System level design of radio frequency receiver for

IEEE 802.16 standard

Dorra Ayadi 1, Saul Rodriguez2, Mourad Loulou1, Mohammed Ismail2,3
1, Electronic and Communications Group, LETI-laboratory,
National School of Engineers Sfax, Tunisia
2, RaMSiS Group, School of Information and Communication Technology,
Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden
3, The Analog VLSI Lab, Ohio State University,
Columbus, Ohio, USA
E-mail: dorra.ayadi@ieee.org
Abstract this paper presents a system level design of radio
frequency receiver supporting WiMAX mobile standard. Based
on direct conversion receiver, the distribution of the total radio
system specifications to the individual receiver components is
discussed. System level design techniques and theoretical
calculation are developed. Simulation results and system
simulation level are introduced for noise figure (NF), gain and
linearity (third order intercept point, IIP3). Specifications
obtained from the received budget can indicate that the noise
and the linearity depend on the gain performance of the
corresponding circuit blocks. The receiver achieves a total gain
of 23dB and an IIP3 of -7.8dBm for low gain mode. It provides
up to 68dB gain, 6.5dB noise figure and
-16dBm IIP3 for
high gain mode.
Index terms receiver, WiMAX, specification, budget
analysis, noise, gain, linearity.

I.

INTRODUCTION

involves calculations for gain, noise figure (NF), third order

intercept point (IIP3), and input-1dB-compression point
(P1dB).
In this paper, we will study a system level design
methodology of radio frequency receiver for WiMAX
application step by step. Several design specifications in RF
system such as sensitivity; linearity and noise are introduced
in section 1, a brief introduction of the WiMAX standard
and its specifications are presented in section 2. Receiver
characteristics are listed and calculated in section 3.
Simulation measurement and budget analysis are analyzed
and reported in section 4. Finally we set the conclusion of
our research.
II.
A.

RECEIVER DESIGN BASIC

Sensitivity and noise figure

Wireless communication fields have known a huge

progress during the last few years. Increasing the data rate,
expanding the coverage area and accommodating more
components on the same chip are the crucial motivations
behind the occurring of different generations of wireless
communication systems. Moreover wireless receivers should
offer different services while satisfying little power
consumption; this in order to make them suitable for
portable application [1-2].

Sensitivity is the key parameter of a radio frequency

receiver. It defines the minimum input signal level in dBm
that can be detected and correctly demodulated by the
receiver [3-4].

WiMAX is one of the new standards developed recently.

It covers a large distance and allows a huge data rate. Thus,
designing an RF receiver for WiMAX application became a
delicate task if we consider the stringent challenges of this
standard.

The relation between NF and sensitivity can be expressed

as [3]:

Any design project start with a preliminary task known as

specification or system level design. The purpose of this
analysis is to determine the individual specifications of each
receiver components. This analysis is dependent on several
specifications of the standard such as sensitivity, dynamic
range and noise figure. The link budget analysis uses these
given key parameters to determine the receiver line up and
the requirements of various receiver blocks. This typically

Noise figure is the criterion that permits to appreciate the

quality of a system. It measures how much the signal to
noise ratio degrades when the input signal passes through
the receiver.

Pin ,min = 174 dBm / Hz + NF + 10 log B + SNRmin

(1)

Where B is the receiver channel bandwidth expressed in

Hertz, Pin, min is the minimum input signal level that achieves
SNRmin and -174dBm/Hz is the thermal noise power of 50
Ohm input resistance.
Friis formula [5] defines the noise factor of cascaded
stages as:

nf = 1 + ( nf1 1) +

nf 2 1
nf 1
+ ... + m
G1
G1...G m1

(2)

Where nfi is the noise factor and Gi is the power gain of

the i-th block. The noise figure is the equivalent in dB of the
noise factor:
NF = 10 log(nf )

B.

Rss = 101 + SNRRX + 10 log[ Fs .

Non linearity and intermodulation

A similar equation to the cascaded noise factor can be

obtained for IIP3:
G
G ...G
1
1
=
+ 1 + .... + 1 2 m1
IIP32 IIP32,1 IIP32, 2
IIP3,m

(4)

Where IIP3i is the third order intercept point and Gi is the

power gain of the i-th block.
III.

