US20020034931A1 - Radio front-end circuit - Google Patents

Radio front-end circuit Download PDF

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Publication number
US20020034931A1
US20020034931A1 US09/998,140 US99814001A US2002034931A1 US 20020034931 A1 US20020034931 A1 US 20020034931A1 US 99814001 A US99814001 A US 99814001A US 2002034931 A1 US2002034931 A1 US 2002034931A1
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United States
Prior art keywords
mixer
amplifier
local oscillator
switch
input terminal
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Abandoned
Application number
US09/998,140
Inventor
Sven Mattisson
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Individual
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Individual
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Priority to US09/998,140 priority Critical patent/US20020034931A1/en
Publication of US20020034931A1 publication Critical patent/US20020034931A1/en
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
    • H04W52/0261—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
    • H04W52/0274—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
    • H04W52/028—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04B—TRANSMISSION
    • H04B1/00—Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
    • H04B1/06—Receivers
    • H04B1/16—Circuits
    • H04B1/26—Circuits for superheterodyne receivers
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
    • Y02D30/00—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
    • Y02D30/70—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks in wireless communication networks

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a radio front-end circuit and more specifically to a reconfigurable radio front-end circuit.
  • Radio front-end circuits are typically designed for low-noise operation. Such operation requires the transconductance-source-resistance product, g m . R S , of the input device, e.g. a bipolar or MOS transistor, of a front-end circuit to be much larger than 1. In its turn, this leads to a high current consumption as the quiescent current determines the transconductance of the input device.
  • the input device e.g. a bipolar or MOS transistor
  • the signal strength is much higher than the sensitivity level of the front-end circuit.
  • the bias of the front-end circuit could be reduced in order to lower the supply current.
  • the noise level would increase, but the signal-to-noise ratio could nevertheless be kept high enough not to degrade the received signal.
  • the object of the invention is to bring about a reconfigurable radio front-end circuit in which the power consumption is reduced when the signal strength is high.
  • the embodiment of a reconfigurable radio front-end circuit in accordance with the invention illustrated on the drawing comprises a low noise amplifier 1 and a low current linear amplifier 2 . It is to be understood that other types of amplifiers may be used and also that more than two amplifiers may be used.
  • the input terminal of the low noise amplifier 1 and the input terminal of the low current linear amplifier 2 are both connected to an antenna terminal 3 of the radio which is not shown in any further detail.
  • the output terminal of the low noise amplifier 1 is connected to a first input terminal of a low noise mixer 4 .
  • a second input terminal of the low noise mixer 4 is connected to a first output terminal of a local oscillator drive switch 6 .
  • the switch 6 has a local oscillator input terminal connected to a local oscillator 7 , and a control input terminal connected to a control circuit 8 .
  • the output terminal of the low current linear amplifier 2 is connected to a first input of a linear mixer 5 .
  • a second input terminal of the linear mixer 5 is connected to a second output terminal of the local oscillator drive switch 6 .
  • each amplifier is associated with its own mixer. Moreover, each mixer would be connected to its own output terminal of the switch 6 .
  • the control circuit 8 is adapted to control the local oscillator drive switch 6 to connect/disconnect the mixers 4 and 5 to/from the local oscillator 7 in response to the strength of signals received by the antenna 3 and/or in response to any other parameter, e.g. interference strength.
  • the output terminal of the low noise mixer 4 and the output terminal of the linear mixer 5 are connected to the input terminal of a common intermediate frequency amplifier 9 via a low noise intermediate frequency amplifier 10 and a low current intermediate frequency amplifier 11 , respectively.
  • the control circuit 8 in the embodiment shown is adapted to control the local oscillator drive switch 6 in such a manner that the low noise mixer 4 is disconnected from the local oscillator 7 in response to high signal strength and/or high interference strength, and connected to the local oscillator 7 in response to low signal strength and/or low interference strength.
  • the mixer 4 when disconnected from the local oscillator 7 by means of the switch 6 , is adapted to cause low noise amplifier 1 not to consume any power.
  • the control circuit 8 in the embodiment shown can be adapted to switch off the quiescent current of the low noise amplifier 1 at the same time as the low noise mixer 4 is disconnected from the local oscillator 7 .
  • more than two different amplifiers and associated mixers may be used.
  • one amplifier-mixer cascade could be optimized for low noise, resulting in high power consumption, while the other could be optimized for low current and possibly high linearity. It would then be possible to lower the average power consumption by switching between these two cascades.
  • the advantage of this is that the input impedance of the amplifier changes less than if its supply current is changed, and that no new circuit elements are introduced in the signal path which would otherwise destroy the noise performance.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Amplifiers (AREA)
  • Superheterodyne Receivers (AREA)
  • Input Circuits Of Receivers And Coupling Of Receivers And Audio Equipment (AREA)
  • Burglar Alarm Systems (AREA)

Abstract

In a radio front-end circuit having at least two amplifier-mixer cascades, the amplifiers are switched on or off via the mixers. By switching between the amplifier-mixer cascades, the power consumption is lowered.

