Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing E-Book

Ibrahim A. Haroun

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 360

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing Highly comprehensive text delivering the RF system essentials required to understand, develop, and evaluate the performance of RF wireless systems Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing: A Practical Guide for Wireless Systems is a system-oriented book which provides several wireless communication disciplines in one volume. The book covers a wide range of topics, including antenna fundamentals, phased array antenna and MIMOs that are crucial for the latest 5G mmWave and future 6G wireless systems, high-frequency transmission lines, RF building blocks that are necessary to understand how various RF subsystems are interrelated and implemented in wireless systems, and test setups for conducted and Over-The-Air (OTA) transmitter and receiver tests. The text enables readers to understand, develop, and evaluate the performance of RF wireless systems. The text focuses on RF system performance and testing rather than mathematical proofs, which are available in the provided references. Although the book is intended for testing and building RF system prototypes, it has the sufficient theoretical background needed for RF systems design and testing. Each chapter includes learning objectives, review questions, and references. Sample topics covered in the book include: * An overview of cellular phone systems, 5G NR wireless technology, MIMO technology, terahertz communications for 6G wireless technology, and modulation and multiplexing * Analog and digital modulation techniques, including AM, SSB, FM, FSK, PSK, QAM, SSFH, DSSS, and OFDM * High-frequency transmission lines, S-parameters, low-noise amplifier, RF mixers, filters, power amplifiers, frequency synthesizers, circulators/isolators, directional couplers, RF switches, and RF phase shifters * Antenna basics, including antenna gain, radiation pattern, input impedance, polarization, and antenna noise temperature; microstrip antenna, antenna array, propagation path loss, compact antenna test range (CATR), and test setups for antenna measurements. * Basics of MIMO and beamforming technology, including analog, digital, and hybrid beamforming * Test setups for characterizing the key RF performance parameters of 5G New Radio base station transmitters and receivers. Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing: A Practical Guide for Wireless Systems is a highly comprehensive resource on the subject and is intended for graduate engineers and technologists involved in designing, developing, and testing wireless systems, along with undergraduate/graduate students, enhancing their learning experience of RF subsystems/systems characterization.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

About the Author

Preface

Acknowledgments

1 Introduction to Wireless Systems

1.1 Chapter Objectives

1.2 Overview of Wireless Communications

1.3 Radio Systems Classification

1.4 Cellular Phone Systems

1.5 Terahertz (THz) for 6G Wireless Technology

1.6 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO)

