JP2015143642A - Device and method for signal analysis - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and method for signal analysis, capable of reducing a lag in start time for measuring a signal under measurement by reducing a time lag between input timing of a trigger signal and latch timing of the trigger signal.SOLUTION: In a signal analysis device, a phase shift unit 42 shifts the phase of a reference clock generated by a clock generator unit 41 by a plurality of different amounts. A latch unit 43, 46 latches an input trigger signal using each of the clocks phase-shifted by the phase shift unit 42, and outputs resultant latched trigger signals in synchronization with the reference clock. A determination unit 44 determines input timing of the trigger signal using the output signal from the latch unit. The input timing of the trigger signal can thus be determined with a resolution as small as the phase difference, enabling reduction of a lag in start time for measuring a signal under measurement.

Description

  The present invention relates to a signal analysis apparatus and a signal analysis method for analyzing signal frequency, power, and the like.

  In general, there is an apparatus that receives a signal such as a radio wave emitted from a wireless device, etc., analyzes its frequency component and power, and measures the change with time. For example, a signal analysis device (signal analysis device) described in Patent Document 1 displays a spectrum indicating a frequency component within a range desired by a user on a display unit, or power within a range desired by a user. Is provided with a display control unit that displays a spectrogram indicating a change in the magnitude of the power on the display unit (see, for example, paragraphs [0008] and [0026] of Patent Document 1).

  By the way, the signal analyzing apparatus as described above, for example, uses a trigger signal when the signal under measurement (signal to be analyzed) input to the signal analyzing apparatus is converted into digital data and displayed on the display unit. Based on this, it is converted into digital data and a signal is displayed on the display unit. The trigger signal is generated by a signal generator connected to a signal analyzer such as a function generator.

JP 2009-250719 A

  However, there may be a difference between the input timing of a trigger signal to a control unit such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) in the signal analyzer and the timing of latching the trigger signal. The magnitude of this timing shift is determined by the operation clock of the control unit. That is, as the time resolution for the control unit to latch the trigger signal is lower, the deviation becomes larger. When such a deviation becomes large, for example, the actual measurement start time is delayed from the measurement start time of the signal assumed by the user.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a signal analysis apparatus and a signal analysis method capable of reducing the deviation of the measurement start time of the signal under measurement by reducing the deviation between the trigger signal input timing and the latch timing of the trigger signal. It is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the signal analysis apparatus according to claim 1 is configured such that an RF unit 10 that receives a signal under measurement, a clock generation unit 41 that generates a reference clock, and a plurality of different phases of the reference clock. A phase shift unit 42 that shifts by a shift amount, and an input trigger signal are latched by respective clocks whose phases are shifted by the phase shift unit, and each latch trigger signal obtained by the latching is latched by the reference clock The latch units 43 and 46 that output at the timing according to the above, the determination unit 44 that determines the input timing of the trigger signal based on the output latch trigger signal, and the input timing of the trigger signal that is determined by the determination unit, And an analysis processing unit 20 for starting measurement of the signal under measurement received by the RF unit.

  In such a signal analyzing apparatus, the latch unit latches the input trigger signal with clocks having different shift amounts (that is, phase differences) (including 0 ° or not including 0 °). Thus, a latch trigger signal having a resolution of phase difference with respect to the reference clock can be generated. Thereby, the determination unit can determine the input timing of the trigger signal with the resolution of the phase difference. As a result, the difference between the trigger signal input timing and the latch timing of the trigger signal can be reduced.

  The signal analysis device according to claim 2 is the signal analysis device according to claim 1, wherein when the phase difference, which is the phase shift amount by the phase shift unit, is 360 ° / n, the latch unit , Having a first latch element group 61 including n first latch elements.

  The signal analysis device according to claim 3 is the signal analysis device according to claim 2, wherein the latch unit includes a second latch element group 62 including n second latch elements, An output signal from each of the first latch elements and the reference clock are input to the second latch element, respectively.

The signal analysis device according to claim 4 is the signal analysis device according to claim 1, wherein the latch unit delays each latch trigger signal from the phase of each clock generated by the phase shift unit. It has a delay latch element group 63 that latches at the timing of the phase clock.
By providing the delay latch element group, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of the determination error of the determination unit due to the rising purity of the trigger signal. Further, determination errors due to device setup time and hold time can be suppressed.

  The signal analysis device according to claim 5 is the signal analysis device according to claim 4, wherein when the phase difference that is the phase shift amount by the phase shift unit is 360 ° / n, the latch unit is , Having a first latch element group including n first latch elements, wherein the delay latch element group receives at least n output signals from the first latch elements as input signals. It has a latch element.

