Module 2 : Transceiver Architectures

General Considerations
Receiver Architectures
Transmitter Architectures
OOK Transceivers

1
 Chapter Outline

Heterodyne Direct-Conversion
Receivers Receivers
✔ Problem of Image ✔ LO Leakage and Offsets
✔ Mixing Spurs ✔ Even-Order Nonlinearity
✔ Sliding-IF RX ✔ I/Q Mismatch

Image-Reject and Transmitter

Low-IF Receivers Architecture
✔ Hartley and Weaver Receivers ✔ TX Baseband Processing
✔ Low-IF Receivers ✔ Direct-Conversion TX
✔ Polyphase Filters ✔ Heterodyne and Sliding-IF TX

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 2

 General Considerations: Narrow Channel Bandwidth

Narrow channel bandwidth impacts the RF design of the transceiver.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 3

 Can We Simply Filter the Interferers to Relax the
Receiver Linearity Requirement?

First, the filter must provide a very high Q

Second, the filter would need a variable, yet precise center frequency

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 4

 Channel Selection and Band Selection

All of the stages in the receiver chain that precede channel-selection filtering
must be sufficiently linear
Channel selection must be deferred to some other point where center
frequency is lower and hence required Q is more reasonable
Most receiver front ends do incorporate a “band-select” filter

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 5

 Duplexer Characteristics

The front-end band-select filter suffers from a trade-off between its selectivity
and its in-band loss because the edges of the band-pass frequency response
can be sharpened only by increasing the order of the filter.
Front-end loss directly raises the NF of the entire receiver

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 6

 TX-RX Feedthrough

In full-duplex standards, the TX and the RX operate concurrently.

With a 1-W TX power, the leakage sensed by LNA can reach -20dBm, dictating a
substantially higher RX compression point.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 7

 Basic Heterodyne Receivers

“Heterodyne” receivers employ an LO frequency unequal to ωin and hence a

nonzero IF
A Mixer performing downconversion.
Due to its high noise, the downconversion mixer is preceded by a low-noise
amplifier
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 8
 How Does a Heterodyne Receiver Cover a Given
Frequency Band?

Constant LO: each RF channel is downconverted to a different IF channel

Constant IF: LO frequency is variable, all RF channels within the band of

interest translated to a single value of IF.
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 9
 Basic Heterodyne Receivers: Problem of Image

Two spectra located symmetrically around ωLO are downconverted to the IF

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 10

 Image Rejection

The most common approach is to precede the mixer with an “image-reject

filter”
A filter with high image rejection typically appears between the LNA and the
mixer so that the gain of the LNA lowers the filter’s contribution to the receiver
noise figure
The linearity and selectivity required of the image-reject filter have dictated
passive, off-chip implementations.
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 11
 Image Rejection versus Channel Selection

A high IF allows substantial rejection of the image.

A low IF helps with the suppression of in-band interferers.

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 Dual Downconversion (Ⅰ)

The front-end filter selects the band while providing some image rejection as
well (Point B)
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 13
 Dual Downconversion (Ⅱ)

After amplification and image-reject filtering, spectrum of C obtained

Sufficiently linear mixer translates desired channel and adjacent interferers to
first IF (Point D)

Partial channel selection BPF3 permits the use of a second mixer with
reasonable linearity. (Point E)
Spectrum is translated to second IF. (Point F)

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 14

 Receiver Architectures

BPF4 suppresses the interferers to acceptably low levels (Point G)

An optimum design scales both the noise figure and the IP3 of each stage
according to the total gain preceding that stage.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 15

 Mixing Spurs and an Example
Figure below (left) shows a 2.4-GHz dual downconversion receiver, where the first
LO frequency is chosen so as to place the (primary) image in the GPS band for
some of the channels. Determine a few mixing spurs.

Let us consider the second harmonic of LO2, 800MHz. If an interferer appears at the first IF at
820MHz or 780MHz, then it coincides with the desired signal at the second IF. In the RF band,
the former corresponds to 820MHz+1980MHz = 2.8 GHz and the latter arises from
780MHz+1980MHz = 2.76 GHz. We can also identify the image corresponding to the second
harmonic of LO1 by writing fin - 2fLO1 - fLO2 = 20 MHz and hence fin = 4.38 GHz. Figure above
(right) summarizes these results. We observe that numerous spurs can be identified by
considering other combinations of LO harmonics.
Mixing Spurs
RF input multiplied by a square-wave LO. Producing harmonics.
If an interferer is downconverted to the same IF, it corrupts the signal
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 16
 Transmitter Architecture: General Considerations
An RF transmitter performs modulation, upconversion, and power amplification.
The GMSK waveform in GSM can be expanded as

where
Thus, cosΦ and sinΦ are produced from xBB(t) by the digital baseband processor, converted
to analog form by D/A converters, and applied to the transmitter.
Each incoming pulse is mapped to the desired shape by a combination of digital and analog
techniques:

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 17

 Direct-Conversion Transmitters: Overview
The above expression of a GMSK waveform can be generalized to any narrowband
modulated signal:

We therefore define the quadrature baseband signals as

This topology directly translates the baseband spectrum to the RF carrier by means of a
“quadrature upconverter”.
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 18
 Direct-Conversion Transmitters: I/Q Mismatch
The I/Q mismatch in direct-conversion receivers results in “cross-talk” between the
quadrature baseband outputs or, equivalently, distortion in the constellation.

For the four points in the constellation:

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 19

 I/Q Mismatch: Another Approach of Quantification
Another approach to quantifying the I/Q mismatch in a transmitter involves applying two
tones V0 cosωint and V0 sinωint to the I and Q inputs and examining the output spectrum.

