Imbalances in the
`phase and amplitude of I and Q conversion produce DC
`drift which will cause particular problems in systems
`60 where the baseband modulation, e.g. GMSK, contains
`energy at or near DC.
`Low-IF-Heterodyne Receiver
`Another alternative approach is the low-IF heterodyne
`design which is a modified version of the heterodyne
`65 receiver relying on high precision image-reject mixers
`which greatly reduces the demand on an image-reject filter.
`Combination of a low IF with high-precision image-reject
`
`45
`
`50
`
`55
`
`IPR2022-00245 Page 00004
`
`

`

`5,937,013
`
`4
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`
`3
`mixers means that the resulting IF signal can be easily
`processed by low-frequency on-chip filtering without the
`need of off-chip filters which are necessary for high-IF
`systems.
`However, it is well known that if image-reject mixers are
`to achieve good image rejection, they must have very precise
`I and Q phase and amplitude matching. For example, a 40
`dB image rejection would typically require a phase and
`amplitude matching of 1 degree and 0.2 dB respectively. The
`image rejection requirements of 60-70 dB in Global System
`of Mobile Communication (GSM) mean that an even higher
`degree of matching precision is required. In the past, such
`low-IF systems have not been considered practicable since
`image-reject mixers assembled with hybrid mounted com-
`ponents cannot deliver such precision without tuning.
`Furthermore, it is also difficult to integrate these components
`on-chip.
`Advances in circuit design and IC technology in the past
`decade have mitigated many of the problems associated with
`the homodyne or low-IF systems. For example, increased
`levels of integration at RF permits high gain amplifiers and
`AGC circuits to be implemented on-chip, compensating
`mixer noise at baseband. Adequate isolation between mixer
`and the RF section combined with shielding alleviates the
`problem of LO jamming. The imbalances between the I and
`Q component offsets can be corrected using digital signal
`processing techniques which were not available a decade
`ago. However, mixer design remains a challenging issue
`particularly because of the inherently non-linear nature of
`their function, which makes their performance sensitive to
`spurious response.
`To circumvent the difficulties surrounding the design of a
`high-performance high-frequency image-reject mixer suit-
`able for homodyne or low-IF receivers, it is the object of the
`present invention to provide a high performance quadrature
`demodulation receiver which performs signal mixing by
`way of direct sampling of the RF signal which demodulates
`the signal accurately to the I and Q components. This
`invention makes possible full utilization of the advantages of
`linear switches which are readily available in CMOS tech-
`nology.
`This mixing and sampling technique is further refined by
`applying subharmonic sampling, i.e., sampling below the
`Nyquist rate, by relying on the fact that the baseband
`information signals are usually of a narrowband nature. This
`approach is partly based on the well known principle that
`down-conversion can be achieved by sampling a modulated
`carrier at a sub-harmonic frequency. When the sampling
`frequency is twice the modulation bandwidth, direct-
`conversion is achieved.
`By deliberately under-sampling the RF signal, the
`receiver circuit is capable of capturing the narrowband
`signal variation and thereby downconverting the RF signal
`without a high-power and high bandwidth system. Naturally,
`pre-mixer anti-aliasing filter would be necessary to mitigate
`the wideband noise which would otherwise be aliased into
`an output of half the sample rate.
`This sub-harmonic sampling techniques is applicable to
`both the homodyne and low-IF heterodyne designs. The two
`major advantages of this approach are firstly that the LO (i.e.
`the sampling frequency) and RF frequencies are now
`different, alleviating greatly the LO jamming problem.
`Secondly, because of the lower LO frequencies, low-speed
`supporting LO circuits such as oscillators using high-Q
`resonators, and phase-locking circuits using high Q resona-
`tors can be used, making possible many interesting low-
`power designs.
`
`5
`
`10
`
`15
`
`According to the present invention, there is provided a
`quadrature demodulation receiver for narrow-band commu-
`nication systems comprising means for directly sampling an
`incoming signal which is modulated on a radio-frequency
`carrier at a sampling frequency which can be substantially
`lower than the carrier frequency to demodulate said signal
`into its in-phase and quadrature components, wherein said
`sampling means comprises means for obtaining main
`samples each of which comprises a plurality of sub-samples
`which are separated by a fixed time delay and which
`represent the in-phase and quadrature signal components
`taken for that sampling period.