  The signal analysis device according to claim 6 is the signal analysis device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the determination unit is the number of the latch trigger signals obtained by the latch unit using the reference clock. The trigger signal input timing is determined according to the above.

The signal analysis device according to claim 7 is the signal analysis device according to claim 6, wherein the value of the digital data of each latch trigger signal obtained by the latch unit is from the value of the minimum digit to the value of the maximum digit. If the value fluctuates twice or more in the meantime, the determination unit includes a correction unit that performs correction to replace the value with a predetermined value that fluctuates once or less between the minimum digit value and the maximum digit value. It is characterized by having.
As a result, a value that should not be detected and fluctuates twice or more between the minimum digit side and the maximum digit is replaced with a value that should be detected, and the detected value falls within a predetermined allowable error range. Can be a value.

  To achieve the above object, the signal analysis method according to claim 8 receives a signal under measurement, generates a reference clock, and shifts and inputs the phase of the reference clock by a plurality of different shift amounts. A trigger signal is latched with each clock whose phase is shifted, and each latch trigger signal obtained by the latch is output at a timing based on the reference clock. Based on the output latch trigger signal, the trigger signal is output. And the measurement of the received signal under measurement is started at the determined input timing of the trigger signal.

  As described above, according to the signal analysis device and the signal analysis method according to the present invention, the deviation in the measurement start time of the signal under measurement is reduced by reducing the deviation between the input timing of the trigger signal and the latch timing of the trigger signal. be able to.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the signal analyzing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the signal analysis apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 shows sampling timing when the control unit generates digital data of the RF signal based on the trigger signal. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the control unit. FIG. 5 shows a clock signal output from the phase shift unit. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the latch unit. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing of the control unit. FIG. 8 shows a signal generated by the latch unit when the input timing of the trigger signal is smaller than 90 ° from the phase delay from t1. FIG. 9 shows a signal generated by the latch unit when the input timing of the trigger signal is smaller than the phase delay 180 ° from t1. FIG. 10 shows a signal generated by the latch unit when the input timing of the trigger signal is smaller than the phase delay 270 ° from t1. FIG. 11 shows a signal generated by the latch unit when the input timing of the trigger signal is smaller than the phase delay 360 ° from t1. FIG. 12 is a graph conceptually showing the effect of this embodiment. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the latch unit of the signal analyzing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 shows a latch trigger signal generated by the first latch element group. FIG. 15 shows a latch trigger signal generated by the preceding latch element of the delay latch element group. FIG. 16 shows a latch trigger signal generated by a latch element in the latter stage of the delay latch element group. FIG. 17 shows a latch trigger signal generated by the second latch element group. 18A and 18B show the relationship between the trigger actual input time and the trigger deviation detection amount. FIG. 19 is another diagram illustrating the state of FIG. 18B in which an overlapping region is generated by two transition regions. FIG. 20 shows a state where an overlapping region is generated by three transition regions. FIG. 21 is a table showing values that can be taken by the output from the second latch element group.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1. First embodiment

1) Configuration of Signal Analysis Device FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a signal analysis device (SA: Signal (Spectrum) Analyzer) according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The signal analysis apparatus SA includes an RF unit 10, an A / D conversion unit 21, an analysis processing unit 20, a display unit 30, and a control unit 40 in a casing 50. The casing 50 includes an operation unit 45 and a trigger signal. An input terminal 48 is provided.

  The RF unit 10 includes a sweep unit 11, a local signal generation unit 12, and a mixer unit 13, and receives an input RF signal.

The local signal generation unit 12 receives an instruction of the center frequency f _c of the measurement frequency from the control unit 40 via the sweep unit 11, oscillates a local signal of the local frequency (f _c + f _IF ), and sends it to the mixer unit 13. It is like that.

The mixer unit 13 mixes the input RF signal and the local signal (or reference frequency signal) of the local frequency (f _c + f _IF ), and converts them to a signal of the intermediate frequency (f _IF ± ΔF _Max / 2). Thus, the intermediate frequency signal is sent to the A / D converter 21.

The A / D conversion unit 21 converts the intermediate frequency signal (frequency: f _IF ± ΔF _Max / 2) output from the RF unit 10 into digital data with a predetermined clock from the control unit 40.

  The control unit 40 controls the entire signal analysis device SA. In particular, the control unit 40 receives a trigger signal input from the trigger signal input terminal 48 and starts measurement processing (analysis processing) of the signal under measurement by the RF unit 10 and the analysis processing unit 20 as will be described later. The timing is controlled. The control unit 40 controls the display timing of the signal analysis result on the display unit 30.

  The analysis processing unit 20 includes, for example, an original data storage unit 22, a processing unit 23, a detection unit 24, a log conversion unit 25, and a storage unit 26, and performs signal analysis processing on an input RF signal.