The power of the unwanted sideband at ωc - ωin divided by that of the wanted sideband at ωc
+ ωin is given by

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 20

 I/Q Mismatch Calibration: Phase Mismatch
Let us now apply a single sinusoid to both inputs of the upconverter.

It can be shown that the output contains two sidebands of equal amplitudes and carries an
average power equal to:

ε is forced to zero as described above, then

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 21

 I/Q Mismatch Calibration: Gain Mismatch
The tests entail applying a sinusoid to one baseband input while the other is set to zero.

yielding an average power of

In figure above (right):

suggesting that the gain mismatch can be adjusted so as to drive this difference to zero.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 22

 Carrier Leakage: Definition

The analog baseband circuitry producing the quadrature signals in the transmitter exhibits
dc offsets, and so does the baseband port of each upconversion mixer.

The upconverter output therefore contains a fraction of the unmodulated carrier:

Called “carrier leakage,” and quantified as:

Carrier Leakage will lead to tow adverse effects: distorting the signal
constellation and making it difficult for power control.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 23

 Effect of Carrier Leakage(Ⅰ)

First, it distorts the signal constellation, raising the error vector magnitude at
the TX output.

For a QPSK signal:

The baseband quadrature outputs suffer from dc offsets, i.e., horizontal and vertical shifts in
the constellation.
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 24
 Effect of Carrier Leakage(Ⅱ)

The second effect manifests itself if the output power of the transmitter must
be varied across a wide range by varying the amplitude of the baseband
signals.

With a short distance between the base station and the mobile, the carrier power dominates,
making it difficult to measure the actual signal power.
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 25
 Reduction of Carrier Leakage

The loop consisting of the TX, the detector, and the DACs drives the leakage
toward zero, with the final settings of the DACs stored in the register.

Is it possible to cancel the carrier leakage by means of a single DAC?

No, it is not. Previous equation implies that no choice of VOS1 or VOS2 can force VOS1 cos ωct -
VOS2 sinωct to zero if the other remains finite.
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 26
 Mixer Linearity

Excessive nonlinearity in the baseband port of upconversion mixers can

corrupt the signal or raise the adjacent channel power

Consider the GMSK signal and suppose the baseband I/Q inputs experience a nonlinearity
given by α1x + α3x3. The upconverted signal assumes the form:

The second term also represents a GMSK signal but with a threefold
modulation index, thereby occupying a larger bandwidth.
For variable-envelope signals, A3(t) appears in both terms of equation above,
exacerbating the effect.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 27

 TX Linearity

The distortion of a variable-envelope signal

is typically characterized by the
compression that it experiences.

We must maximize the gain of the PA

and minimize the output swing of the
predriver and the stages preceding it.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 28

 Example of TX Linearity
If the predriver and the PA exhibit third-order characteristics, compute the 1-dB
compression point of the cascade of the two.

Solution:
Assuming a nonlinearity of α1x+α3x3 for the predriver and α1x+α3x3 for the PA, we write the
PA output as

then the input 1-dB compression point is given by:

In transmitters, the output power is of interest, suggesting that the compression behavior
must also be quantified at the output. :

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 29

 Oscillator Pulling

The PA output exhibits very large swings, which couple to various parts of the
system through the silicon substrate, package parasitics, and traces on the
printed-circuit board. Thus, it is likely that an appreciable fraction of the PA
output couples to the local oscillator.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 30

 Effect of Oscillator Pulling

The output phase of the oscillator, Φout, is modulated periodically.

In order to avoid injection pulling, the PA output frequency and the oscillator
frequency must be made sufficiently different
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 31
 Heterodyne Transmitters

Perform the signal upconversion in two steps so that the LO frequency remains far from the
PA output spectrum

As with the receiver counterpart, one advantage of this architecture is that the
I/Q upconversion occurs at a significantly lower frequency than the carrier,
exhibiting smaller gain and phase mismatches.
Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 32
 Sliding-IF TX

In analogy with the sliding-IF receiver architecture, we eliminate the first oscillator in the
above TX and derive the required phases from the second oscillator

We call the LO waveforms at ω1/2 and ω1 the first and second LOs,
respectively.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 33

 Carrier Leakage

The dc offsets in the baseband yield a component at ω1/2 at the output of the
quadrature upconverter, and the dc offset at the input of the RF mixer
produces another component at ω1
The former can be minimized as described before. The latter, and the lower
sideband at ω1/2, must be removed by filtering

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 34

 Mixing Spurs: the Harmonics of the First LO
The spurs arise from two mechanisms: the harmonics of the first LO and the
harmonics of the second LO.

The quadrature upconverter

mixes the baseband signals
with the third and fifth
harmonics of the first LO

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 35

 Mixing Spurs: the Harmonics of the Second LO
The second mechanism relates to the harmonics of the second LO. That is, the
spectrum shown in figure above is mixed with not only ω1 but 3ω1, 5ω1, etc.

Upon mixing with +3ω1, the IF sideband at -3ω1/2 is translated to +3ω1/2,

thereby corrupting the wanted sideband

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 36

 Use of SSB Mixing to Suppress the Unwanted
Sideband

Two quadrature upconverters

provide the quadrature
components of the IF signal:

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 37

 Other TX Architectures: OOK Transceivers
“On-off keying” (OOK) modulation is a special case of ASK where the carrier
amplitude is switched between zero and maximum.

When LO is directly turned on and off by the binary baseband data (figure
above left), If the LO swings are large enough, the PA also experiences
relatively complete switching and delivers an OOK waveform to the antenna.
figure above (right) can avoid the issue that LO cannot be easily controlled by
a PLL.

An LNA followed by an envelope detector can recover the binary data.

Chapter 4 Transceiver Architectures 38