1.7 Basic Concept of Modulation

1.8 Modulation

1.9 Radiofrequency Spectrum Allocation

Review Questions

References

Suggested Readings

Note

2 Analog Communication Systems

2.1 Chapter Objectives

2.2 Overview of Analog Communications

2.3 Amplitude Modulation (AM)

2.4 Single-Sideband Modulation

2.5 AM Demodulation

2.6 Frequency Modulation (FM)

2.7 Noise Suppression in FM Systems

2.8 FM Demodulation

2.9 Phase Modulation (PM)

Review Questions

References

Suggested Readings

3 Digital Communication Systems

3.1 Chapter Objectives

3.2 Overview of Digital Communication

3.3 Types of Digital Signals

3.4 Data Conversion

3.5 Digital Modulation

3.6 Spectral Efficiency and Noise

3.7 Wideband Modulation

Review Questions

References

Suggested Readings

4 High-Frequency Transmission Lines

4.1 Chapter Objectives

4.2 RF Transmission Lines Overview

4.3 Transmission Line Analysis

4.4 Reflection Due to Impedance Mismatch

4.5 Voltage Standing Wave Ratio VSWR

4.6 Input Impedance of a Transmission Line

4.7 Quarter-Wave Transformer

4.8 Planar Transmission Lines in Radio Systems

4.9 Smith Chart

4.10 Impedance Matching Using Smith Chart

4.11 ABCD Parameters

4.12

S

-parameters

4.13 Transmission Line Connectors

Review Questions

References

Suggested Readings

5 RF Subsystem Blocks

5.1 Chapter Objectives

5.2 Introduction to RF Building Blocks

5.3 Low-Noise Amplifiers

5.4 RF Mixers

5.5 Filters

5.6 Frequency Synthesizers

5.7 RF Oscillators

5.8 RF Power Amplifiers

5.9 Power Amplifier Linearization Techniques

5.10 Circulators/Isolators

5.11 Directional Couplers

5.12 Power Splitter/Combiner

5.13 Attenuators

5.14 RF Phase Shifters

5.15 RF Switches

Review Questions

References

Suggested Readings

6 Basics of RF Transceivers

6.1 Chapter Objectives

6.2 RF Transceivers

6.3 Superheterodyne Receiver Architecture

6.4 Receiver System Parameters

6.5 Dual-Conversion Superheterodyne Receivers

6.6 Direct Conversion (Zero-IF) Receiver

6.7 Software-Defined Radios

6.8 RF Block-Level Budget Analysis

6.9 Direct-Conversion Transmitters

6.10 RF Transmitters System Parameters

Review Questions

References

Suggested Readings

7 Antenna Basics and Radio Wave Propagation

7.1 Chapter Objectives

7.2 Introduction

7.3 Antenna Fields

7.4 Antenna Radiation Pattern and Parameters

7.5 Isotropic Antenna

7.6 Fields Due to Short Antenna

7.7 Received Power and Electric Field Strength

7.8 Effective Radiated Power

7.9 Antenna Types

7.10 Antenna Impedance Mismatch

7.11 Antenna Polarization Mismatch

7.12 Antenna Noise Temperature

7.13 Multielements Antenna (Array)

7.14 Multipath Propagation

7.15 Antenna Characterization

7.16 Antenna Measurements

Review Questions

References

Suggested Readings

8 Introduction to MIMO and Beamforming Technology

8.1 Chapter Objectives

8.2 Overview of 5G NR Technology and Beyond

8.3 5G NR Frequency Ranges

8.4 5G NR Radio Frame Structure

8.5 5G NR Numerology

8.6 5G NR Resource Grid

8.7 Massive MIMO for 5G Systems

8.8 Beamforming Technology

Review Questions

References

Suggested Readings

9 RF Performance Verification of 5G NR Transceivers

9.1 Chapter Objectives

9.2 Test Instruments for Radio Performance Verification

9.3 RF Performance Verification of 5G NR Transmitters

9.4 RF Performance Verification of 5G NR Receivers

9.5 Over-The-Air (OTA) Testing of Radio Systems

Review Questions

References

Suggested Readings

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 1

Table 1.1 Standard frequency ranges.

Table 1.2 Some spectrum allocations.

Table 1.3 Frequency range 2 (FR2) for 5G-NR mmWave systems.

Chapter 3

Table 3.1 Transitions of DPSK modulator.

Table 3.2 Spectral efficiency vs. modulation scheme.

Chapter 5

Table 5.1 Common power amplifier classifications.

Chapter 6

Table 6.1 Receiver RF block-level budget.

Table 6.2 Block-level budget of Figure 6.13.

Table 6.3 Transmitter RF block-level budget.

Chapter 8

Table 8.1 5G frequency ranges.

Table 8.2 SCS associated numerology in 5G numerology.

Table 8.3 5G NR bandwidths for FR1.

Table 8.4 5G NR bandwidths for FR2.

Chapter 9

Table 9.1 Conducted conformance tests of 5G NR base station transmitters.

Table 9.2 Output power limits for BS type 1-C.

Table 9.3 5G NR BS total power dynamic range.

Table 9.4 Transmit OFF power.

Table 9.5 Transient period.

Table 9.6 Frequency error specifications for different BS classes.

Table 9.7 EVM requirements for 5G base station.

Table 9.8 FR1Test models for testing EVM of 5G NR base station.

Table 9.9 ACLR requirements for different channel BW.

Table 9.10 General BS transmitter spurious emission limits in FR1, Category ...

Table 9.11 General BS transmitter spurious emission limits in FR1, Category ...

Table 9.12 Interfering and wanted signals for transmitter intermodulation re...

Table 9.13 Key conformance tests of 5G NR base station receivers.

Table 9.14 NR wide-area BS reference sensitivity levels.

Table 9.15 Receiver dynamic range requirements for a wide-area BS.

Table 9.16 Base station ACS requirement.

Table 9.17 Base station ACS interferer frequency offset values.

