Chapter 3 Tranceiver Architectures

ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ELECTRONICS AND FOR COMMUNICATIONS

COMMUNICATIONS
Chapter 3
Transceiver Architectures
Huynh Phu Minh Cuong

hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn
Department of Telecommunications
Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology
Dr. Cuong HuynhTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT 1
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ELECTRONICS AND FOR COMMUNICATIONS
COMMUNICATIONS
Chapter 3
Transceiver Architectures
Reference:
[1] B. Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall,
Second Edition, 2012 (Chapter 4)
Dr. Cuong HuynhTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT 2

1. RF Transceiver Introduction
A Transceiver consists of a Transmitter and a Receiver

RF transceiver can be divided into two sections:
RF Section analog, high frequencies

Baseband Section - mostly digital today (DSP), low frequencies
Dr. Cuong HuynhTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT
Typical Digital Transmitter
Transmitter RF Back-End Transmitter RF Front-End

Typical Digital Receiver
Receiver RF Front-End Receiver RF Back-End

What are the functions of each building block ?
Signal In
Transmitter
Signal Out
Receiver

2. Transmitter Architecture
Direct-Conversion Transmitter
The baseband signal is modulated and up-converted to RF in one single step, then
band-pass filtered, amplified and low pass filtered before the RF signal is emitted
by the antenna.
Attractive due to simplicity of the

signal path suitable for high
levels of integration
Output carrier frequency = local
oscillator (LO) frequency
Important drawback: LO
Frequency Pulling by PA output

2. Transmitter Architecture
2-Stage Up-Conversion
2-Stage Up-Conversion
Another approach to solving the LO pulling problem
Up-convert in 2 stages so PA output spectrum is far from LO frequency
Quadrature modulation at IF (1), up-convert to 1+ 2 by mixing and filtering
BPF1 suppresses the IF harmonics, while BPF2 removes the unwanted sideband
1- 2
Advantages: no LO pulling - Disadvantages: More circuits, power

3. Receiver Architecture
General Considerations
The main function of a receiver is the demodulation of a wanted signal (channel)
in the presence of undesired interferers and noise.
Due to the strong attenuation during air transmission, the RF signal has to be
amplified and recovered.
Taking into account scenarios with varying attenuation, a wide dynamic range is
required for the detection of signals with high data-rates.
9
Cuong Huynh, PhDTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn
Narrow channel bandwidth impacts the RF design of the transceiver.
10
1. Can we completely filter the Interferers at RF frequency ?
2. First, the filter must provide a very high Q
3. Second, the filter would need to have a variable and precise center frequency.
4. Can we select the channel at RF frequency?
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Example of Interferer-Suppressing Filter
A 900-MHz GSM receiver with 200-kHz channel spacing must tolerate an alternate
adjacent channel blocker 20 dB higher than the desired signal. Calculate the Q of
a second-order LC filter required to suppress this interferer by 35 dB.
Solution:
As shown in below, the filter frequency response must provide an attenuation of 35 dB at
400 kHz away from center frequency of 900MHz. For a second-order RLC tank, we write the
impedance as

13
Heterodyne Receivers
How does it work ? How to select a wanted channel ?
Heterodyne: combine (a high-frequency signal) with another to produce a lower frequency in this way
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How does it work ? How to select a wanted channel ?
Digital Demodulation
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Channel Selection and Band Selection
It is extremely difficult to select channel at RF frequency due to high-Q RF filter.

Channel selection must be deferred to some other point where center frequency is lower
and hence required Q is more reasonable
Most receiver front ends do incorporate a band-select filter

2 MHz
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How Does a Heterodyne Receiver Select a Given Frequency Channel?
Constant LO: each RF channel is downconverted to a different IF channel
Constant IF: LO frequency is variable, all RF channels within the band of interest translated
to a single value of IF.
Heterodyne Receivers Image Frequency Problem
Two spectra located symmetrically around LO are downconverted to the IF
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Suppose two channels at 1 and 2 have been received and 1 < 2. Study the
downconverted spectrum as the LO frequency varies from below 1 to above 2.
Solution: LO < 1 LO slightly above 1
An Example of Image ()
Suppose two channels at 1 and 2 have been received and 1 < 2. Study the
downconverted spectrum as the LO frequency varies from below 1 to above 2.
Solution:
LO midway between 1 and 2 LO > 2
An Example of Image ()
Image Rejection
The most common approach is to precede the mixer with an image-

reject filter
The IRF should exhibits the low loss in the desired band and high
attenuation in the image band.
A filter with high image rejection typically appears between the LNA and
the mixer so that the gain of the LNA lowers the filters contribution to the
receiver noise figure.
The linearity and selectivity required of the image-reject filter have
dictated passive, off-chip implementations.
Image Rejection
Example - FM Broadcast Receiver

The FM broadcast band covers 88 - 108 MHz. The channels are separated by 200 kHz and
are assigned to odd multiples of 100 kHz. In almost all cases the IF frequency is chosen to
be 10.7 MHz. As in the previous example high-side LO is often used, i.e., the LO tunes
from 98.7 to 118.7 MHz.
Notice that the IF used for FM broadcast receivers is substantially higher than that
used for AM receivers. This choice is motivated by the fact that the image frequency is
separated from the desired carrier frequency by 2fIF. Generally speaking, in order tomake
the preselector filter relatively easy to build and tune, the IF frequency must be raised as
the carrier frequency increases.

