Patent Abstract:
A communications radio or transceiver having an extended upper operating frequency limit of at least 6 GHz. The radio includes a first IF conversion stage for receiving and downconverting a RF input signal to a first IF signal, and a second IF conversion stage for downconverting the first IF signal to a second IF signal. The first and the second conversion stages each have adjustable first and second attenuators, a serial peripheral interface (SPI) for controlling the attenuators in response to command words, a mixer coupled to an output of the second attenuator, and a buffer for applying a local oscillator (LO) signal to an input of the mixer. Each conversion stage is in the form of an integrated circuit chip. Component devices of each chip and electrical connections between the components, are dimensioned so that the chip has a 6 GHz upper frequency limit.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. Sec. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/484,017 filed May 9, 2011, titled Method of Using Core Engine to Extend Radio System Frequency, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to radio communications systems, and more particularly to extending the upper frequency limit of communications radios or transceivers. 
     2. Discussion of the Known Art 
     Typically, radio frequency (RF) transceivers constructed for use in the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) have an upper operating frequency limit of about 2 GHz. This limit is not sufficient to support new and emerging wideband networking waveforms such as, e.g., Communication Data Link (CDL) and IEEE 802.16 WiMAX, however. Such waveforms may require the upper frequency limit of a transceiver to be extended to as high as 6 GHz. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,082 (Apr. 15, 2003) describes a high frequency oscillator. A reference oscillator in the form of a digital controlled frequency synthesizer with an external tank circuit, operates in a range of 1.25 to 1.5 GHz. A phase-locked loop circuit of the synthesizer is combined with the reference oscillator in an integrated circuit, preferably using a Bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS) silicon/germanium process. According to the patent, a tuned output range of 5 to 6 GHz may be provided by using a dividing factor of four. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 7,313,368 (Dec. 25, 2007) discloses a transceiver architecture including a dual-band, single frequency synthesizer for wireless communication in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz International industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands. A high frequency integrated circuit down converts a received multi-mode frequency signal, and a base frequency decoding circuit performs the processes of up-sampling and emitting a signal so as to transmit/receive a dual band signal by using the single frequency synthesizer. 
     Notwithstanding the above, there is a need to extend the upper frequency limit of existing tactical radio systems or transceivers from 2 GHz to 6 GHz so that the systems can support the new and emerging wideband networking waveforms transmitted above 2 GHz in the RF spectrum, while confining the space occupied by the extended systems within an even smaller volume than that allotted for the existing systems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the invention, a communications radio or transceiver having an extended upper operating frequency limit, includes a first intermediate frequency (IF) conversion stage constructed and arranged for receiving and down converting a radio frequency (RF) input signal to a first IF signal, and a second IF conversion stage constructed and arranged for down converting the first IF signal to a second IF signal. 
     The first and the second conversion stages each have adjustable first and second attenuators, a serial peripheral interface (SPI) for controlling the attenuators in response to command words, a mixer coupled to an output of the second attenuator, and a buffer for applying a local oscillator (LO) signal to an input of the mixer. Each conversion stage is in the form of an integrated circuit chip. Component devices of each chip and electrical connections between the components, are dimensioned so that the chip has an upper frequency limit of at least 6 GHz. 
     Thus, “System-on-a-chip” and other size reduction techniques are employed to provide a radio having a 6 GHz upper frequency limit, and in a much smaller form factor compared to existing radios. Such techniques include the use of switched and stored circuit paths among receiver and transmitter functions. 
     For a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing and the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       In the drawing: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram of a radio frequency (RF) converter chip employed in the present invention, showing certain devices integrated in the chip; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a serial peripheral interface (SPI) in the chip of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  shows the relative size of a single core engine RF circuit card constructed according to the invention at the right, with respect to a pair of prior RF circuit cards at the left; 
         FIG. 4  shows a signal path through the inventive circuit card when tuned to receive a signal at 1.7 GHz; and 
         FIG. 5  shows a signal path through the inventive circuit card when tuned to receive a signal at 5.9 GHz. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram of a high dynamic range RF converter chip  10  developed by and available from BAE Systems Microelectronics Group. By integrating RF switches, amplifiers, filters, and mixers on a die with short connections between components to reduce parasitic capacitance and improve high speed electrical performance, the chip  10  has an upper operating frequency limit of 6 GHz. 
