A CMOS RF Receiver with Improved Resilience to OFDM-Induced Second-Order Intermodulation Distortion for MedRadio Biomedical Devices and Sensors

A 24 GHz CMOS Direct-Conversion RF Receiver with I/Q Mismatch Calibration for Radar Sensor Applications

A 24 GHz millimeter-wave direct-conversion radio-frequency (RF) receiver with wide-range and precise I/Q mismatch calibration is designed in 65 nm CMOS technology for radar sensor applications. The CMOS RF receiver is based on a quadrature direct-conversion architecture. Analytic relations are derived to clearly exhibit the individual contributions of the I/Q amplitude and phase mismatches to the image-rejection ratio (IRR) degradation, which provides a useful design guide for determining the range and resolution of the I/Q mismatch calibration circuit. The designed CMOS RF receiver comprises a low-noise amplifier, quadrature down-conversion mixer, baseband amplifier, and quadrature LO generator. Controlling the individual gate bias voltages of the switching FETs in the down-conversion mixer having a resistive load is found to induce significant changes at the amplitude and phase of the output signal. In the calibration process, the mixer gate bias tuning is first performed for the amplitude mismatch calibration, and the remaining phase mismatch is then calibrated out by the varactor capacitance tuning at the LO buffer's LC load. Implemented in 65 nm CMOS process, the RF receiver achieves 31.5 dB power gain, -35.2 dBm input-referred 1 dB compression power, and 4.8-7.1 dB noise figure across 22.5-26.1 GHz band, while dissipating 106.2 mA from a 1.2 V supply. The effectiveness of the proposed I/Q mismatch calibration is successfully verified by observing that the amplitude and phase mismatches are improved from 1.0-1.5 dB to 0.02-0.19 dB, and from 10.8-23.8 to 1.1-3.2 degrees, respectively.

28-GHz CMOS Direct-Conversion RF Transmitter with Precise and Wide-Range Mismatch Calibration Techniques

A millimeter-wave direct-conversion radio-frequency (RF) transmitter requires precise in-/quadrature-phase (I/Q) mismatch calibration and dc offset cancellation to minimize image rejection ratio (IRR) and LO feedthrough (LOFT) for ensuring satisfactory output spectral purity. We present a 28-GHz CMOS RF transmitter with an improved calibration technique for fifth generation (5G) wireless communication applications. The RF transmitter comprises a baseband amplifier, quadrature up-conversion mixer, power amplifier driver, and quadrature LO generator. The I/Q amplitude mismatch is calibrated by tuning the gate biases of the switching stage FETs of the mixer, the I/Q phase mismatch is calibrated by tuning the varactor capacitances at the LC load of LO buffer, and the dc offset is cancelled by tuning the body voltages of the differential-pair FETs at the baseband amplifier. The proposed technique provides precise calibration accuracy by employing mV-resolution tuning voltage generation via 6-bit voltage digital-to-analog converters. It also covers wide calibration range while minimizing the impact on the circuit’s bias point and dissipated current during calibration. Implemented in a 65 nm CMOS process, the RF transmitter integrated circuit shows output-referred 1 dB compression power of +6.5 dBm, saturated output power of +12.6 dBm, and an operating band of 27.5–29.3 GHz while demonstrating satisfactory performances of −55.9 dBc of IRR and −36.8 dBc of LOFT.

Issues with Modeling a Tunnel Communication Channel through a Plasma Sheath

We consider two of the most relevant problems that arise when modeling the properties of a tunnel radio communication channel through a plasma layer. First, we studied the case of the oblique incidence of electromagnetic waves on a layer of ionized gas for two wave polarizations. The resonator parameters that provide signal reception at a wide solid angle were found. We also took into account the unavoidable presence of a protective layer between the plasma and the resonator, as well as the conducting elements of the antenna system in the dielectric itself. This provides the first complete simulation for a tunnel communication channel. Noise immunity and communication range studies were conducted for a prospective spacecraft radio line.