KR101529635B1 - Envelope detecting method using maximum voltage transfer matching technique from resonance antena to receiver and Receivers thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of directly detecting an envelope signal carried on a carrier by a maximum voltage transmission matching method, rather than a power matching method, by directly detecting an envelope signal from an antenna, Or the envelope of the carrier is directly detected by connecting the feeding part of the antenna, which is the maximum current point of the resonator type antenna, and the input terminal of the envelope detector, by a transmission line of? / 4.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a method of detecting envelope from a resonator type antenna to a receiver by using a maximum voltage transfer matching method, and a receiver using the envelope detecting method using a maximum voltage transfer matching technique,

The present invention relates to a method of detecting an envelope from a resonator type antenna to a receiver by means of a maximum voltage transmission matching method and a receiver using the method. More particularly, the present invention relates to an envelope detection method using a maximum voltage transfer matching method, (EN) An envelope detection method and a receiver for detecting an envelope signal directly from an antenna.

)도 증가하게 되어 요구되는 성능의 저잡음증폭기 제작도 어려워지고 또한 주파수가 높아짐에 따라 연결선에서의 손실도 증가하게 된다.In general, an RF receiver amplifies a weak antenna reception signal with a low noise amplifier, frequency-converts the amplified signal using a local oscillator and a mixer, and demodulates the desired signal data. The frequency of the carrier of the RF signal uses a high RF frequency that efficiently uses the frequency resources and the bandwidth. Accordingly, the cutoff frequency of the low-noise amplifier that amplifies the weak RF signal

), Which makes it difficult to fabricate a low-noise amplifier with the required performance. Also, as the frequency increases, the loss at the connection line also increases.

In the conventional RF receiver, the connection method between the antenna and the receiver uses a concept of power matching to obtain the accurate impedance of the device in order to transmit the maximum power, thereby canceling the impedance reactance component.

However, as the frequency of the carrier wave increases from millimeter wave to terahertz, the size of the antenna and the device have been reduced, and an on-chip antenna has become possible to implement a new concept design method. In other words, conventionally, in order to maximize the power, the antenna is matched with 50Ω between the receiving circuits. However, in order to directly detect the envelope carried by the carrier from the antenna, a method of efficiently transmitting the voltage signal with the maximum voltage transfer matching is required .

Generally, a non-linear device is suitable for detecting a signal directly from a resonant device such as a high Q antenna, since the detecting device must have a high input impedance and at the same time have a gain to detect a signal. For most transistors or diodes, the channel resistance is high under threshold or turn-on voltage, so high impedance can be obtained, but because there is little gain, a circuit is needed to amplify the detection signal again.

Patent Document 1 relates to an image detector capable of multi-operation frequency detection in order to acquire real-time image of a target object using a multi-band of terahertz, and a slot-type split ring resonator, (Hereinafter referred to as " SRR "), a detector portion formed by an FET, and an amplifier portion. However, the 50? Matching concept is still used and detailed operation of the detector portion is not described.

1. Korea Open Patent No. 2012-0115634 (released on October 19, 2012)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above needs and provides an envelope signal detection method and receiver for directly detecting an envelope signal carried on a carrier wave from a resonance element such as an antenna by a maximum voltage transmission matching method other than the conventional 50? I want to.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of detecting a carrier envelope of an RF signal, the method comprising: a resonance element resonating with an RF signal to form a standing wave; And the envelope of the carrier wave is directly detected.

As another embodiment of a method of directly detecting an envelope of a carrier wave, a resonance element is resonated in an RF signal to form a standing wave, and the input terminal of the resonance element and the envelope detector are connected to a transmission line of? / 4 at a maximum current point of the standing wave And directly detects the envelope of the carrier wave.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the envelope detector is any one of a transistor or a diode of silicon or a compound semiconductor, wherein the cutoff frequency is lower than the carrier operating frequency and the input impedance of the envelope detector is maximized .

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the resonance element is a half-wave patch antenna, which directly connects the envelope detector to both ends in the longitudinal direction, or directly connects the envelope detector to both ends in the middle width direction as a propagation field patch antenna, The envelope detector is directly connected to both ends in the middle width direction as a patch antenna, or the envelope detector is directly connected to both ends of the ring gap as a split ring resonator (SRR) antenna.