Description

    CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
  • This application is a continuation of Application No. 09/004,766, filed on Jan. 9, 1998, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.[0001]
    • TECHNICAL FIELD
  • The invention relates to a radio front-end circuit and more specifically to a reconfigurable radio front-end circuit. [0002]
    • BACKGROUND
  • Radio front-end circuits are typically designed for low-noise operation. Such operation requires the transconductance-source-resistance product, g[0003] m .RS, of the input device, e.g. a bipolar or MOS transistor, of a front-end circuit to be much larger than 1. In its turn, this leads to a high current consumption as the quiescent current determines the transconductance of the input device.
  • Frequently, the signal strength is much higher than the sensitivity level of the front-end circuit. In such cases, the bias of the front-end circuit could be reduced in order to lower the supply current. The noise level would increase, but the signal-to-noise ratio could nevertheless be kept high enough not to degrade the received signal. [0004]
  • However, changing the front-end circuit bias degrades input matching and reduces linearity and band width to such an extent that it is hardly ever used. Lowering the quiescent current of the input device will lower the transit frequency of the device. For high-frequency applications, such as cellular telephony, this is no option because the transit frequency margin is too low. The current density of the input device has to be maintained which implies that it will be necessary to switch between two different front-end circuit structures. The switch necessary for altering the front-end circuit structure will contribute to the noise level and will typically degrade the low-noise performance. Furthermore, linearity is often also an issue. [0005]
    • SUMMARY
  • The object of the invention is to bring about a reconfigurable radio front-end circuit in which the power consumption is reduced when the signal strength is high. [0006]
  • This is attained by means of the front-end circuit according to the invention in that the amplifiers of the front-end circuit are switched on or off via the mixers instead of being switched on or off by switching the bias current or bias voltage of the amplifiers or by introducing separate switches or multipliers in the signal path. [0007]
  • The advantage of this is that the input impedance of the amplifier changes less than if its supply current is switched. Moreover, no new circuit elements are introduced in the signal path, which would otherwise destroy the noise performance.[0008]
    • BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
  • The invention will be described more in detail below with reference to the appended drawing, on which the single Figure illustrates one embodiment of a reconfigurable radio front-end circuit in accordance with the invention.[0009]
    • DETAILED DESCRIPTION
  • The embodiment of a reconfigurable radio front-end circuit in accordance with the invention illustrated on the drawing comprises a low noise amplifier [0010] 1 and a low current linear amplifier 2. It is to be understood that other types of amplifiers may be used and also that more than two amplifiers may be used.
  • The input terminal of the low noise amplifier [0011] 1 and the input terminal of the low current linear amplifier 2 are both connected to an antenna terminal 3 of the radio which is not shown in any further detail.
  • The output terminal of the low noise amplifier [0012] 1 is connected to a first input terminal of a low noise mixer 4. A second input terminal of the low noise mixer 4 is connected to a first output terminal of a local oscillator drive switch 6. The switch 6 has a local oscillator input terminal connected to a local oscillator 7, and a control input terminal connected to a control circuit 8.
  • The output terminal of the low current linear amplifier [0013] 2 is connected to a first input of a linear mixer 5. A second input terminal of the linear mixer 5 is connected to a second output terminal of the local oscillator drive switch 6.
  • It should be pointed out that if more than two amplifiers are used as indicated above, each amplifier is associated with its own mixer. Moreover, each mixer would be connected to its own output terminal of the [0014] switch 6.
  • The control circuit [0015] 8 is adapted to control the local oscillator drive switch 6 to connect/disconnect the mixers 4 and 5 to/from the local oscillator 7 in response to the strength of signals received by the antenna 3 and/or in response to any other parameter, e.g. interference strength.
  • In the embodiment shown, the output terminal of the low noise mixer [0016] 4 and the output terminal of the linear mixer 5 are connected to the input terminal of a common intermediate frequency amplifier 9 via a low noise intermediate frequency amplifier 10 and a low current intermediate frequency amplifier 11, respectively.
  • The control circuit [0017] 8 in the embodiment shown is adapted to control the local oscillator drive switch 6 in such a manner that the low noise mixer 4 is disconnected from the local oscillator 7 in response to high signal strength and/or high interference strength, and connected to the local oscillator 7 in response to low signal strength and/or low interference strength.
  • Also, in the embodiment shown, the mixer [0018] 4, when disconnected from the local oscillator 7 by means of the switch 6, is adapted to cause low noise amplifier 1 not to consume any power. Alternatively, the control circuit 8 in the embodiment shown can be adapted to switch off the quiescent current of the low noise amplifier 1 at the same time as the low noise mixer 4 is disconnected from the local oscillator 7.
  • As indicated above, more than two different amplifiers and associated mixers may be used. In accordance with the invention, it will, thus, be possible to switch e.g. between two or more low noise amplifier-mixer cascades depending on signal strength or another parameter such as interference strength an mentioned above. As described above, one amplifier-mixer cascade could be optimized for low noise, resulting in high power consumption, while the other could be optimized for low current and possibly high linearity. It would then be possible to lower the average power consumption by switching between these two cascades. [0019]
  • As indicated above, the advantage of this is that the input impedance of the amplifier changes less than if its supply current is changed, and that no new circuit elements are introduced in the signal path which would otherwise destroy the noise performance. [0020]