`Preferably, the said sampling means comprises means for
`firstly locking the in-phase sample to a sub-harmonic of the
`carrier frequency in a manner similar to conventional coher-
`ent receivers, and wherein the sub-samples are then taken at
`instants which correspond substantially to the in-phase and
`20 quadrature sample of the carrier frequency.
`Preferably, the said sampling means comprises means for
`taking four sub-samples which represent the in-phase (I), the
`quadrature (Q), negative of the in-phase (—I) and negative of
`the quadrature (—Q)components. Naturally, the components
`25 need not be arranged in such an order.
`In a preferred embodiment, the time delay, tisua, between
`successive sub-samples within the same sample is substan-
`tially equal to five quarters of the period of the un-modulated
`carrier frequency, i.e. Ts„b.=(5/4)T„. Preferably, the time
`30 delay,
`between successive sub-samples within the same
`sample is substantially equal to TR (N+1/4 ), where TR is the
`period of the un-modulated carrier frequency and N is a
`non-zero natural number.
`Preferably, the time delay, Ts„,,., between successive sub-
`35 samples within the same sample is substantially equal to
`TRF(N+(2M+1)/4), where T„
`is the period of the
`un-modulated carrier frequency, N is a non-zero natural
`number and M is a natural number including zero.
`Preferably, the sampling frequency is substantially equal
`40 to the carrier frequency divided by (4N+2M+1) where N is
`any natural number and M is any natural number including
`zero.
`Preferably, the sampling frequency is also substantially
`equal to the carrier frequency divided by (4N+2M+K+1),
`where N, M and K are natural numbers and N is non zero.
`In another preferred embodiment, the sampling frequency
`is equal to the sum of the carrier (RF) and intermediate (IF)
`frequency divided by the factor (4N+2M+1) where N is any
`50 natural number and M is any natural number including zero.
`According to another aspect of the present invention,
`there is provided a direct sub-harmonic sampling method for
`quadrature demodulation for receivers for communication
`systems comprising demodulating an incoming narrow-band
`55 modulated signal on a carrier frequency into its in-phase and
`quadrature components by direct sampling, wherein said
`sampling is performed at a sampling frequency which is
`substantially lower than the carrier frequency, and compris-
`ing obtaining main samples each of which comprises a
`60 plurality of sub-samples which are separated by a fixed time
`delay, wherein said sub-samples represent the in-phase and
`quadrature signal components taken for that sampling
`period.
`Preferably, the sampling is performed by first locking or
`65 tuning the in-phase sampling clock to a subharmonic of the
`carrier frequency in a manner similar to conventional coher-
`ent receivers (e.g. with a PLL or closed loop). However, the
`
`45
`
`IPR2022-00245 Page 00005
`
`

`

`5,937,013
`
`5
`present invention can also be operated open-loop
`(unlocked), as with a conventional mixer, so long as the
`sampling clock is precisely and accurately tuneable (e.g. to
`within one part in two thousand, easily achievable with
`current technology) and low-jitter.
`In a preferred method each said sample comprises four
`sub-samples which represent the in-phase, the quadrature,
`negative of the in-phase and negative of the quadrature
`components. Naturally, the components need not to be
`arranged in such an order.
`Preferably in a preferred method, the time delay,
`between successive sub-samples within the same sample is
`substantially equal to five quarters of the period of the
`un-modulated carrier frequency, i.e. Ts„b.=(5/4)-r„. Prefer-
`ably the time delay, t sub, between successive sub-samples
`within the same sample is substantially equal to
`
`TRF4N+
`
`2M + 11
` I.