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the resonance element in the case of connecting the input terminal of the envelope detector to the transmission line of? / 4 is a half-wave dipole antenna.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a resonator device including a resonance element resonating with an RF signal and an envelope detector directly connected to the resonance element, the envelope detector having a maximum input impedance, Is directly detected.

In another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a resonator comprising: a resonance element resonating with an RF signal; and an envelope detector connected to the resonator through a transmission line of? / 4, wherein the envelope detector has a maximum input impedance, And is an RF receiver that operates by transmission matching and directly detects an envelope.

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the envelope detector is a stack structure in which two NMOS transistors and one PMOS transistor are connected in series in a cascode manner, and operates at a frequency lower than the frequency of the carrier wave, A PMOS transistor having a drain terminal connected to a drain terminal of the first NMOS transistor and a second NMOS transistor having a drain terminal connected to a source terminal of the first NMOS transistor, And the NMOS transistor and the PMOS transistor operate in a region where the gate voltage is lower than the threshold voltage.

Since the envelope is directly detected from the antenna, the envelope can be directly detected without loss and the signal can be demodulated. Therefore, it is unnecessary to separately provide an amplifier circuit such as a low-noise amplifier circuit, thereby reducing the circuit area and reducing manufacturing cost. can do.

Since the present invention can demodulate an RF signal of a carrier frequency band using an active device operating at a frequency lower than a carrier frequency but operating at an envelope frequency, it is possible to overcome the frequency limit of an active device of the current technology level, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > RF < / RTI >

The present invention utilizes the concept of voltage transfer to minimize the input capacitance of the envelope detector and connect the envelope detector to the antenna where the voltage swing is at its maximum to demodulate the maximum signal at the antenna, And it is possible to provide an on-chip receiver by integrating with an antenna.

The present invention can provide a highly sensitive receiver that responds more sensitively to envelopes.

The present invention can be applied not only to the field of mobile communication and home appliances but also to the medical field considering the correlation with molecules because it can operate at a high frequency, including a receiver used in short-range broadband communication.

The present invention can solve the frequency saturation problem in the current low frequency band because the envelope can be detected even when receiving the millimeter wave or the terahertz frequency above the operating frequency of the device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view for explaining an envelope detection method in which a feeding point of a resonator type antenna according to the present invention is selected as a maximum voltage point;
FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a method of directly detecting an envelope by selecting a feeding part of a resonator-type antenna according to the present invention as a maximum current point and connecting it to an envelope detector by a? / 4 transmission line;
3 is a view for explaining a method of detecting an envelope from a half-wave patch antenna according to the present invention,
4 is a view for explaining a method of detecting an envelope from a half-wave dipole antenna according to the present invention,
FIG. 5 is a detailed configuration diagram of an envelope detector according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 4,
6 is a cross-sectional view of an on-chip receiver according to the present invention applied to a patch antenna,
FIG. 7 is a view showing a layout using a connection method of a propagation field patch antenna and an envelope detector according to the present invention,
FIG. 8 is a layout of a folded dipole antenna and an envelope detector according to the present invention,
9 is a layout to which a method of connecting a split ring resonator (SRR) and an envelope detector according to the present invention is applied,
10 is a flowchart of a method for directly detecting an envelope from a resonator type antenna according to the present invention,
11 is a flowchart of a method for directly detecting an envelope from a resonator-type antenna according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings illustrate only the essential features of the invention in order to facilitate clarity of the invention and are not to be construed in a limiting sense since they are not shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the present invention, the term RF (radio frequency) does not refer to a specific frequency band but generally refers to a high frequency used in wireless communication. Also, the resonance element refers to a resonance element, a filter, an antenna, or the like, which generates resonance at a specific frequency.

In the conventional RF receiver, the detector is designed by 50? Matching the antenna for maximum power transmission. However, the present invention maximizes the input impedance of the envelope detector through the maximum voltage transmission matching method instead of 50? It is possible to demodulate a signal by minimizing the transmission loss from the antenna without affecting the operation characteristics of the antenna.

Generally, a non-linear device is suitable for detecting a signal directly from a resonant device such as a high Q antenna, since the detecting device must have a high input impedance and at the same time have a gain to detect a signal. For most transistors or diodes, the channel resistance is high under threshold or turn-on voltage, so high impedance can be obtained, but because there is little gain, a circuit is needed to amplify the detection signal again.