WIMAX RECEIVER SPECIFICATION

WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for

Microwave Access, it is a technology based on IEEE 802.16
standard. It can provide fixed and mobile wireless
broadband connectivity. WiMAX can be used in two
environments: line of sight (LOS); in which the emitter and
the receiver should be in sight one for the other; or non line
of sight (NLOS) environment [6]. As a member of
broadband wireless access (BWA), WiMAX can
theoretically support data rate up to 70 Mb/s and maximum
distance of 50 km [7]. Mobile WiMAX connectivity uses the
NLOS environment, the frequency band for this application
is generally focused on 2-6GHz, including licensed (5.25.8GHz) and unlicensed (2.3-2.7, 3.5-3.7GHz) bands.
WiMAX for fixed application adopts orthogonal frequency
division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation scheme. Mobile
WiMAX uses only OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division
multiple access). The channel bandwidth is variable from
1.25 MHz to 20 MHz [7]. The subcarrier spacing is set to 10
KHz. Each subcarrier can be modulated with QPSK, 16
QAM or 64 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation).
The minimum received signal in the downlink direction is
not directly specified for WiMAX. It can be calculated with
the equation listed below:

(5)

Where:

(3)

Due to block nonlinearities, blockers can generate

intermodulation products. Second order and third order
intermodulation terms are the most dominant products.
Therefore, Linearity can be characterized by two different
parameters which measure these intermodulation products:
third orders intercept point (IIP3) and second order intercept
point (IIP2) [3-4]. Input signal can be deteriorated by these
harmonics and intermodulation products.

N used N subchannel
.
]
N FFT
16

-101

[noise Floor + 8dB noise figure (NF) +

5dB implementation margin (IL)]
expressed in dBm/MHz

SNRRX

the receiver SNR in dB

FS

Sampling frequency in MHz

Nsubchannel

The number of allocated subchannels

(default 16 if no subchannelization is
used)

Nused

Number of used subcarriers

NFFT

256

Assuming that we have to design a mobile WiMAX

receiver operational at the 3.5GHz frequency band, using a
channel bandwidth of 20MHz, OFDMA and QAM
modulation, the receiver sensitivity is computed by means of
the equation 5, it is estimated to be around -91dBm. The
standard specifies the noise figure to be less than 8dB in
addition to a maximum of 5dB from implementation losses.
The BER shall be less then 10-6and the WiMAX receiver
shall be able of detecting and decoding a maximum input
signal of -30dBm [7]. The second order intercept point
(IIP2) is estimated to be 22dB as a minimum value for the
whole receiver chain [8].
IV.

P1DB AND IIP3 CALCULATION

Both transmitted and received signals can have a huge

range of amplitude variations depending on the
instantaneous signal path and the distance between emitter
and receiver. The dynamic range of a receiver is limited at
the low signal level by its noise figure performance and at
the high signal level by its linearity. The VGA (Voltage
Gain Amplifier) plays an essential role of providing the
ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) with constant signal
strength for efficient sampling. The LNA (Low Noise
Amplifier) plays also an important role. Indeed, the input
signal of a LNA covers typically a large dynamic range. For
the IEEE 802.16 receiver, the minimum input signal is
specified as Pin, min=91dBm and the maximum input signal
as Pin, max=30dBm. To avoid saturation effects of
subsequent stages and to meet the linearity requirements, the
gain of the LNA and the VGA should be reduced for large
input signals [9-10-11]. Thus receiver requires two switched
gain modes to perform the desirable amplification for strong
or weak input signal.
A.

Low gain mode

In the low gain mode, the input signal is strong enough

with large power thats why it doesnt require an important
amplification. Since WiMAX uses OFDM modulation, a

back-off of 12dB should be considered between the input1dB-compression point (P1dB) and the maximum input
signal. This back-off is due to the PAPR (Peak-to-Average
Power Ratio) of the varying envelope of the OFDM signal.
The PAPR in WiMAX standard is assuming to be around
12dB [8]. Since the maximum signal handled by the
WiMAX receivers is -30dBm, therefore the required P1dB
for this mode would be:
P1dB _ min = Pin _ max + 12 = 18dBm

(6)

According to thumbs rule, the IIP3 is normally larger

than P1dB by 9~10 dB [12]. Thus, the required IIP3 for
WiMAX receiver would be around -8 dBm:
IIP3min = P1dB + 10 = 8dBm

B.