  The original data storage unit 22 stores the digital data (amplitude value) output from the A / D conversion unit 21 in the memory area with the measurement frequency and the elapsed time of the clock as an address by using a write signal at almost the same timing as the clock. It is supposed to be. The stored digital data is so-called time domain data.

  The processing unit 23 receives the measurement frequency fv and the measurement time tv received from the operation unit 45, and reads the corresponding measurement frequency and time domain data (digital data) of the clock elapsed time from the original data storage unit 22. It has become.

  Then, the processing unit 23 performs, for example, FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) processing on the received time domain data at a predetermined time interval to convert it into frequency domain data, and within the measurement bandwidth ΔF specified by the operation unit 45. Each frequency component and its size are calculated with a desired resolution bandwidth (RBW).

  At this time, the processing unit 23 stores, as original data, time domain data corresponding to the time window ΔT (ΔT ≧ Δt) at each processing timing from the time domain data of the measurement frequency, where Δt is the time interval of the timing of the FFT processing. The data is read from the unit 22 and subjected to FFT processing.

  Then, the processing unit 23 repeatedly performs the FFT processing until the measurement time reaches tv while shifting the processing timing by the time interval T by one interval Δt. That is, the processing unit 23 reads the time domain data between ± ΔT / 2 centered on the time position (address) m × Δt at a timing of m × Δt (for example, m is 1 to tv / Δt) and performs FFT. The calculation is repeated until m = tv / Δt.

  The time window ΔT is a time sufficient to convert time domain data into frequency domain data. In an extreme example, even if time domain data that is less than one cycle is converted into frequency domain data, the frequency may not be specified with good resolution. Note that the timing time interval Δt may be the same cycle as the clock of the A / D converter 21.

  In the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1, the analysis processing unit 20 performs the FFT process. However, this is merely an example, and the processing method of the analysis processing unit 20 is not limited to the FFT process. For example, the analysis processing unit 20 may perform modulation analysis, or may perform processing such as Power vs Time, Frequency vs Time, Phase vs Time, and the like. That is, these analysis processing methods can also be applied to the present invention. Note that these analysis processing methods are methods that can be understood by those skilled in the art of signal analysis devices, and therefore their details are omitted.

  The detector 24 converts the magnitude of each frequency component into an effective value, an average value, or a peak value and outputs it. Hereinafter, this is referred to as “power”. The log conversion unit 25 compresses the output from the detection unit 24 logarithmically and sends it to the storage unit 26.

  For example, the storage unit 26 stores the power of the corresponding frequency component in a memory area in which one address is the measurement frequency fv and the other address is the elapse of the measurement time tv.

  The display unit 30 displays the power of each component of the measurement frequency stored in the storage unit 26 as a color parameter, for example, at coordinates with the measurement frequency as the vertical axis and the measurement time as the horizontal axis.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the signal analyzing apparatus SA according to the present embodiment.

  The signal analyzing device SA mainly includes an RF / IF circuit 10 ′, an ADC (AD converter) 21 ′, and an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) 65.

  The RF / IF circuit 10 ′ is a circuit that mainly realizes the RF unit 10. Further, the RF / IF circuit 10 ′ is configured to receive an RF signal as a signal under measurement and also to receive the signal under measurement, for example, by a wired connection.

  The ADC 21 ′ is a circuit that realizes the above-described A / D conversion unit 21. The FPGA 65 is a circuit that implements each element of the analysis processing unit 20 other than the A / D conversion unit 21 and the control unit 40.

2) Delay time by SA internal path Due to the internal path of the signal analyzer SA, a delay time is generated from the input to the signal analyzer SA until the FPGA 65 or ADC 21 'processes. For example RF signal RF / IF circuit 10 'reception processing is input to is performed, ADC 21' delay time t _a before it is input to occur. On the other hand, the trigger signal input through the trigger signal input terminal 48 to the signal analyzer SA delay time t _b until the input is generated in FPGA65.

  Here, it is assumed that the RF signal and the trigger signal as shown in FIG. 3 are input to the RF / IF circuit 10 ′ and the trigger signal input terminal 48, respectively. At this time, the sampling timing when the ADC 21 ′ generates digital data by the clock of the FPGA 65 is considered.

  The sampling timing is indicated by black circles (sampling points) on the RF signal and the trigger signal. As can be seen from this figure, the timing at which the sampling point captures (latches) each trigger signal may be delayed from the actual rise timing of the trigger signal.

t _d indicates the time difference between the actual rise timing of the trigger signal and the latch timing. This t _d is determined by the sampling frequency, that is, the clock frequency of the FPGA 65 that latches the trigger. For example, when the clock frequency is 100 MHz, the maximum Max (t _d ) can be expressed by the following equation.

