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US 9,178,493 B1Granted
Mismatch detection using replica circuit
AssigneePeregrine Semiconductor Corporation
InventorDan William Nobbe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for detecting an operating characteristic mismatch at an output of an amplifier by using a replica circuit is presented. In one exemplary case, a detected voltage difference at the output of the two circuits is used to drive a tuning control loop to minimize an impedance mismatch at the output of the amplifier. In another exemplary case, the replica circuit is used to detect a fault in operation in a corresponding main circuit. A method for detecting a load mismatch in a main RF circuit using the replica circuit is also presented.
Claims49
An arrangement for detecting and controlling impedance mismatch in a radio frequency (RF) circuit, comprising:
- a first RF circuit that is configured, during operation of the arrangement, to amplify a first input signal, thus producing a first output signal at an output port of the first RF circuit that is an amplified version of the first input signal;
- a first load coupled to the output port of the first RF circuit;
- a second RF circuit that is configured, during operation of the arrangement, to amplify a second input signal, thus producing a second output signal that is an amplified version of the second input signal, the second RF circuit being a reduced size replica of the first RF circuit;
- a second load connected to an output terminal of the second RF circuit, configured, during operation of the arrangement, to provide a substantially matched impedance at the output terminal of the second RF circuit;
- and
- a detector that is configured, during operation of the arrangement, to compute a difference between the first output signal and the second output signal, thus producing a difference signal, wherein the difference signal is a function of impedance mismatch between the first RF circuit and the first load.
3 more elements
An arrangement, comprising:
- a detector having a first input terminal, a second input terminal, and an output terminal;
- a first amplifying circuit having an amplified output connected, in operation, to a radio frequency (RF) path comprising one or more RF components, the first circuit adapted to receive, in operation, an (RF) signal input, wherein a first sensing point in the RF path is connected to the first input terminal of the detector;
- and
- a second amplifying circuit having an amplified output connected, in operation, to an impedance network, the second circuit adapted to receive, in operation, a scaled version of the RF signal input, the second circuit being a reduced size replica of the first circuit, wherein a first reference point in the impedance network is connected to the second input terminal of the detector,
- wherein the detector is adapted, during operation of the arrangement, to detect a difference signal based on a difference between an operating characteristic of the first amplifying circuit associated to the first sensing point and an operating characteristic of the second amplifying circuit associated to the first reference point.
2 more elements
A method for load mismatch detection in a radio frequency (RF) circuital arrangement, the method comprising:
- amplifying an RF signal via a first amplifying circuit;
- based on the amplifying, matching a first amplified signal to a first load via a tunable matching circuit;
- amplifying a scaled version of the RF signal via a second amplifying circuit, the second amplifying circuit being a reduced size version of the first amplifying circuit;
- based on the matching, providing a second load to the second amplifying circuit;
- based on the providing, measuring a difference in an operating characteristic between the first amplified signal and the second amplified signal, and
- based on the measuring, detecting a mismatch between the first amplified signal and the first load.
3 more elements
A method for component fault detection in a radio frequency (RF) circuital arrangement, the method comprising:
- during a first phase of operation of the arrangement, performing the following steps i) to v):
- i) amplifying an RF signal via a first amplifying circuit;
- ii) based on the amplifying, matching a first amplified signal to a first load via a tunable matching circuit;
- iii) based on the matching, storing a configuration of the tunable matching circuit;
- iv) providing a second amplifying circuit, the second amplifying circuit being a reduced size version of the first amplifying circuit;
- and
- v) based on the matching, providing a second load to the second amplifying circuit;
- during a second phase of operation of the arrangement, performing the following steps vi) to x):
- vi) restoring the configuration of the tunable matching circuit based on the matching;
- vii) amplifying an RF signal via the first amplifying circuit;
- viii) amplifying a scaled version of the RF signal via the second amplifying circuit;
- ix) measuring a difference signal based on a difference in an operating characteristic between an amplified signal at the first load and an amplified signal at the second load;
- and
- x) based on the measuring, determining a fault in the arrangement.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.