However, the present invention proposes a method that can detect and amplify simultaneously by the maximum voltage transfer matching method. Because the high channel resistance operates in the voltage mode rather than the current mode, the sensitivity can be increased and the maximum sensitivity can be obtained in the region where the gate voltage is lower than the threshold voltage. This principle of operation can also be explained by plasma wave based detection theory.

Also, the present invention can demodulate a signal from an envelope by operating in a frequency band of an envelope even if it does not operate at a high carrier frequency in order to demodulate data in a carrier wave, Or a diode is used in an envelope detector, the receiver design can be made easier than in the past, and an active element that does not operate in a high frequency band can be used to receive a signal in a high frequency band and recover data.

A method and a receiver for directly detecting an envelope directly from the resonator-type antenna according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, when both ends of a resonance element such as an antenna are opened, an incident wave and a reflected wave are combined to form a standing wave having a maximum voltage and a minimum current at both ends or a predetermined point on the antenna. In this case, the size of the antenna may be formed by the propagation length or half wavelength of the carrier wave. Therefore, when a device having a large input impedance is connected to a point where the voltage is maximum, an envelope signal of a carrier wave can be directly received.

)가 낮고 입력 임피던스가 큰 포락선 검출기(2)를 안테나(1)의 전압 스윙이 최대 지점에 직접 연결한다(S3). 이와 같은 방법을 사용하면 높은 반송파 주파수에서 동작하는 고가의 능동소자를 사용하지 않고도, 반송파 주파수보다 훨씬 낮은 주파수에서 동작하는 저가의 능동소자를 사용하여 포락선 검출기를 구성하여도 변조 데이터를 복조할 수 있다. Referring to the flowchart of FIG. 10, the present invention sets a point at which the voltage swing is maximum in the antenna 1 to a feed part (S1)

And the input impedance of the envelope detector 2 is directly connected to the maximum point of the voltage swing of the antenna 1 (S3). With this method, modulation data can be demodulated even if an envelope detector is constructed using an inexpensive active element operating at a much lower frequency than the carrier frequency, without using an expensive active element operating at a high carrier frequency .

The envelope detector 2 can be a MOSFET fabricated in a silicon nanoparticle process (e.g., 65 nm) in tens of nanometers without using expensive active devices operating in millimeters or terahertz. In FIG. 5, the first transistor N1 does not operate at the frequency of the carrier wave, but in the frequency band of the envelope, the drain voltage changes according to the difference of the gate voltage, and the drain voltage of the transistor outputs a different value according to the amplitude of the envelope . Therefore, a receiver with a higher frequency band than the operating frequency band of the transistor can be designed. For example, according to the present invention, it is possible to implement a receiver that receives a carrier wave in the 600 GHz band using a FET having a cutoff frequency characteristic of 35 GHz.

The first transistor N1 operates as a plasma wave transistor operating in a non-resonant mode. In the high-frequency operating region, the plasma wave caused by the source attenuates before reaching the drain, and there is charge movement only in the local portion adjacent to the source. The first transistor N1 does not react with a carrier wave and a part of the source side region of the gate reacts with the envelope to output a DC voltage. The envelope detector 2 provides a high level DC output V1 when the amplitude of the carrier is high and a low level DC output V2 when the amplitude of the carrier is low, as shown in FIG.

In general, when the transistor is used as an envelope detector, the input impedance is lowered in the turn-on region of the transistor, and when the voltage immediately before turn-on is applied as a bias, the transistor operates in a non-linearity state, It is necessary to add an amplifier such as an LNA to the output terminal of the envelope detector because there is no gain in the detection signal. That is, the detection unit and the amplification unit are separated. However, according to the present invention, the signal at the maximum voltage point of the resonant antenna is applied to the transistor as a bias voltage, and the transistor is designed to operate at a frequency much lower than the resonance frequency, so that even if the bias is applied to the transistor in the turn- When the envelope is detected by the maximum voltage transmission matching, the maximum detection signal can be obtained without a separate amplifier.

As another embodiment of the envelope detector 2, a diode having a high input impedance can also be realized. The diode can be implemented using a non-linear diode and a MOS diode or a schottky diode. The envelope detector 2 can also be realized as a Si MOSFET or a compound semiconductor transistor superior in Si semiconductor in high-speed operation characteristics.

