Digital linearizing system

#In signal processing systems, there is often a need to compensate for nonlinear distortions introduced by the system. There are many possible sources for system nonlinearities, including characteristics of nonlinear components such as inductors, capacitors and transistors. Nonlinearities are frequently introduced when analog signals are converted to digital. Besides component nonlinearities, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) often have additional sources of nonlinearity, such as the sampling capacitors' time constants, gain error in amplifiers and imprecision in the comparator levels.

#Nonlinear distortions may depend on many factors such as the input signal's frequency range, history and rate of change (also referred to “slew rate”), as well as external factors such as operating temperature. The difficulties in modeling nonlinear distortions lead to difficulties in characterizing and compensating system nonlinearities. Existing techniques for characterizing system nonlinearities such as Volterra expansion tend to be complex and difficult to implement.

#Furthermore, in some systems, even if a distortion model is found by using Volterra expansion, it could not be accurately applied due to the unavailability of the required inputs. For example, in some communication systems, the receiver circuitry may introduce nonlinearities when the input analog signal is digitized and demodulated to baseband. The intermediate frequency (IF) signal required by the distortion model is often unavailable since the IF signal is directly demodulated to baseband when the ADC samples the signal. Applying the baseband signal to the distortion model usually means that some of the history and slew rate information is lost; therefore, the distortion estimation is less accurate.

#Various embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

#FIGS. 1A-1C are diagrams illustrating several linearizer embodiments.

#FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of a process for compensating for nonlinear distortion in a digital signal.

#The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a composition of matter, a computer readable medium such as a computer readable storage medium or a computer network wherein program instructions are sent over optical or electronic communication links. In this specification, these implementations, or any other form that the invention may take, may be referred to as techniques. A component such as a processor or a memory described as being configured to perform a task includes both a general component that is temporarily configured to perform the task at a given time or a specific component that is manufactured to perform the task. In general, the order of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within the scope of the invention.

#A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principles of the invention. The invention is described in connection with such embodiments, but the invention is not limited to any embodiment. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. These details are provided for the purpose of example and the invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured.

#A method and system for compensating nonlinear distortion in a digital signal is disclosed. In some embodiments, a nominal phase shifted signal is generated based on the digital signal. A modeled distortion signal is generated based on the digital signal and the nominal phase shifted signal and then subtracted from the digital signal. A compensated signal is then generated. A digital signal may result from an analog input restricted to a known region of operation (such as a Nyquist zone). In some embodiments, the nominal phase shifted signal is generated by interpolating the digital signal and taking interpolated values at fractional intervals of the sampling period of the digital signal. In some embodiments, the nominal phase shifted signal is generated by up-sampling the digital signal, filtering the up-sampled signal and obtaining interpolated values at fractional intervals of the sampling period. A derivative calculated based on the digital signal and/or the nominal phase shifted signal may also be used by the distortion model. A compensating system comprising a distortion model may be configured to correct for nonlinear distortions in analog to digital converters, receiver circuits, or any other appropriate system with nonlinear distortion in its channel.