Max (t _d ) = (1 / 100M) + t _s = 10 [ns] + t _s

t _s is a set-up time, the time it takes to finish rising from the start of the rise of the trigger signal. From the above equation, the above t _d takes the following range.

t _s ≤t _d <10 [ns] + t _s

It is not known which value t _d takes in this range until the trigger signal is input. This value t _d is determined by the temporal accuracy of the trigger signal. When the latch frequency (clock frequency) is 100 MHz, an error of ± 5 [ns] occurs. This error distribution is considered to be a uniform distribution with an average value of 5 [ns].

Frequency of the latch, i.e. without changing the clock frequency of the FPGA65, if it is possible to improve the temporal accuracy of the trigger signal, it is possible to reduce the t _d, it can be expected to be able to measure signal with high accuracy.

The difference between the delay time t _a from the input end of the RF signal analyzer SA to the input end of the ADC 21 ′ and the delay time t _b from the trigger signal input terminal 48 of the trigger signal to the input end of the FPGA 65. Since t _a -t _b is corrected by a separate means, this is not mentioned in this specification.

3) Means and Method for Realizing High Resolution of Trigger Signal FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the control unit 40. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing of the control unit 40. Below, the structure of the control part 40 is demonstrated in order of the step of each process of the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The control unit 40 includes a clock generation unit 41, a phase shift unit 42, a latch unit 43, and a determination unit 44.

  The clock generator 41 generates an operation clock (reference clock) for the FPGA 65 (step 101). This operation clock is defined as a clock clk. As described above, the clock clk has a frequency on the order of MHz, such as 100 MHz.

  The phase shift unit 42 shifts the phase of the clock clk generated by the clock generation unit 41 by a plurality of different shift amounts (step 102). For example, the phase shift unit 42 outputs clocks clk_0, clk_90, clk_180, and clk_270 that are shifted by 90 ° as shift amounts.

  FIG. 5 shows signals of the clocks clk_0, clk_90, clk_180, clk_270 output from the phase shift unit 42.

The phase of clock clk_0 is the same as clock clk
The phase of the clock clk_90 is 90 ° behind the clock clk,
The phase of the clock clk_180 is 180 ° behind the clock clk,
The phase of the clock clk_270 is delayed by 270 ° from the clock clk.

  The configuration of the phase shift unit 42 can be realized by various known configurations. For example, the phase shift unit 42 can be realized by using a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) function in the FPGA 65. Although the case where the number of clock divisions is 4 is shown here, it may be 2 or 3, or 5 or more. If the number of clock divisions is n, the phase difference of each clock can be expressed as 360 ° / n.

  The latch unit 43 latches the input trigger signal trg with the respective clocks clk_0, clk_90, clk_180, and clk_270 whose phases are shifted by the phase shift unit 42 (step 103). Then, the latch unit 43 outputs each latch trigger signal obtained by latching at the timing of latching by the clock clk (step 104).

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the latch unit 43. The latch unit 43 includes a first latch element group 61 and a second latch element group 62 provided in the subsequent stage. The first latch element group 61 includes, for example, four latch elements 61a, 61b, 61c, and 61d as n first latch elements. The second latch element group 62 also includes, for example, four latch elements 62a, 62b, 62c, and 62d as n second latch elements. These latch elements are composed of, for example, a D-FF (Delay Flip-Flop) element. The number of latch elements (first latch elements) included in the latch element group corresponds to the number of clock divisions n described above.

The clock clk_0 is input to the clock input terminal of the latch element 61a.
The clock clk_90 is input to the clock input terminal of the latch element 61b.
The clock clk_180 is input to the clock input terminal of the latch element 61c.
The clock clk_270 is input to the clock input terminal of the latch element 61d.
The trigger signal trg is input to the D terminals of all the latch elements.

  The latch elements 61a, 61b, 61c, and 61d output the latch trigger signals trg1_ltc0, trg1_ltc90, trg1_ltc180, and trg1_ltc270 by latching the trigger signal trg input to the D terminal with the respective clocks clk_0, clk_90, clk_180, and clk_270. (See FIG. 8).

  The latch trigger signals trg1_ltc0, trg1_ltc90, trg1_ltc180, and trg1_ltc270 are input to the D terminals of the latch elements 62a, 62b, 62c, and 62d, respectively. Then, the latch elements 62a, 62b, 62c, and 62d respectively extract these latch trigger signals with the original clock clk. Thereby, the second latch element group 62 outputs latch trigger signals trg2_ltc0, trg2_ltc90, trg2_ltc180, trg2_ltc270 (see FIG. 8).