Image Rejection versus Channel Selection
As noted, the desired channel and the image have a frequency

difference of 2IF Thus, to maximize image rejection, it is desirable
to choose a large value for IF i.e., a large difference between in and
LO.
How large can 2IF be? Recall that the premise in a heterodyne
architecture is to translate the center frequency to a sufficiently low
value IF so that channel selection by means of practical filters
becomes feasible.
Image Rejection - Channel Selection Trade-Off
A high IF allows substantial rejection of the image.
A low IF helps with the suppression of in-band interferers.

The trade-off between image rejection and channel selection in

the heterodyne architecture often proves quite severe: if the IF
is high, the image can be suppressed but complete channel
selection is difficult, and vice versa.
To resolve this issue, the concept of heterodyning can be
extended to multiple down-conversions, each followed by
filtering and amplification -- > Supper Heterodyne Receiver

Supper Heterodyne Receivers
The front-end filter selects the band while providing some image rejection as well (Point B)

After amplification and image-reject filtering, spectrum of C obtained

Sufficiently linear mixer translates desired channel and adjacent interferers to first IF
(Point D)
Partial channel selection BPF3 permits the use of a second mixer with reasonable linearity.
(Point E)
Spectrum is translated to second IF. (Point F)

BPF4 suppresses the interferers to acceptably low levels (Point G)

An optimum design scales both the noise figure and the IP3 of each stage
according to the total gain preceding that stage.

The problems associated with the image rejection have

motivated designers to invent other receiver architecture and
smart techniques for the rejection of the image frequency.
Receiver architectures
Heterodyne receiver image problem
Super-heterodyne receiver more circuits, more power
Image-reject receivers
Harley receiver
Weaver architecture
Homodyne (direct conversion, zero-IF) DC offset
Low IF
Digital IF
30
These techniques are based on the idea of producing two paths having the same polarity for
the desired signal, and the opposite polarity for the undesired image signal.
Subsequent combining of the paths recovers the desired signal and cancels the image
signal.
Harley receiver
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Weaver Receiver
32
Direct-conversion Receiver (Zero-IF)
The idea is to translate the RF signal directly to zero-IF frequency.
33
Direct-conversion receivers
Advantage:
o The channel filtering can be performed by a low-pass filter.
o Eliminating the image problem. Hence, no external high-Q image reject
filter is required making fully integrated solutions feasible.
The zero-IF approach seems to be superior compared with other architectures.
However, the following issues impede its widespread use in todays radios.
o The RF carrier and the local oscillator are at the same frequency. Thus, LO
leakage to the mixer input can lead to self mixing resulting in a time-
varying DC offset at the output of the mixer.
o This DC offset may corrupt the signal and can lead to a saturation of the
following stages thereby significantly degrading the upper boundary of the
dynamic range. Consequently, sophisticated offset cancellation techniques
are required in practical implementations.
o The flicker noise of the active devices becomes significant at low
frequencies. Thus, low noise amplification and active filtering is difficult
for zero-IF topologies degrading the lower limit of the dynamic range.
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4. Transceiver Example
Demodulator
Modulator
Transceivers consist of both a receiver and a transmitter.

In many cases, a transceiver needs only one multifunctional VCO since it
may be used for both the receiver and transmitter.
SPDT (Single Pole Double Throw) switches can be employed to change
between the receive- and transmit- modes.
These switches exhibits the additional losses of around 0.52 dB, which
directly add to the overall noise figure in the receiver and reduce the
effective PA power.
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36
37
DECT: Digital Enhanced

Cordless Telecommunications
38
SAW: Surface Acoustic Wave
39
40
Block diagram of the CC1020 IC Texas Instrument
41
2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 / ZigBee-ready RF Transceiver
42

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ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS

ELECTRONICS AND FOR COMMUNICATIONS

Huynh Phu Minh Cuong

Dr. Cuong HuynhTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT 2

A Transceiver consists of a Transmitter and a Receiver

RF Section analog, high frequencies

Typical Digital Transmitter

Transmitter RF Back-End Transmitter RF Front-End

Dr. Cuong HuynhTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT

Typical Digital Receiver

Receiver RF Front-End Receiver RF Back-End

Dr. Cuong HuynhTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT

Dr. Cuong HuynhTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT

Attractive due to simplicity of the

Dr. Cuong HuynhTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT

Dr. Cuong HuynhTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT

Cuong Huynh, PhDTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn

It is extremely difficult to select channel at RF frequency due to high-Q RF filter.

Cuong Huynh, PhDTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn

Constant LO: each RF channel is downconverted to a different IF channel

Two spectra located symmetrically around LO are downconverted to the IF

Solution: LO < 1 LO slightly above 1

The most common approach is to precede the mixer with an image-

Example - FM Broadcast Receiver

Cuong Huynh, PhDTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn

As noted, the desired channel and the image have a frequency

A high IF allows substantial rejection of the image.

A low IF helps with the suppression of in-band interferers.

The trade-off between image rejection and channel selection in

Cuong Huynh, PhDTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn

Cuong Huynh, PhDTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn

After amplification and image-reject filtering, spectrum of C obtained

Cuong Huynh, PhDTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn

BPF4 suppresses the interferers to acceptably low levels (Point G)

Cuong Huynh, PhDTelecommunications DepartmentHCMUT hpmcuong@hcmut.edu.vn

The problems associated with the image rejection have

Transceivers consist of both a receiver and a transmitter.

DECT: Digital Enhanced

SAW: Surface Acoustic Wave

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