Table 9.18 Δ

f

OOB

offset for NR operating bands.

Table 9.19 Base station general blocking requirement.

Table 9.20 Base station narrowband blocking requirement.

Table 9.21 Out-of-band blocking performance requirement.

Table 9.22 General BS receiver spurious emissions limits.

Table 9.23 General intermodulation requirement.

Table 9.24 Interfering signal for intermodulation requirement.

Table 9.25 Wide-area BS in-channel selectivity.

Table 9.26 OTA conformance tests for 5G Nr base station receivers.

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1

Figure 1.1 Simplified block diagram of a wireless communication model.

Figure 1.2 Types of radio communication systems.

Figure 1.3 Block diagram of a radio transceiver front-end using a duplexer....

Figure 1.4 Block diagram of a radio transceiver with an RF switch.

Figure 1.5 Block diagram of a radio transceiver using a circulator.

Figure 1.6 Block datagram of an RF transceiver.

Figure 1.7 Illustration of an FDMA channels.

Figure 1.8 Simplified block diagram of an FDM system transmitter.

Figure 1.9 FDM transmission.

Figure 1.10 Illustration of TDMA transmission.

Figure 1.11 CDMA transmission.

Figure 1.12 Representation of an OFDM transmission.

Figure 1.13 Illustration of THz region in the electromagnetic spectrum [17]....

Figure 1.14 Illustration of a basic MIMO system.

Figure 1.15 Modulator block in a wireless transmitter.

Figure 1.16 Time and frequency domains of two sinusoid signals A and B. (a) ...

Figure 1.17 Time and frequency domains of two multiplied signals

v

1

(

t

) and

v

Chapter 2

Figure 2.1 Simplified block diagram of an analog communication system.

Figure 2.2 Time domain representation of an AM signal.

Figure 2.3 Frequency domain representation of an AM signal.

Figure 2.4 Illustration of AM signals with different modulation indices.

Figure 2.5 Frequency domain representation of a single-sideband AM signal.

Figure 2.6 Block diagram of an SSB transmitter using filter method.

Figure 2.7 Block diagram of a phase-shift SSB modulator.

Figure 2.8 Solution of Example 2.3.

Figure 2.9 Envelope detection of an AM signal. (a) Envelope detector circuit...

Figure 2.10 Illustration of FM modulation generation.

Figure 2.11 Bessel functions for different modulation indices

M

f

.

Figure 2.12 Illustration of the frequency spectrum of an FM Signal.

Figure 2.13 Bessel coefficient, for Example 2.6.

Figure 2.14 Spectrum of Example 2.6.

Figure 2.15 Frequency response of a combined preemphasis and deemphasis circ...

Figure 2.16 Input and output waveforms of an FM demodulator.

Figure 2.17 Basic building blocks of a PLL FM demodulator.

Figure 2.18 Illustration of a phase-modulated signal.

Figure 2.19 PM signals with different

M

p

indices.

Chapter 3

Figure 3.1 Block diagram of a basic digital communication system.

Figure 3.2 (a) NRZ signals and (b) RTZ signals.

Figure 3.3 (a) NRZ bipolar signal and (b) RTZ bipolar signal.

Figure 3.4 Sampling of an analog signal.

Figure 3.5 Analog to digital conversion process.

Figure 3.6 8-bit D/A converter.

Figure 3.7 Illustration of FSK signal.

Figure 3.8 Simplified block diagram of an FSK transmitter.

Figure 3.9 Illustration of a BPSK constellation diagram.

Figure 3.10 Output of a BPSK modulator for

0 1 0 1 1 1 0

binary input.

Figure 3.11 Block diagram of a BPSK modulator.

Figure 3.12 Constellation diagram of an 8-PSK modulation.

Figure 3.13 DPSK modulator.

Figure 3.14 Block diagram of a 16-QAM modulator.

Figure 3.15 Constellation diagrams of a 16 QAM and 64 QAM.

Figure 3.16 Block diagram of a 16-QAM demodulator.

Figure 3.17 Probability of error vs.

E

b

/

E

o

for different modulation schemes....

Figure 3.18 Block diagram of a frequency-hopping spread spectrum transmitter...

Figure 3.19 Serial binary data stream and a PN code rate.