As shown in Fig. 2, the antenna 1 in which the standing wave is formed can also be expressed as a variation of current. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, a point where the current becomes maximum in the resonator type antenna is set (S11), and the? / 4 transmission line 3 is connected to the point where the current change is maximum. the maximum voltage can be transmitted to the envelope detector 2 having a large input impedance to the? / 4 transmission line 3 since the? / 4 transmission line will not conduct current when the input terminal has the maximum current. Therefore, the envelope detector 2 performs the same operation as that directly receiving the value of the voltage swing from the antenna 1 directly.

Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining an envelope detection method from a half-wave patch antenna 4, in which envelope detectors 6 and 7 are directly connected to both ends of the open end where the voltage swing is maximum in the patch antenna 4. Fig.

4 is a view for explaining an envelope detection method from the half-wave dipole antenna 5 according to the present invention. As in the case of FIG. 2, by connecting the envelope detectors 6 and 7 at the maximum current swing using the transmission lines 8 and 9 of? / 4, the envelope detector 5 at the point where the voltage swing of the dipole antenna 5 is maximum, (6, 7) are directly connected to each other. As a method of connecting the dipole antenna 5 and the envelope detectors 6 and 7, a point at which the electric field of the dipole antenna 5 is minimum is set to the power feeding portion.

5 is an example of a method for minimizing the input capacitance in order to maximize the input impedance, which is one embodiment of the envelope detector (2, 6, 7) used in the present invention.

The envelope detector shown in Figure 5 minimizes the input capacitance at the point where the antenna is connected through the transistor stack. The first transistor N1, the second transistor P1, and the third transistor N2 are cascode-connected in series, so that the input capacitance is reduced. When the second transistor P1 is implemented as a PMOS transistor and the third transistor N2 is implemented as an NMOS transistor, the voltage difference between the drain and the source of the first transistor N1 can be increased, The reactivity of the first transistor N1 can be increased. The envelope detector includes capacitors C3 and C4 equivalent to the first transistor N1, capacitors C1 and C1 equivalent to the second transistor P1 and capacitors C5 and C6 equivalent to the third transistor N2. ) Can be represented by an equivalent circuit connected in series. The transistor stacks P1, N1, and N2 have a structure in which a plurality of capacitors C1 to C6 are connected in series to reduce the input capacitance, and the input impedance of the envelope detector is greatly increased.

Preferably, the second transistor P1 applies a DC bias voltage Vgp to the gate so that the gate voltage is lower than the threshold voltage, and the gate voltage of the third transistor N2 is lower than the threshold voltage a sub bias voltage Vgn is applied to the gate to operate at a sub threshold. It is also desirable to implement a transistor of the minimum size that can be provided in the process to increase the input impedance. In the conventional envelope detection method, a large resistance is applied to the load to greatly affect the noise. However, in the present invention, when the gate voltage of the second transistor P1 and the third transistor N2 is lower than the threshold voltage, By utilizing the large point, the operating range of the transistor is adjusted to realize a large impedance. Therefore, the present invention can realize a very large load impedance without using a large value resistor.

6 is a cross-sectional view of an on-chip receiver, which connects envelope detectors 6 and 7 to both ends of the patch antenna 5. Patch antennas are implemented to operate in the 390 GHz band and vias are used to minimize losses due to coupling between the antenna and the envelope detection period.

7 is a layout showing the envelope detection method from the propagation field patch antenna 702 according to the present invention. The envelope detector 701 is positioned at both ends in the width direction of the center of the patch antenna that has the maximum voltage swing and is connected to the minimum length so that the influence on the electric field is minimized and the loss can be minimized.

8 is a layout to which a method of connecting a half-wave folded dipole antenna 801 and an envelope detector 804 according to the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 8 is connected to the envelope detector 804 using transmission lines 802 and 80 of? / 4 where the current is maximum in the dipole antenna 801. FIG.

9 is a layout to which the method of connecting the split ring resonator (SRR) antenna and the envelope detector according to the present invention is applied. The SRR (903) antenna can be modeled as an LC resonant circuit with a broken ring shape with the ring as L and the gap as C. Since the LC resonant circuit has the largest voltage difference at the node where the capacitor and the inductor are separated, the envelope detector 901 can be directly connected to one end of the gap serving as a capacitor in the SRR 903 to receive the maximum voltage signal from the SRR .