`
` 4
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`The present invention will now be explained and illus-
`trated by way of example and with reference to the accom-
`panying drawings, in which:
`FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional quadra-
`ture demodulation receiver showing in dotted-boxes the
`component parts which are difficult to be integrated on-chip,
`FIG. 2a shows an example of the timing relationship
`between a sinusoidal RF carrier and a stream of sub-
`sampling clock (flub) pulses for the receiver of the present
`invention, in which the delay between successive timing
`pulses, Ts,,,,„ is equal to (1+1/4)TRF,
`FIG. 2b shows an example of the timing relationship
`between a sinusoidal RF carrier and a stream of sub-
`sampling clock (flub) pulses for the receiver of the present
`invention, in which the delay between successive timing
`pulses, Ts„h, is equal to (1+3/4)TRF,
`FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing for example
`a circuit arrangement suitable for the receiver of the present
`invention, and
`FIG. 4 is a timing relationship diagram in which the delay
`between successive main sampling pulses is ten cycles of the
`un-modulated RF carrier frequency.
`
`10
`
`6
`circuit samples the incoming RF signal at a sampling
`frequency which is considerably lower than that of the RF
`carrier frequency. Since the purpose of this sampling scheme
`is to directly extract the base-band quadrature components
`5 without the need of intermediate frequency components, this
`is a direct conversion demodulation scheme.
`The signal sampling is performed in a packet mode in
`which each complete sample packet comprises the useful
`quadrature components. In the present embodiment, the
`sample packet comprises respectively the I, Q, —I, —Q
`components. This is realised by including in each complete
`sampling clock period a set of four consecutive sub-
`sampling pulses which respectively sample the I, Q, —I & —Q
`components.
`An obviously advantageous aspect of this packet sam-
`15 pling technique is that the sampling circuit can generate I
`and Q sampling delays which are dependent on the relation-
`ship between the RF frequency (f, ) and the frequency (flub)
`of the sub-sampling pulses, but not on component-
`dependent delays.
`20 However, it should be noted that the components need not
`necessarily be arranged in the respective sequence of I, Q, —I
`& —Q. For example, referring to FIG. 2b, a sample packet
`can as well comprise all the four components while arranged
`in the sequence of I, —Q, —I & Q.
`Ideally, the delay (Ts„b) between each successive sub-
`sampling pulse within the same main sampling packet
`period is an integer number plus an odd integer multiple of
`one quarter of an RF carrier cycle, that is,
`
`25
`
`30
`
`2M+ 1
` ),
`Tsub — TRR *(N + 4
`
`where N is a non-zero natural number, M is a natural
`35 numbers including zero, TRF (=1/fR ) is the period of the
`un-modulated carrier frequency and Ts,,,b (=1/flub) is the
`period of the sub-sampling pulses.
`Note that when both N and M equals zero, this yields
`Ts„b=TRF/4 which is the case of direct conversion by sub-
`40 harmonic sampling at one-fourth of the un-modulated carrier
`frequency and is therefore not within the scope of the present
`invention. In the present preferred embodiment, N=1, M=0
`and therefore Ts„b=1.25
`Furthermore, the delay between successive main sam-
`pling cycles (T, ), which determines the overall sampling
`frequency, is preferably a natural number multiple, K, of the
`RF carrier cycles plus four times the subsampling clock
`pulses to take into account the four sub-sampling cycles in
`each packet. That is:
`
`45
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENTS
`The receiver illustrated in FIG. 3 in accordance with the 50
`present invention down-converts the incoming RF signal
`305 into its base-band in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q)
`components by means of in-phase and quadrature sampling
`circuits 310 and 320 respectively which sample the incom-
`ing RF waveform directly at a considerably lower sampling
`frequency than the carrier frequency. The signal sampling
`may for example be performed by conventional sampling
`circuits which comprise simple CMOS switches and sample-
`and-hold capacitors and integrated with low-frequency dif-
`ferential amplifiers to drive IF circuits.
`Direct-Conversion
`Referring to the timing diagrams of FIGS. 2a and 2b,
`there is shown a wave train of an unmodulated co-sinusoidal
`RF carrier aligned with a train of sub-sampling clock pulses.
`In the first preferred embodiment, the sampling circuit is
`driven on the rising edge of the clock transition. To obtain
`the I and Q components by direct RF sampling, the sampling
`
`r s = 4(N + (2M + 1)/4)TRF + KTRF,
`
`= (4N + 2M +K+DrRF
`
`60
`
`55 where N= is a non-zero natural number and M and K are
`natural numbers including zero. Thus, in the example of
`FIG. 2a, N=1, M=K=O, the main sampling delay is five
`RF-carrier cycles and the overall sampling frequency is
`therefore f
`/5.