  These latch trigger signals are input to the determination unit 44 as signals to be determined. The determination unit 44 determines the input timing of the trigger signal trg based on the acquired determination target signal (step 105). The control unit 40 starts processing by the analysis processing unit 20, that is, measurement of the signal under measurement, at the input timing of the high-resolution trigger signal trg obtained by the determination unit 44.

4) Signal generated by the latch unit a) When the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is after the rising timing t1 of the clock clk and is smaller than 90 ° from the phase delay from t1

  FIG. 8 shows a signal generated by the latch unit 43 when the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is after the rising timing t1 of the clock clk and is smaller than 90 ° from the phase delay from t1.

  Of the latch trigger signals trg1_ltc0, trg1_ltc90, trg1_ltc180, trg1_ltc270 output from the first latch element group 61, the latch trigger signal trg1_ltc0 is latched with the latest delay. This is because the clock clk_0 requires the longest time (one clock) from the timing t1 to the timing t2 which is the next rising edge of the timing t1.

  On the other hand, since the trigger signal trg is input to the latch unit 43 with a delay smaller than 90 ° from the timing t1, the clock clk_90 can latch the trigger signal trg earliest from the timing t1. That is, the latch trigger signal trg1_ltc90 rises earliest.

  Of the latch trigger signals trg2_ltc0_1, trg2_ltc0_2, trg2_ltc0_3, trg2_ltc0_4 output from the second latch element group 62, the latch trigger signal trg2_ltc0_1 is latched with the latest delay. The other latch trigger signals trg2_ltc0_2, trg2_ltc0_3, trg2_ltc0_4 are latched at timing t2. As a result, an output “0111” is obtained at the timing t2.

  The signal to be determined is “3” corresponding to the addition of the latch trigger signals trg2_ltc0_2, trg2_ltc0_3, trg2_ltc0_4 latched at the timing t2. The determination unit 44 generates a determination result corresponding to “3” using, for example, a logic circuit (not shown). The determination result corresponding to “3” means that the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is t1 ≦ tg <t1 + 90 °.

  b) When the input timing of the trigger signal trg is 90 ° or more in phase delay from the rising timing t1 of the clock clk and smaller than 180 °

  FIG. 9 shows a signal generated by the latch unit 43 when the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is 90 ° or more in phase delay from the rising timing t1 of the clock clk and smaller than 180 °.

  Of the latch trigger signals trg1_ltc0, trg1_ltc90, trg1_ltc180, trg1_ltc270 output from the first latch element group 61, the latch trigger signal trg1_ltc90 is latched with the latest delay. Then, the latch trigger signal trg1_ltc0 is latched later. On the other hand, the clock signal clk_180 can latch the trigger signal trg earliest from the timing t1. That is, the latch trigger signal trg1_ltc180 rises earliest.

  Among the latch trigger signals trg2_ltc0_1, trg2_ltc0_2, trg2_ltc0_3, trg2_ltc0_4 output from the second latch element group 62, the latch trigger signals trg2_ltc0_1, trg2_ltc0_2 are latched with the latest delay. The other latch trigger signals trg2_ltc0_3, trg2_ltc0_4 are latched at timing t2. As a result, an output of “0011” is obtained at timing t2.

  The signal to be determined is “2”, which is the sum of the latch trigger signals trg2_ltc0_2 and trg2_ltc0_3 latched at timing t2. The determination unit 44 generates a determination result corresponding to “2”. The determination result corresponding to “2” means that the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is t1 + 90 ° ≦ tg <t1 + 180 °.

  c) When the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is 180 ° or more in phase delay from the rising timing t1 of the clock clk and is smaller than 270 °

  FIG. 10 shows a signal generated by the latch unit 43 when the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is 180 ° or more and smaller than 270 ° from the rising timing t1 of the clock clk. In this case, based on the same principle as described above, the determination unit 44 obtains a determination result of “0001” at timing t2.

  In this case, the determination target signal is “1” corresponding to the output of the latch trigger signal trg2_ltc0_4 latched at the timing t2. The determination unit 44 generates a determination result corresponding to “1”. The determination result corresponding to “1” is that the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is t1 + 180 ° ≦ tg <t1 + 270 °.

  d) When the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is 270 ° or more in phase delay from the rising timing t1 of the clock clk and smaller than 360 °

  In this case, as shown in FIG. 11, the determination result “0000” is obtained based on the same principle. The determination result corresponding to the output “0” of the latch trigger signal is that the input timing tg of the trigger signal trg is t1 + 270 ° ≦ tg <t1 + 360 °.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the phase shift unit 42 generates the clocks clk_0, clk_90, clk_180, and clk_270 having a plurality of shift amounts (that is, phase differences) different from each other. Then, the latch unit 43 latches the trigger signal trg with the clocks clk_0, clk_90, clk_180, and clk_270, respectively. Thereby, it is possible to generate the latch trigger signals trg1_ltc0, trg1_ltc90, trg1_ltc180, trg1_ltc270 having the resolution of the phase difference with respect to the clock clk. That is, a resolution of clock clk × n can be obtained.

