Digital controlled multi stage smart combiner

A digital controlled multi-stage signal combiner, comprising:

• a plurality of N inputs receiving respective radio frequency (RF) or intermediate (IF) input signals, each of the inputs having a respective input impedance and a discrete phase value belonging to a finite alphabet of M possible phase values, or the plurality of N inputs receiving respective baseband input signals, each of the input signals having constant amplitude and a discrete phase value belonging to the finite alphabet of M possible phase values;
• a plurality of K stages of digital controlled electrical switches, each of the switches of each of the K stages having an output;
• signal combiners having inputs electrically and selectively connected to the outputs of certain switches among the K stages,
• where the Kth stage has at least M/2(K−1) signal combiners electrically and selectively connected to the switches of the Kth stage or the signal combiners of the (K−1)th stage;
• a phase digital mapper receiving the N respective baseband input signals, and converting the discrete phase values of the N inputs into at least 2N sets of log 2(M) bits;
• and
• a digital signal control generator receiving the at least 2N sets of log 2(M) bits and converting each of the 2N sets into at least two sets of digital control signals with (N×M) and (N×M/2) control bits in the first two stages that control the switches and the signal combiners in the K stages, by selecting the signals to be combined in each combiner and the impedance of each combiner in each stage according to the selected signals and the digital control signals supplied by the digital signal control generator.