(7)

High gain mode

receives the modulated RF signal. In order to improve the

sensitivity of the receiver, the RF signal is amplified by
means of an LNA before down conversion. LNA is the first
integrated block in RF front end therefore it is considered as
a key component of the RF front end part. Frequency
translation of input signal from RF to baseband is performed
by mixer. The use of channel select filter can suppress
interferers from the baseband signal.
Knowing the different components of the RF receiver, the
distribution of WiMAX specifications can be completed. In
fact, the Budget simulation enables us to achieve the RF
system budget analysis and to determine gain, NF, P1dB and
IIP3 characterising each block. Friis equations and IIP3 for
cascaded components presented in section 1 demonstrate the
dependence between the three parameters: noise, gain and
linearity. A simple variation of one parameter implies the
variation of the others. The specifications should be
extracted for the two gain modes discussed in the preceding
section.

In the high gain mode, the signal is weak with low power
at the input of the radio frequency receiver. For WiMAX
standard, the minimum input signal can reach -91dBm. Thus
the signal needs a large amplification. Assuming that the
desired signal is generally accompanied by a CW
(continuous waveform) interferer with a maximum power of
-30dBm, then the required back-off from the P1dB is around
4dB. Consequently the input-1dB-compression point is
measured as:
P1dB _ max = Pin _ max + 4 = 26dBm

RF Filter

Port

A.

IIP3max = P1dB + 10 = 16dBm

(9)

We can see from these values that in terms of circuit

performances, the receiver should meet -8dBm for linearity
so that a maximum signal of -30dBm can be decoded.
Linearity requirements are more severe in the low gain mode
then in the high gain mode (-16dBm). Thus, the receiver is
limited by linearity for high gain and by noise for low gain
mode.
V.

BUDGET SIMULATION

Figure 1 shows the architecture of the WiMAX receiver

simulated using ADS tool (Advanced Design System). The
figure shows homodyne receiver architecture, generally
known as direct conversion receiver architecture or zero-IF
architecture. Low cost and low power consumption are the
main advantages of homodyne receiver. It is also a very
suitable architecture for a fully integrated receiver chip
design.
A wireless receiver is typically composed of two sections:
RF front end and baseband stages. The analog section

Mixer

Channel
Filter

Local Oscillator

VGA

Term

Figure 1. WiMAX receiver schematic

(8)

The third order intercept point can be calculated as:

LNA

Budget simulation for low gain mode

The more challenging constraint here is the linearity; in

fact we have to verify an IIP3 around -8dBm for the whole
receiver. As the input signal is strong, LNA and VGA gain
are low.
Figure 2 shows the evolution of gain (figure 2-a) and IIP3
(figure 2-b) among different WiMAX receiver blocks;
where: block 0 is the RF filter, block 1 is the LNA, block 2
is the Mixer, block 3 is the channel filter and the last block
is the VGA.
We can conclude that the IIP3 condition is satisfied, the
third order intercept point at the input of the receiver is
7.8dBm. The total gain of the receiver is 23dB distributed as
follows: 10db for the LNA, 10db for the mixer and 5dB for
the VGA. Noise figure is not discussed in this mode since it
doesnt matter for strong signal. However, it will be
discussed in the second mode.
The 2dB difference shown in figure 2 in the gain and IIP3
simulations are due to the losses considered in the
filter/duplexer and switch which are supposed around 2dB.
Indeed, while simulating the ADS receiver model, we took
in consideration 2dB as insertion losses (IL) for the RF
filter.

(a)

(b)

(a)

(b)

Figure 2. Evolution of gain (a) and input third order

intercept point TOI (b) along receiver blocks for low gain
mode

B.

Budget simulation for high gain mode

The linearity challenges are more suitable in this case

since the input signal is weak; however noise can affect and
degrade easily the signal quality. In this mode, only the
LNA and VGA gain should be modified and this while
satisfying noise and linearity conditions. All the others block
specifications should have the same values as previously,
this condition make the distribution of the parameters more
delicate.
Figure 3 demonstrates the evolution of NF, gain and IIP3
(TOI) among the receiver blocks, where: block 0 is the RF
filter, block 1 is the LNA, block 2 is the Mixer, block 3 is
the channel filter and block 4 is the VGA.
Figure (3-a) shows that the total noise figure is 6.5dB
distributing as follow: 2.5dB for LNA, 10dB for mixer and
16dB for VGA. From figure (3-b) we can see that the total
gain is 68dB. IIP3 is presented by figure (3-c); the value at
the input of the receiver is around -16dBm which is
equivalent to the calculated value.