Claims (6)

What is claimed is:
1. A radio front-end circuit comprising at least two amplifiers, an input terminal of each amplifier to be connected to an antenna terminal of the radio, an output terminal of each amplifier being connected to a first input terminal of an associated mixer, a second input terminal of each mixer being connected to a local oscillator, and an output terminal of each mixer to be connected to an input terminal of an intermediate frequency amplifier, and a switch interconnected between the local oscillator and the respective second input terminal of each mixer to connect and disconnect, respectively, the local oscillator to and from, respectively, the respective mixer.
2. The circuit according to claim 1, wherein a control circuit is adapted to control the switch.
3. The circuit according to claim 2, wherein the control circuit is adapted to control the switch in response to at least one of signal strength and interference strength.
4. The circuit according to claim 3, wherein the control circuit is adapted to control the switch to disconnect the local oscillator from one of the mixers in response to at least one of high signal strength and high interference strength, and to connect the local oscillator to that mixer in response to at least one of low signal strength and low interference strength.
5. The circuit according to claim 4, wherein the switch is adapted to switch off a quiescent current of the associated amplifier at substantially the same time as the local oscillator is disconnected from said mixer.
6. The circuit according to claim 1, comprising two amplifiers, wherein one of the amplifiers is a low noise amplifier and the other is a low current linear amplifier.
US09/998,140 1997-01-09 2001-12-03 Radio front-end circuit Abandoned US20020034931A1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US09/998,140 US20020034931A1 (en) 1997-01-09 2001-12-03 Radio front-end circuit

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
SE9700043-4 1997-01-09
SE9700043A SE508415C2 (en) 1997-01-09 1997-01-09 High frequency circuitry for a radio receiver
US09/004,766 US6345176B1 (en) 1997-01-09 1998-01-09 Radio front-end circuit
US09/998,140 US20020034931A1 (en) 1997-01-09 2001-12-03 Radio front-end circuit

Related Parent Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US09/004,766 Continuation US6345176B1 (en) 1997-01-09 1998-01-09 Radio front-end circuit

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20020034931A1 true US20020034931A1 (en) 2002-03-21

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Family Applications (2)

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US09/004,766 Expired - Lifetime US6345176B1 (en) 1997-01-09 1998-01-09 Radio front-end circuit
US09/998,140 Abandoned US20020034931A1 (en) 1997-01-09 2001-12-03 Radio front-end circuit

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US09/004,766 Expired - Lifetime US6345176B1 (en) 1997-01-09 1998-01-09 Radio front-end circuit

Country Status (14)

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US (2) US6345176B1 (en)
EP (1) EP1012993B1 (en)
JP (1) JP3916006B2 (en)
KR (1) KR100385294B1 (en)
CN (1) CN1109411C (en)
AU (1) AU730784B2 (en)
BR (1) BR9806863A (en)
DE (1) DE69827148T2 (en)
EE (1) EE03501B1 (en)
HK (1) HK1024353A1 (en)
MY (1) MY119024A (en)
PL (1) PL186649B1 (en)
SE (1) SE508415C2 (en)
WO (1) WO1998031108A2 (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20060205379A1 (en) * 2005-03-08 2006-09-14 Intel Corporation Signal reception enhancement apparatus, systems, and methods
US20130178180A1 (en) * 2011-11-11 2013-07-11 Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. Front end module