`In the example of FIG. 2b, N=1, M=1, and K=O, the main
`sampling delay is seven RF-carrier cycles and the overall
`sampling frequency is therefore f
`/7.
`In the embodiment of FIG. 4, N=1, M=O, and K=5, the
`main sampling delay is 10 RF-carrier cycles and the overall
`65 sampling frequency is therefore fRF/10.
`The main sampling period for the example in FIG. 2a
`comprises a four-clock cycle, the first sub-sampling clock
`
`IPR2022-00245 Page 00006
`
`

`

`5,937,013
`
`8
`is shown. A clock circuit 330 generates a stream of sub-
`sampling clock pulses according to the relationship:
`
`fRF
`/sub — (
`2M + 1)'
`N+
`
`4
`
`where N= a non-zero natural number and M is a natural
`number including zero.
`This clock pulse stream is broken down and grouped into
`packets each of which comprises four sub-sampling cycles
`and each is separated by a delay of
`
`2M + 1)
` .
`r sub ="1-RF*(N +
`)
`
`4
`
`5
`
`10
`
`15
`
`7
`pulse is used to time the sample for, say, the I component.
`The next pulse is used to time the Q component. The next
`two subsequent pulses then time the —I and —Q components
`respectively, and the cycle then repeats again for the next
`packet sampling.
`On the other hand, the main sampling period for the
`example in FIG. 2b also comprises a four-clock cycle, the
`first sub-sampling clock pulse is used to time the sample for,
`say, the I component. The next pulse is used to time the —Q
`component. The next two subsequent pulses then time the —I
`and Q components respectively, and the cycle then repeats
`again for the next packet sampling.
`By phase locking one sample, for example, the I sample,
`to a subharmonic of the incoming RF signal using conven-
`tional phase locking techniques, the sampling delays for the
`Q, —I and —Q can be easily derived with high accuracy. In
`other words, once the sampling circuits is locked with one
`of the I or Q components, the precise I—Q timing relation-
`ship results as a direct by-product.
`Naturally, the present invention can also be operated by
`means of tuning using an open-loop (un-locked) sampling
`clock which is found in many conventional mixers, so long
`as the sampling clock is precisely and accurately tunable,
`e.g. to within one part in two thousand, which is easily
`achievable with current technology, and with a low-jitter.
`Using this technique, even a frequency error of 1 MHz
`means a timing error of less than 0.4 degree at a carrier
`frequency of 1 GHz. Such a timing error is highly unlikely
`for modern day applications given the almost exact fre-
`quency match and minimum phase jitter of conventional 30
`phase locked loops. Even with errors of this magnitude, the
`system can easily remove them as system error by means of
`either precision analog or digital baseband circuits, as long
`as they are systematic errors, as would be the case with a
`frequency error.
`Thus, with a direct sub-harmonic sampling circuit based
`on this timing relationship, the following can be achieved:
`1) Precise, low-jitter I & Q sampling, with potential accu-
`racy of phase delay between I and Q samples mostly
`limited by the jitter of the sampling clock and incoming
`RF signal relative to the sampling frequency. Precision is
`limited by the following factors: i) clock rise time, ii)
`clock jitter or short term phase instability, iii) frequency
`error between the RF and sampling frequency, iv) device
`mismatch, and v) signal path mismatches. In practice,
`phase mismatch could be better than 0.1 degree RMS
`since the subharmonic clock can be generated with low-
`jitter and short-term stability of about one part in 1012.
`Furthermore, since in practice the I and Q sub-samples are
`sampled with only a few intervening RF cycles, jitter
`accumulation between I and Q sub-samples would not
`cause any observable problem which requires serious
`treatment.
`2) Inherent synchronisation between frequency control and
`I & Q sampling delay. This is so since by phase locking
`the sampling clock to the RF signal, there exists a highly
`accurate frequency relationship between them.
`Consequently, highly precise I and Q component extrac-
`tion can be achieved.
`3) Low-power, simple CMOS sampling and timing genera-
`tion circuits can be used. This means compact size and
`conventional high-speed sampling designs can be utilised.
