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US 8,913,978 B2Granted
RTWO-based down converter
AssigneeAnalog Devices, Inc.
InventorGregoire Le Grand de Mercey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multiphase mixer using a rotary traveling wave oscillator is disclosed. In addition to the oscillator, the mixer includes first and second mixer circuits. The rotary traveling wave oscillator generates a first set of N/2 phase and a second set of N/2 phases, where each phase has a frequency that is a factor of N/2 less than the incoming radio frequency signal. The first set of phases are sine signals and the second set of phases are cosine signals. The first mixer circuit generates a first down-converted signal from the first set of phases and the incoming rf signal. The second mixer circuit generates a second down-converted signal from the second set of phases and the rf signal.
Claims19
A multiphase mixer comprising:
- a rotary traveling wave oscillator configured to generate a rotary traveling wave oscillator signal having a plurality of N number of phases, each phase oscillating at a frequency that is less than a frequency of an incoming radio signal by a factor of N/2, said plurality of phases including a first plurality of phases and a second plurality of phases, said first plurality of phases being sine phases and said second plurality of phases being cosine phases, wherein the rotary travelling wave oscillator comprises:
- a differential transmission line in a closed loop, the differential transmission line including an odd number of one or more cross-overs configured to reverse the polarity of a wave propagating through the differential transmission line;
- and
- a plurality of regenerative devices electrically connected along a path of the differential transmission line;
- a first mixer circuit having an input configured to receive the incoming radio frequency signal and being coupled to receive the first plurality of phases from the rotary traveling wave oscillator, said first mixer circuit having an output that generates a first down converted signal;
- and
- a second mixer circuit having an input configured to receive the incoming radio frequency signal and being coupled to receive the second plurality of phases from the rotary traveling wave oscillator, said second mixer circuit having an output that generates a second down converted signal,
- wherein the first mixer circuit comprises a first plurality of phase-pair combining circuits, wherein the first plurality of phase-pair combining circuits combines pairs of phases in said plurality of phases with the incoming radio frequency signal to generate a first mixed output, wherein a first phase and a second phase of each pair of phases differ by N/2+1 phase steps.
5 more elements
A multiphase mixer comprising:
- a rotary traveling wave oscillator configured to generate a rotary traveling wave oscillator signal having a plurality of N number of phases, each phase oscillating at a frequency that is less than a frequency of an incoming radio signal by a factor of N/2, said plurality of phases including a first plurality of phases and a second plurality of phases, said first plurality of phases being sine phases and said second plurality of phases being cosine phases;
- a first mixer circuit having an input configured to receive the incoming radio frequency signal and being coupled to receive the first plurality of phases from the rotary traveling wave oscillator, said first mixer circuit having an output that generates a first down converted signal;
- and
- a second mixer circuit having an input configured to receive the incoming radio frequency signal and being coupled to receive the second plurality of phases from the rotary traveling wave oscillator, said second mixer circuit having an output that generates a second down converted signal,
- wherein each of the first and second mixer circuits includes eight phase-pair combining circuits, said eight phase-pair combining circuits being divided into two sections, each having four phase-pair combining circuits, a first section of the two sections being coupled to eight phase pair signals from the rotary traveling wave oscillator, each phase pair having phases 2k, (2k+5) mod 8, respectively, where k is an positive integer with a range from 0 to 3, a second section of the two sections being coupled to eight phase signals from the rotary traveling wave oscillator, each phase pair having phases 2+1, (2k+1+5) mod 8, respectively, where k is a positive integer with a range from 0 to 3.
2 more elements
A method of mixing a signal, said method comprising:
- providing a rotary traveling wave oscillator signal having a plurality N phases from a rotary traveling wave oscillator, each oscillating at a frequency that is less than a frequency of an incoming radio signal by a factor of N/2, said plurality of phases including a first plurality of phases and a second plurality of phases, wherein the rotary travelling wave oscillator comprises:
- a differential transmission line in a closed loop, the differential transmission line including an odd number of one or more cross-overs configured to reverse the polarity of a wave propagating through the differential transmission line;
- and
- a plurality of regenerative devices electrically connected along a path of the differential transmission line;
- combining pairs of phases in the first plurality of phases with the incoming radio frequency signal to form a first mixed output, wherein the phases in each pair differ by N/2+1 phase steps;
- and
- combining pairs of phases in the second plurality of phases with the incoming radio frequency signal to form a second mixed output, wherein the phases in each pair differ by N/2+1 phase steps, and wherein the first mixed output is orthogonal to the second mixed output.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.