  Therefore, the determination unit 44 can determine the input timing of the trigger signal trg with the resolution of the phase difference. As a result, the deviation between the trigger signal input timing and the trigger signal latch timing can be reduced, and the control unit 40 starts measuring the signal under measurement at the input timing of the high-resolution trigger signal trg. Can do. That is, the error in the measurement start time can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, high resolution can be obtained without using an expensive ADC or FPGA device having a high-speed operation clock of GHz level.

  FIG. 12 is a graph conceptually showing the effect of this embodiment. The horizontal axis indicates the actual trigger input time (actual input timing), and the vertical axis indicates the trigger detection time. This graph shows that four divided clocks of clk_0, clk_90, clk_180, and clk_270 are input and four triggers are detected while one clock indicated by a broken line is input and the trigger is detected. . That is, since n = 4 in this embodiment, it is possible to obtain a resolution that is four times the resolution of the clock clk. By increasing n, higher resolution can be obtained. As n which a real product can take, it is n = 8-16, for example.

In particular, in a communication system using MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) technology, an error in transmission timing transmitted from two transmission antennas is defined as 65 ns or less. In addition, an error (measurement error) of a measurement device that receives the signal (for example, a signal analysis device SA as in the present embodiment) is defined by the standard as 25 ns. As described above, if the time difference t _d can be kept within the error range of 10 ns, the measurement error range of 25 ns can be sufficiently cleared.

  2. Second embodiment

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following description, description of the same hardware and functional blocks of the signal analysis apparatus SA according to the first embodiment will be simplified or omitted, and different points will be mainly described.

1) Configuration of Latch Unit FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the latch unit 46 according to the present embodiment. The latch unit 46 includes a delay latch element group 63 between the first latch element group 61 and the second latch element group 62. The delay latch element group 63 outputs an output signal from the first latch element group 61 at a timing based on a clock having a phase delayed from the phase of each of the clocks clk_0, clk_90, clk_180, and clk_270 generated by the phase shift unit 42. Latch.

  Specifically, the delay latch element group 63 includes latch elements 63a, 63b, 63c, and 63d that acquire latch trigger signals from the latch elements 61a, 61b, 61c, and 61d, respectively. The delay latch element group 63 includes latch elements 64a, 64b, 64c, and 64d that acquire the latch trigger signals from the latch elements 63a, 63b, 63c, and 63d, respectively.

The clock clk is input to each clock input terminal of the latch elements 63a, 63b, 64a, 64b, and 64c.
The clock clk_90 is input to each clock input terminal of the latch elements 63c, 63d, and 64d.
The clock clk_180 is input to the clock input terminal of the latch element 63d.

2) Signal Generated by Latch Unit Hereinafter, for example, the case where the input timing of the trigger signal trg is after the rising timing t1 of the clock clk and is smaller than the phase delay 90 ° from t1 (see FIG. 8) will be described. .

  In this case, latch trigger signals trg1_ltc0, trg1_ltc90, trg1_ltc180, trg1_ltc270 obtained by latching by the latch elements 61a, 61b, 61c, 61d are as shown in FIG. This is the same as that shown in FIG.

  15 illustrates latch trigger signals trg2_ltc0_1, trg2_ltc0_2, trg2_ltc90, and trg2_ltc180 obtained by latching the latch trigger signals trg1_ltc0, trg1_ltc90, trg1_ltc180, and trg1_ltc270 by being input to the latch elements 63a, 63b, 63c, and 63d.

  16 shows latch trigger signals trg3_ltc0_1, trg3_ltc0_2, trg3_ltc3_ltc3_ltc3_ltg3_ltc3_ltc3_ltc0_3, and trg3_ltc0_1, trg2_ltc0_2, trg2_ltc90, trg2_ltc180 inputted to the latch elements 64a, 64b, 64c, 64d and latched.

  17 shows latch trigger signals trg4_ltc0_1, trg4_ltc0_2, trg4_ltc0_3, and trg4_ltc0_3, which are obtained by latching the latch trigger signals trg3_ltc0_1, trg3_ltc0_2, trg3_ltc0_3, trg3_ltc90 inputted to the latch elements 62a, 62b, 62c, 62d. The value output from the second latch element group 62 is the same as the value output from the second latch element group 62 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  The above operation has been described for the case where the trigger signal trg input timing is t1 ≦ tg <t1 + 90 °, but t1 + 90 ° ≦ tg <t1 + 180 °, t1 + 180 ° ≦ tg <t1 + 270 In the case of °, t1 + 180 ° ≦ tg <t1 + 360 °, the latch unit 46 operates on the same principle.