`This means that the receiver circuits can be fully com-
`patible with low-frequency analogue switched capacitor,
`data-acquisition and digital processing circuits.
`Referring again to FIG. 3 in which the block diagram of
`an implementation of an embodiment of the receiver design
`
`Since both the I & Q components are each sampled once
`during a complete clock cycle, Ts, it follows that the sam-
`20 pling frequency of the I & Q components, f, & fc. are equal
`and is given by
`
`25
`
`ft—
`
`fRE
`= (2M+4N+K+1)
`
`A full sampling clock period, Ts, would therefore com-
`prise at least 4 sub-sampling pulses and possibly plus a
`natural number, K, multiple of the un-modulated carrier
`perord, 'rte , and is determined by the relation:
`
`Ts=(2M+4N+K+1)-r„,
`
`N=1,2,3. . . ,
`M and K=0, 1, 2, 3, . . .
`In the present embodiment, this timing relationship is
`35 achieved by a frequency divider 340 which divides the
`carrier frequency by (2M+4N+K+1). Note that in the case
`where K is one plus an integer multiple of 4, the circuit can
`be operated with a single clock frequency. It is this feature
`which is essential to producing very high accuracy between
`40 I and Q, thus minimising jitter. Since all other clocks can be
`derived from this single clock and therefore no additional
`sychronised clocks are needed in the circuit, the complexity
`of the circuit is greatly reduced.
`In the specific embodiment of FIG. 2a where N=1 and M
`45 and K=0, the main sampling clock period, Ts, is equal to five
`times the period of the RF carrier, TRF Similarly, in the
`specific embodiment of FIG. 2b where N=M=1 and K=0, the
`main sampling clock period is equal to seven times the
`period of the RF carrier. Furthermore, in the specific
`50 embodiment of FIG. 4 where N=1, M=0 and K=5, the main
`sampling clock period is equal to ten times the period of the
`RF carrier.
`This divided clock signal then gates through the use of a
`gate 350 the sampling clock of the I and Q sampling
`55 switches 360 and 370 respectively. Because the sampling
`clock passes through the gates virtually unadulterated, the
`delay between I and Q channels is guaranteed as long as
`reasonable synmmetry between the channels is maintained
`in layout. As mentioned before, conventional sampling
`60 circuitries can be utilised and an anti-aliasing filter 315 is of
`course required in front of the sampling circuits to provide
`improved performances. The output signals from the sam-
`pling circuits 310 and 320 are provided to a circuit 380 to
`recover the original carrier signal, which is provided as an
`65 input signal to the clock generator 330, thereby forming the
`phase-locked loop which locks the clock signal to the
`samples.
`
`IPR2022-00245 Page 00007
`
`

`

`5,937,013
`
`9
`While each sample packet in this scheme comprises four
`quadrature components, it should be appreciated that sub-
`sequent signal processing can be performed by partial selec-
`tion of the subsamples. For example, subsample sets like
`[I,Q], [I,-Q], [-I ,Q] or [-I, -Q] may be selected from the
`complete sample packet of [I, Q -I, -Q] for base-band signal
`processing in single-ended systems, although this may rep-
`resent a degree of performance degradation.
`Furthermore, while the present invention has been
`explained by reference to sample packets each comprising 4
`subsamples, i.e., [I, Q, -I, -Q], it would be obvious that
`other forms of sample packet can be used. For example, a
`sample packet can be made up of subsamples in any one of
`following packet forms:- [I, Q], [I,-Q], [-I, Q], [-I,-Q], [I,
`Q, -I], [I, -I, Q], [I,-I,-Q], etc. . .
`Naturally, the four subsample packet provides a preferred
`demodulation scheme which offers high performance result-
`ing from enhanced immunity to common-mode interference
`or other spurious offsets which are undesirably introduced
`into the system.
`Low-IF Conversion
`In a second preferred embodiment, the circuit
`arrangement, sampling scheme and sampling timing scheme
`employed are substantially the same as the direct conversion
`method above. However, in order to avoid problems asso-
`ciated with direct conversion method, an IF element is
`deliberately introduced by way of a constant sampling time
`deviation. This sampling time deviation produce an IF
`modulation and introduces a phase offset which can subse-
`