(c)
Figure 3. Evolution of noise figure NF (a), gain (b) and
input third order intercept point TOI (c) along receiver
blocks for high gain mode

The WiMAX receiver characteristics are summarized in

table I. The total gain for the front end module is 30dB and
68dB for the whole receiver. These results satisfy the
WiMAX standard specifications.

TABLE I.

BLOCKS LEVEL SPECIFICATIONS

LNA

VGA

Parameters

Gain

[9]

Mixer
HGM

LGM

20dB

10dB

10dB

HGM

LGM

40dB

5dB

NF

2.5dB

10dB

16dB

IIP3

-6dBm

5dBm

16dBm

VI.

CONCLUSION

In this paper we have presented a system level design

methodology that support WiMAX standard. We introduced
some basic design of the radio receiver. Distribution of gain,
noise and linearity of the whole receiver to the different
blocks was discussed. We presented also simulations that
generate specifications for the different receiver
components. The critical challenge between these
specifications was studied. In order to improve linearity
performance and to reduce noise constraints, the receiver has
two gain modes. In the low one, the receiver provides 23dB
gain and -8dBm IIP3, in the high gain mode the receiver can
provide up to 68dB gain, -16dBm IIP3 and 6.5dB noise
figure.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank a lot the Radio and
Mixed Signal Integrated Systems RaMSiS group, KTH
University, Sweden for their assistance and technical
support. They also would like also to thanks the Electronics
and Communication Group, University of Sfax, Tunisia for
help and enlightening discussions.
REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]

[8]

D. Yamazaki1, N. Kobayashi1, K. Oishi2, M. Kudo2, T. Arai1, N.

Hasegawa1, and K. Kobayashi., 2.5-GHz Fully-Integrated WiMAX
Transceiver IC for a Compact, Low-Power-Consumption RF
Module, Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, IEEE
2008.
A. Tasik, W. A. Serdijn, and J. R. Long., Optimal distribution of the
RF front-end system specifications to the RF front-end circuit blocks,
International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, ISCAS, IEEE
2004.
Behzad Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Prentice Hall, 1998.
Xiaopeng Li and Mohammed Ismail, Multi-standard CMOS wireless
receivers, Kluwer academic publishers, 2002.
H. T. Friis, Noise Figures of Radio Receivers, in Proc. Of the IRE,
vol. 32, July 1944.
IEEE standard 802.16, Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless
Access Systems, part 16, 2005.
D. -R. Huang, S. -W. Kao, and Y.-H. Pang., A WiMAX Receiver
with Variable Bandwidth of 2.5 20 MHz and 93 dB Dynamic Gain
Range in 0.13-m CMOS Process, Radio Frequency Integrated
Circuits Symposium, 2007 IEEE.
D. K. Shaeffer, WiMAX Receiver Architecture and Challenges,
Beceem, 4th RaMSiS Summer School Advanced Circuit Techniques
for Broadband Wireless Systems: WiMAX and LTE, Stockholm,
Sweden 2008.

J. G. Atallah, S. Rodriguez, L.-R. Zheng, and M. Ismail, A Direct

Conversion WiMAX RF Receiver Front-End in CMOS Technology,
International Symposium on Signals, Circuits and Systems, ISSCS
2007.
[10] T. Stucke, N. Christoffers, R. Kokozinski, S. Kolnsberg, and B. J.
Hosticka, A Low Power, Variable Gain Common-Gate LNA,
German Microwave Conference 2006.
[11] M. Liu, and J. Craninckx, A 5-GHz BiCMOS Variable-gain Low
Noise Amplifier with Inductorless Low-gain Branch, Proceedings of
the 31st European Solid-State Circuits Conference, ESSCIRC 2005.
[12] H.-C. Chen, T. Wang, Y.-C. Yang, Y.-H. Liu, and S.-S. Lu, CMOS
RF Circuits for 5-GHz BWA, Mobile WiMAX Symposium, IEEE
2007.