  The reason for providing the delay latch element group 63 is as follows.

  For example, attention is focused on the latch trigger signal trg1_ltc270 shown in FIG. The latch element 62d latches the input timing of the latch trigger signal trg1_ltc270 at the next rising timing t2 of the clock clk_0. Here, when the purity of the latch trigger signal trg1_ltc270 is low (steep rise is low), there is a possibility that it cannot be latched at the timing t2.

  Therefore, as shown in the circled portion of the broken line in FIG. 15, the latch element 63d in the delay latch element group 63 is latched by a clock whose phase is delayed from the clock clk_0, for example, the clock clk_180. Can be reliably latched. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of the determination error of the determination part 44 resulting from the purity of the rising of a trigger signal can be suppressed. Further, determination errors due to device setup time and hold time can be suppressed.

  3. Third embodiment

  Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 18A shows the relationship between the trigger actual input time and the trigger deviation detection amount in the first or second embodiment. The horizontal axis corresponds to the rising shape of the trigger signal. The vertical axis corresponds to the added value (determined signal) of the output from each of the latch elements 62a to 62d (see FIG. 6 or 13) when the division number n of the clock clk is 4 as described above.

  The transition area S indicated by hatching is an area indicating the steepness of the rising edge of the trigger signal. The steeper the horizontal width of the transition area S is expressed. As shown in FIG. 18B, the slower the rise of the trigger signal, the wider the transition region S. If the transition region S is too wide, a region S ′ where the transition regions S overlap is generated. In this overlapping region S ′, the obtained bit becomes unstable. For example, in the overlapping region S ′ where the transition regions S1 and S2 overlap, the value within the range of the vertical arrow, that is, four values “0000”, “0001”, “0010”, and “0011” can be taken.

  FIG. 19 is another diagram showing the state of FIG. 18B. For example, even if the value that should be detected originally is “0001”, 0 and 1 are not fixed in the transition regions S1 to S4, and both 0 and 1 can be determined. Therefore, four values of “0000”, “0001”, “0010”, and “0011” may be detected at the timing indicated by the vertical broken line.

  Of these four values, “010” of “0010” is a value that fluctuates twice between the value of the minimum digit and the value of the maximum digit. This is a value that should not be detected in the algorithm of the present embodiment. Values that should be detected are “0011”, “0000”, or when the number of clock divisions is n = 8, such as “0011111”, “00000011”, etc. The value fluctuates once or less during

  FIG. 21 is a table showing values that can be taken by the outputs from the latch elements 62a to 62d. The portion indicated by hatching is a value that should not be detected originally. In the case of “0010”, the result is that the output value 0 of the latch element 62c that should be detected transitions to 1, and the output value 1 of the latch element 62d that should be detected transitions to 0. This situation is a situation where both the output values of the latch elements 62c and 62d are unstable and the bits are inverted from each other.

  Of course, the bit of one of these output values may be inverted. For example, when the value to be detected is “0001” and the output value 0 of only the latch element 62c is inverted to 1, the detected value is “0011”. When the output value 1 of only the latch element 62d is inverted to 0, the detected value is “0000”.

  From the above, when the value to be detected is “0001”, for example, the above four values including “0010” can be taken on the circuit. However, since “0010” is not a value that should be detected originally, the determination unit 44 sets three ranges “0000” = “0”, “0001” = “1”, and “0011” = “2”. It can be estimated that Specifically, in the table shown in FIG. 21, “0010” = “1 ′” is replaced with “0001” = “1”. That is, when “0010” is detected, it is assumed that it is within an allowable error range of “1” ± 1.

  Note that the determination unit 44 may replace “0010” with “0011” or “0000”.

  As described above, the determination unit 44 performs correction to replace a value that should not be detected originally with any one of the values that should be detected. In this case, the determination unit 44 functions as a “correction unit”. This correction can be realized by either a logic circuit or software.

  The resolution of the conventional technique is m [s] (= 1 / clk). Further, when the number of transition regions S that overlap at a certain timing is x (: positive integer) and n is the number of divisions of the clock clk, the resolution can be expressed by the following equation. In the following formula, when n> x, the resolution can be improved.

  m / n ± x × m / 2n [s]

  In the above example, a resolution of m / 4 ± 2 × m / (2 × 4) [s] (= 1 / (clk × 4) ± 1 / (clk × 4)) can be obtained. That is, the resolution is improved as compared with the conventional case.

  As illustrated in FIG. 21, the determination unit 44 is not limited to the case where “0010” is detected. When “0101” or “1010” is detected, “0101” = “2 ′” is set to “0011”. = Replace with “2” and replace “1010” = “3 ′” with “0111” = “3”.