Families Citing this family (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
SE508415C2 (en) * 1997-01-09 1998-10-05 Ericsson Telefon Ab L M High frequency circuitry for a radio receiver
US7039377B2 (en) * 2002-06-14 2006-05-02 Skyworks Solutions, Inc. Switchable gain amplifier
WO2004091179A1 (en) * 2003-04-03 2004-10-21 The Government Of The United States Of America, As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy Dual band superheterodyne radar receiver
US7027833B1 (en) * 2003-04-03 2006-04-11 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy Dual band superheterodyne receiver
JP2005295348A (en) * 2004-04-02 2005-10-20 Sharp Corp Receiver
JP2005293785A (en) * 2004-04-05 2005-10-20 Elpida Memory Inc Semiconductor memory device and its self-refresh control method
US8060041B2 (en) 2006-02-09 2011-11-15 Qualcomm, Incorporated Adaptive receiver for wireless communication device
TW200849844A (en) * 2007-06-01 2008-12-16 Vivatom Element Co Ltd Communication device with front-end radio frequency antenna module
TWI382676B (en) * 2007-12-28 2013-01-11 Ind Tech Res Inst Coherent tunable filter apparatus and wireless communication front-end circuit thereof
US8571510B2 (en) 2008-08-18 2013-10-29 Qualcomm Incorporated High linearity low noise receiver with load switching
US8140047B2 (en) 2009-03-11 2012-03-20 Infineon Technologies Ag System including receiver front ends
US8787854B2 (en) 2012-07-25 2014-07-22 Qualcomm Incorporated Low power local oscillator signal generation

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US5345602A (en) * 1991-09-07 1994-09-06 Blaupunkt Werke Gmbh Receiver with multiple antennas
US5437051A (en) * 1991-09-19 1995-07-25 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Broadband tuning circuit for receiving multi-channel signals over a broad frequency range
US5742896A (en) * 1990-11-09 1998-04-21 Bose Corporation Diversity reception with selector switching at superaudible rate
US6345176B1 (en) * 1997-01-09 2002-02-05 Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) Radio front-end circuit

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US4225823A (en) * 1977-02-26 1980-09-30 Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha Front end circuits of FM receivers
DD242919A1 (en) * 1985-11-21 1987-02-11 Zentr Wissenschaft & Tech Veb ELECTRONIC SOURCE SWITCH WITH DIFFERENT INPUT IMPEDANCES
JPH08205239A (en) * 1995-01-25 1996-08-09 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Radio telephone equipment
EP0742640B1 (en) * 1995-04-12 2001-07-04 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. A front-end circuit
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US5742896A (en) * 1990-11-09 1998-04-21 Bose Corporation Diversity reception with selector switching at superaudible rate
US5345602A (en) * 1991-09-07 1994-09-06 Blaupunkt Werke Gmbh Receiver with multiple antennas
US5437051A (en) * 1991-09-19 1995-07-25 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Broadband tuning circuit for receiving multi-channel signals over a broad frequency range
US6345176B1 (en) * 1997-01-09 2002-02-05 Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) Radio front-end circuit

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20060205379A1 (en) * 2005-03-08 2006-09-14 Intel Corporation Signal reception enhancement apparatus, systems, and methods
US20130178180A1 (en) * 2011-11-11 2013-07-11 Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. Front end module

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
PL186649B1 (en) 2004-02-27
PL334443A1 (en) 2000-02-28
JP2001511321A (en) 2001-08-07
AU730784B2 (en) 2001-03-15
DE69827148D1 (en) 2004-11-25
JP3916006B2 (en) 2007-05-16
WO1998031108A3 (en) 1998-09-11
AU5582998A (en) 1998-08-03
EE03501B1 (en) 2001-08-15
SE9700043L (en) 1998-07-10
WO1998031108A2 (en) 1998-07-16
EP1012993B1 (en) 2004-10-20
MY119024A (en) 2005-03-31
EE9900319A (en) 2000-02-15
SE9700043D0 (en) 1997-01-09
CN1109411C (en) 2003-05-21
US6345176B1 (en) 2002-02-05
DE69827148T2 (en) 2005-10-20
CN1243618A (en) 2000-02-02
KR20000069847A (en) 2000-11-25
KR100385294B1 (en) 2003-05-23
SE508415C2 (en) 1998-10-05
BR9806863A (en) 2000-04-18
EP1012993A2 (en) 2000-06-28
HK1024353A1 (en) 2000-10-05

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