     Devices integrated on the chip  10  include, inter alia, a Gilbert cell mixer  12  with a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) input stage  14  as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,089,309 (Jan. 3, 2012), and thermometer coded attenuators  16 ,  17 , as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,911,293 (Mar. 22, 2011). Both of the mentioned patents are incorporated by reference in their entireties. The attenuators  16 ,  17 , exhibit low phase discontinuity between gain steps and monotonicity is assured. The chip  10  also has a high speed CMOS serial peripheral interface (SPI)  18 , shown in detail in  FIG. 2 , and an integrated local oscillator (LO) buffer  20  that allows the chip  10  to be driven with a very low nominal −15 dBm LO signal level. The attenuators  16 ,  17  are controlled by the SPI  18 . 
     In addition, switched filters may be integrated into the converter chip  10  for image suppression, so that the filters are also controlled via the SPI  18 . Such filters would reduce the amount of attenuation required from externally provided image reject filters, and help to avoid the generation of spurious signals. 
     High or low side LO frequency signals can be used to down convert a 2 MHz to 6 GHz single ended RF signal  22  that is input to the chip  10 , to an optimized intermediate frequency (IF) of up to 1.5 GHz. IF bandwidths from very narrow to more than 100 MHz can be realized by using an appropriately selected off-chip filter. A balun  24  converts a differential IF output signal from the Gilbert cell mixer  12  to a single ended IF signal to interface with the back end of a transceiver, thus maintaining the benefits of the fully balanced mixer  12 . Control registers are memory mapped so that a companion second converter chip  10  may be controlled via the common serial interface  18 . 
       FIG. 3  shows, at the left, two RF circuit cards  30 ,  32 , that form part of a core engine (CE) of an existing JTRS transceiver having an upper frequency limit of 2 GHz. By contrast, a single RF circuit card  34  constructed according to the present invention at the right of  FIG. 3 , can replace the functionality of the two cards  30 ,  32 , in a transceiver. By employing two of the converter chips  10  on the card  34  as shown in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the size of the card can be made substantially smaller than either one of the cards  30 ,  32 . Moreover, the chips  10  enable the operating frequency range of the transceiver to be extended well beyond the present JTRS limit of 2 GHz. 
     Advantages of the inventive RF circuit card  34  with respect to the prior cards  30 ,  32 , include: 
     1. A controlled 30 dB range of attenuation for each of the two attenuators  16 ,  17 , on the converter chip  10 , for a total range of controlled attenuation of 60 dB. 
     2. A minimum attenuator step size of 0.125 dB with +/−0.2 dB accuracy across the 6 GHz range of transceiver operation. See the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 7,911,293, incorporated by reference. 
     3. An input third intercept point (IP3) of +20 dBm. 
     4. A noise figure of 13 dB or less. 
     5. Receiver P1 dB out&gt;+5 dBm 
     6. The SPI interface  18  in each chip  10  enables digital control of all the chip functions. 
     7. The transimpedance amplifier input stage mixers on each chip  10  provide high linearity. See the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 8,089,309, incorporated by reference. 
     8. Lower power consumption. 
     9. A lower parts count, and higher integration of components inside each chip  10 . 
     10. Lower LO drive due to the built in buffer amplifier  20  in each chip  10 . Lower LO drive means lower power consumption relative to the prior CE in which a drive of +10 dBm was required. Also, less interference and harmonics are generated with the reduced LO drive power. 
     11. Digital automatic gain control (AGC) in each chip ensures reliable digital control over a 60 dB dynamic range, without external digital-to-analog converters and signal paths leading to discrete components which can produce interference. The thermometer controlled attenuators in each chip  10  ensure proper attenuation at temperature extremes, thus removing or relieving the need for elaborate temperature calibration tables. 