  In the above example, the number of transition areas S that overlap at a certain timing is two. However, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 20, a case where the number of transition regions S that overlap at a certain timing is three is also assumed. At the timing indicated by the broken line, the output value of the latch unit 46 among eight of “0001”, “0000”, “0011”, “0010”, “0111”, “0101”, “0110”, “0100” is Anything is ready. Even in such a case, the resolution is improved to m / 4 ± 3 × m / (2 × 4) [s] (= 1 / (clk × 4) ± 3 / (clk × 8)). .

  4). Other embodiments

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and other various embodiments can be realized.

  In the signal analysis device SA according to the above embodiment, an FPGA is used. However, instead of this, another PLD (Programmable Logic Device) may be used, or a CPU (Central Processing Unit) may be used. Good.

In the above-described embodiment, the phase difference between the clocks by the phase shift unit 42 is equal. However, the phase may be shifted so that at least two phase differences have different intervals. For example, the phase shift unit 42 generates a clock division number n = n ₁ and a clock division number n = n ₂ (n ₂ is a number different from n ₁ ), or three or more types of clock divisions It is also possible to generate a clock having a number.

  In the second embodiment, for example, in the delay latch element group 63, the clock clk_90 is input to the latch element 61b and the clock clk_0 is input to the latch element 63b. That is, a clock delayed by 270 ° is sequentially input to the latch element. For example, the clock clk_90 is input to the latch element 61b, and the clock clk_180 delayed by, for example, 90 ° or 180 ° delayed to the latch element 63b. A clock clk_270 may be input. Alternatively, clocks generated with a division number different from n = 4 as described above may be input to the delay latch element group 63.

  It is also possible to combine at least two feature portions among the feature portions of each embodiment described above.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... RF part 10 '... RF / IF circuit 20 ... Analysis processing part 40 ... Control part 41 ... Clock generation part 42 ... Phase shift part 43, 46 ... Latch part 44 ... Determination part 46 ... Latch part 48 ... Trigger signal input terminal 61 ... 1st latch element group 61a-61d ... 1st latch element 62 ... 2nd latch element group 62a-62d ... 2nd latch element 63 ... 3rd latch element group 63a-63d, 64a-64d ... Latch element SA ... Signal analysis device

Claims (8)

An RF unit (10) for receiving a signal under measurement;
A clock generator (41) for generating a reference clock;
A phase shift unit (42) for shifting the phase of the reference clock by a plurality of different shift amounts;
Latch sections (43, 46) that latch the input trigger signal with the respective clocks whose phases are shifted by the phase shift section, and output the respective latch trigger signals obtained by the latch at timings based on the reference clock. )When,
A determination unit (44) for determining an input timing of the trigger signal based on the output latch trigger signal;
An analysis processing unit (20), which starts measurement of the signal under measurement received by the RF unit at the input timing of the trigger signal determined by the determination unit. The signal analysis device according to claim 1,
When the phase difference, which is the phase shift amount by the phase shift unit, is 360 ° / n, the latch unit includes a first latch element group (61) including n first latch elements. A signal analyzer characterized by the above. The signal analysis device according to claim 2,
The latch unit includes a second latch element group (62) including n second latch elements,
Each of the second latch elements is supplied with an output signal from each of the first latch elements and the reference clock. The signal analysis device according to claim 1,
The latch unit includes a delay latch element group (63) that latches each latch trigger signal at a timing based on a clock having a phase delayed from the phase of each clock generated by the phase shift unit. Signal analysis device. The signal analysis device according to claim 4,
When the phase difference, which is the phase shift amount by the phase shift unit, is 360 ° / n,
The latch unit includes a first latch element group including n first latch elements,
The delay latch element group includes at least n latch elements that receive an output signal from each of the first latch elements as an input signal. In the signal analysis device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The determination unit determines an input timing of the trigger signal according to the number of the latch trigger signals obtained by the reference clock by the latch unit. The signal analysis apparatus according to claim 6,
When the value of the digital data of each latch trigger signal obtained by the latch unit is a value that fluctuates twice or more between the minimum digit value and the maximum digit value, the determination unit sets the value to the minimum digit A signal analysis apparatus comprising: a correction unit that performs correction to replace with a predetermined value that fluctuates once or less between the value of 1 and the value of the maximum digit. Receive the signal under measurement,
Generate a reference clock,
Shifting the phase of the reference clock by a plurality of different shift amounts;
The input trigger signal is latched with each clock whose phase is shifted,
Each latch trigger signal obtained by the latch is output at a timing based on the reference clock,
Based on the output latch trigger signal, determine the input timing of the trigger signal,
The signal analysis method characterized by starting measurement of the received signal under measurement at the determined input timing of the trigger signal.

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