As a modified embodiment, a coupled split ring resonator (SSR) may be formed as an array, and an envelope detector may be connected to any one of the SRRs.

In the conventional RF, the connection method of the antenna and the detector uses the concept of power matching to precisely calculate the capacitance seen at the input of the detector and compensate the capacitance by using the inductor. However, the present invention utilizes the concept of voltage transfer to an on-chip antenna to minimize the input capacitance of the envelope detector and connect the envelope detector to the antenna point having the largest voltage swing, By forming the condition that can be received, the design of the receiver is facilitated, which shortens the design time and reduces the transmission loss, thereby reducing the communication error.

The envelope detection method and the receiver by the maximum voltage transmission matching according to the present invention can be applied to AM (amplitude modulation), OOK (on off keying) and ASK (amplitude shift keying) communication methods.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. You will understand.

1: antenna 2: envelope detector
3: transmission line of? / 4: 4: patch antenna
5: dipole antenna 6: first envelope detector
7: second envelope detector 8: transmission line of? / 4
9: transmission line of? / 4 11: DC voltage
12: DC voltage 13: Ground

Claims (15)

A method for directly detecting a modulated signal of an RF carrier,
A resonant element resonates in the RF carrier to form a standing wave,
The resonance element and the input terminal of the envelope detector are directly connected to each other at a point where the voltage swing of the standing wave becomes maximum,
The resonant element is a patch antenna or a coupled split ring resonator (SRR) antenna,
Wherein the envelope detector detects the envelope of the carrier by demodulating the input signal so that the input impedance of the envelope detector has a maximum value so that the maximum swing voltage of the resonator is transmitted and demodulates the modulated signal. A method for directly detecting an RF carrier envelope signal,
A resonant element resonates in the RF carrier to form a standing wave,
Connecting the resonant element and the input terminal of the envelope detector to the maximum current point of the standing wave by a transmission line of? / 4,
The resonant element is a patch antenna or a coupled split ring resonator (SRR) antenna,
Wherein the input impedance of the envelope detector is such that the maximum swing voltage of the resonator is transmitted so that the envelope of the carrier is detected and the modulated signal is demodulated. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein the envelope detector is a field effect transistor (FET) or a diode. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the cutoff frequency of the envelope detector is lower than the carrier operating frequency. delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the resonance element is a half-wave patch antenna, and the envelope detector is directly connected to both ends of the antenna in the longitudinal direction, wherein the envelope detector is directly connected to the envelope detector. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the resonance element is a full-wave patch antenna, and the envelope detector is directly connected to both ends in the middle width direction of the resonator element. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the resonance element is a full-wave patch antenna, and the envelope detector is directly connected to both ends in the middle width direction of the resonator element. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the resonant element is a split ring resonator (SRR) antenna, and the envelope detector is directly connected to both ends of the gap of the ring. delete An RF receiver including a resonant element resonating with an RF carrier modulated signal and an envelope detector directly connected to the resonant element,
The resonant element is a patch antenna or a coupled split ring resonator (SRR) antenna,
Wherein the envelope detector detects the envelope of the carrier by demodulating the input signal so that the input impedance of the envelope detector has the maximum value to transmit the maximum swing voltage of the resonator, and demodulates the modulated signal. . A RF receiver including a resonant element resonating with an RF carrier modulated signal and an envelope detector connected to the resonant element by a transmission line of? / 4,
The resonant element is a patch antenna or a coupled split ring resonator (SRR) antenna,
Wherein the envelope detector detects the envelope of the carrier by demodulating the input signal so that the input impedance of the envelope detector has the maximum value to transmit the maximum swing voltage of the resonator, and demodulates the modulated signal. . 13. The method according to claim 11 or 12,
Wherein the envelope detector is a stack structure in which two NMOS transistors and one PMOS transistor are connected in series in a cascode scheme. 14. The method of claim 13,
The envelope detector comprises:
A first NMOS transistor operating at a frequency lower than a frequency of a carrier wave and receiving the carrier wave as a gate;
A PMOS transistor having a drain terminal connected to a drain terminal of the first NMOS transistor,
And a second NMOS transistor having a drain terminal connected to a source terminal of the first NMOS transistor. 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the second NMOS transistor and the PMOS transistor operate in a region where a gate voltage is lower than a threshold voltage.

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