     12. A high power IF amplifier in the back end of the receiver (Rx) chain reduces the need for a high power amplification stage before an analog-to-digital (ADC) section. The prior CE uses a variable gain amplifier which represents a tradeoff between gain and IP3, a non-desirable situation when detecting OFDM waveforms. 
     13. The transmitter (Tx) chain on the card  34  is more isolated overall from the Rx chain. In the prior CE, components and stages had to be shared in order to allow the radio to be packaged and mounted within the specified space. Additional isolation is also obtained by physically separating the two converter chips  10  which function as first and second IF stage mixers on the card  34 . And since the size of each chip package may be as small as 3 mm×3 mm, component sharing is not necessary and more isolation between the Tx and the Rx chains is achieved. 
       FIGS. 4 and 5  are schematic diagrams of the RF circuit card  34  showing the chips  10  employed as first and second IF stage converters. Examples 1 and 2, below, describe the operation of the card  34  including the chips  10  and other components when the CE is tuned to an RF input signal  42  of, e.g., 1.7 GHz ( FIG. 4 ), and 5.9 GHz ( FIG. 5 ). In addition to the chips  10 , other features that allow the receive frequency range to be extended are separately packaged, commercial off the shelf (COTS) components such as RF switches and surface acoustic wave (SAW) RF bandpass filters. The transmit frequency range is extended to 6 GHz by the use of separate GaN RF pre-amplifier and final amplifier gain stages. 
     EXAMPLE ONE 
     FIG.  4   
     Operation of Rx Chain to Receive and Down Convert a 1.7 GHz RF Signal 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic block diagram of the inventive RF circuit card  34 , illustrating the operation of a Rx chain  40  in the card when an associated CE module or transceiver is tuned to receive a RF signal  42  at a frequency of 1.7 GHz. 
     A field programmable gate array (FPGA) in the transceiver is configured to accept a command for tuning the receiver to a desired frequency, for example, 1.7 GHz. A 1 to 2 GHz filter table is accessed, the appropriate 1000-2000 MHz front end (FE) filter  44  is selected from among a stack  45  of, e.g., five SAW filters, and the filter  44  is switched into the Rx chain  40  by a pair of electronically controlled switches shown in  FIG. 4 . A control value that tunes the filter  44  to 1.7 GHz is recalled, and the value is applied to a tuning port of the FE filter  44  by a DAC. 
     A high IP3 low noise amplifier (LNA)  46  appropriate for the desired frequency of 1.7 GHz, is selected from among a bank of two LNAs and the amplifier  46  is switched into the Rx chain  40 . A first one of the chips  10  functions as a first IF conversion stage  48 , and the chip receives a word via its SPI  18  corresponding to a nominal receive AGC level for tuning each of the internal attenuators  16 ,  17 , over a 30 dB range. The initial AGC value is based on an estimate of the SNR made at back end processing stages of the receiver, and is written in a calibration table that is preferably stored in a ferromagnetic RAM (FRAM) of the receiver. 
     A fractional synthesizer  50  is configured to produce a first local oscillator signal to drive the mixer  12  in the first conversion stage chip  10 . A preferred synthesizer  50  is type ADC  4350  available from Analog Devices, or equivalent. The synthesizer  50  is tuned to produce the first LO signal at a frequency equal to a first intermediate frequency (IF) specified for the transceiver (e.g., 455 MHz) plus the frequency of the RF signal  42  to be received, i.e., 455+1700=2155 MHz. A 225-500 MHz image reject filter  52  is switch-selected from a stack  53  of two SAW filters following the first conversion stage  48 . The filter  52  is then tuned to the specified first IF signal frequency of 455 MHz, thus allowing the down converted RF signal  42  to pass while rejecting all undesired sidebands. 
     The output of the filter  52  is operatively connected through a switch to an input of a second chip  10  that functions as a second IF conversion stage  60 . A fractional synthesizer  62  (e.g., type ADC  4350 ) is configured to produce a second LO signal for driving the mixer  12  in the second chip  10  at such a frequency so that the difference between the first IF of 455 MHz and the frequency of the second LO signal is equal to a second IF (e.g., 70 MHz) specified for the transceiver. The built in 30 dB attenuators  16 ,  17 , of the second chip  10  are then tuned to a precalibrated AGC value to produce a particular SNR for a detected baseband waveform. 
     After the second IF conversion stage  60 , an appropriate bandwidth (BW) filter that is centered at the second IF frequency of 70 MHz, is selected from among a stack  70  of SAW filters. The stack  70  may include, e.g., four filters having bandwidths of 25 KHz, 1.2 MHz, 5 MHz, and 30 MHz. The filter selection is made in response to a control command from a waveform FPGA in the transceiver, and corresponds to the bandwidth of a particular waveform to be detected from the downconverted RF signal  42 . Following the filter stack  70 , a single ended to differential high IP3 gain stage  80  operates to amplify the BW filtered IF signal, and to buffer the signal before it is applied to an ADC  90  for further processing at the back end of the transceiver. 
     EXAMPLE TWO 
     FIG.  5   
     Operation of Rx Chain to Receive and Down Convert a 5.9 GHz RF Signal 
     When the transceiver FPGA accepts a command to tune the radio to 5.9 GHz, a 4-6 GHz stripline tunable filter table is accessed, an appropriate 4 GHz-6 GHz FE filter  92  is selected, and a DAC control value that is operative to tune the filter  92  to 5.9 GHz is recalled. The control value is applied to the tuning port of the FE filter  92 , and a proper LNA  96  for the operating frequency is switch selected. 
     The chip  10  of the first conversion stage  48  is given a word via its SPI  18  corresponding to a nominal receive AGC level for tuning each of the internal attenuators  16 ,  17 , over a 30 dB range. The initial AGC value is based on an estimate of the SNR at the back end processing of the transceiver and may be part of a calibration table stored in the FRAM of the receiver. The fractional synthesizer  50  of the first conversion stage  48  is tuned to output a LO signal at a frequency of the first IF (455 MHZ) plus the frequency of the desired RF signal (5900 MHZ), or 6355 MHZ. The 225-500 MHZ image reject filter  52  that follows the first conversion stage  48  is then tuned to the first IF of 455 MHZ, thus allowing the down converted RF signal  42  to pass while rejecting all undesired sidebands. 
     The output of the filter  52  is applied through a switch to an input of the second chip  10  that functions as the second IF conversion stage  60 . The synthesizer  62  is tuned to output a LO signal to the mixer in the chip  10  at such a frequency so that the difference between the first IF of 455 MHz and the frequency of the second LO signal is equal to the second IF (e.g., 70 MHz) specified for the transceiver. The built in 30 dB attenuators  16 ,  17 , of the second chip  10  are then tuned to a precalibrated AGC value to produce a particular SNR for a detected baseband waveform. 
     As in Example One, after the second IF conversion stage  60 , an appropriate bandwidth (BW) filter centered at the second IF frequency of 70 MHz is selected from among the stack  70  of SAW filters whose bandwidths may include, e.g., 25 KHz, 1.2 MHz, 5 MHz, and 30 MHz. The filter selection is made in response to a control command from a waveform FPGA in the transceiver, and corresponds to the bandwidth of the particular waveform to be detected from the RF signal  42 . Following the filter stack  70 , the single ended to differential high IP3 gain stage  80  amplifies the BW filtered IF signal, and buffers the signal before it enters to an ADC  90  for further processing. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the provision of the two IC converter chips  10  with integrated amplifiers, mixers, and attenuators in the Rx chain of a transceiver, together with the application of GaN technology in the transmit chain, can extend the upper operating frequency of the radio as high as 6 GHz and thus support important new and emerging wideband networking waveforms. 
     While the foregoing represents preferred embodiments of the invention, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes, modifications, and additions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that the present invention includes all such changes and modifications as are within the scope of the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7