Figure 3.20 Pseudorandom frequency-hope pattern.

Figure 3.21 Block diagram of a frequency-hopping spread spectrum receiver.

Figure 3.22 Block diagram of a DSSS transmitter.

Figure 3.23 Narrowband and spread spectrum signals.

Figure 3.24 Block diagram of a DSSS receiver.

Figure 3.25 Block diagram of an analog OFDM transmitter.

Figure 3.26 Block diagrams of a digital OFDM transmitter (a) and OFDM receiv...

Figure 3.27 Representation of (a) frequency division multiplexing and (b) OF...

Chapter 4

Figure 4.1 (a) Two-wire transmission line, (b) coaxial transmission line, an...

Figure 4.2 Cross-sectional views of the

E

and the

H

fields surrounding paral...

Figure 4.3 Circuit model of a transmission line section of length d

z

.

Figure 4.4 Input impedance of the transmission line at any position

d

.

Figure 4.5 Transmission line circuit for Example 4.16.

Figure 4.6 Example 4.17.

Figure 4.7 Example 4.18.

Figure 4.8 Transmit receive switch using quarter-wavelength lines as impedan...

Figure 4.9 Transmission line elements in RF circuits: (a) low-noise amplifie...

Figure 4.10 Cross-section of RF/mmWave planar transmission lines: (a) micros...

Figure 4.11 Microstrip line structure and its

E

(electric) and

H

(magnetic) ...

Figure 4.12 Smith chart.

Figure 4.13 Perimeter scale of Smith chart.

Figure 4.14 Constant reactance and constant resistance circles. (a) Constant...

Figure 4.15 Illustration of normalized impedance of

z

= 1 +

j

1.

Figure 4.16 Immittance chart showing shunt and series inductances and capaci...

Figure 4.17 Illustration of short, matched, and open impedances.

Figure 4.18 Solution of Example 4.20.

Figure 4.19 Solution of Example 4.21.

Figure 4.20 Solution of Example 4.22.

Figure 4.21 Solution of Example 4.23.

Figure 4.22 Solution of Example 4.24.

Figure 4.23 Example 4.25.

Figure 4.24 Impedance Smith chart of Example 4.25.

Figure 4.25 Admittance Smith chart of Example 4.25.

Figure 4.26 Illustration of single-stub matching.

Figure 4.27 Example 4.26.

Figure 4.28 Example 4.26.

Figure 4.29 Example 4.27.

Figure 4.30 Solution of Example 4.27.

Figure 4.31 Illustration of double-stub matching.

Figure 4.32 Admittance at the location of the second stub before it is inser...

Figure 4.33 Illustration of the effect of the second stub on the input admit...

Figure 4.34 Illustration of the angle of rotation

θ

aux

(270°) correspon...

Figure 4.35 Example 4.28.

Figure 4.36 Solution of Example 4.28.

Figure 4.37 Example 4.29.

Figure 4.38 Solution of Example 4.29.

Figure 4.39 Example 4.30.

Figure 4.40 Solution of Example 4.30.

Figure 4.41 (a) Two-port network and (b) cascaded two-port networks.

Figure 4.42 Example 4.31.

Figure 4.43 Example 4.32.

Figure 4.44 Illustration of

S

-parameters of a two-port network.

Figure 4.45 Display of measurements on a vector network analyzer (VNA).

Figure 4.46 Example 4.33.

Figure 4.47 Example 4.34. (a) A two-port network of series impedance

Z

. (b) ...

Figure 4.48 Transmission line connectors: (a) coax connectors and (b) SMA co...

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1 Block diagram of RF transceiver system.

Figure 5.2 Commercial low-noise amplifier products.

Figure 5.3 Test setup for measuring LNA's

S

-parameters.

Figure 5.4 Illustration of P

1dB

and third-order intercept of an amplifier.

Figure 5.5 Output spectrum of the second- and third-order two-tone Intermodu...

Figure 5.6 Test setup for measuring LNAs third-order intercept point.

Figure 5.7 Illustration of mixer's frequency conversion. (a) Frequency up-co...

Figure 5.8 Block diagram of an image rejection mixer.

Figure 5.9 Schematic diagram of a double-balanced mixer.

Figure 5.10 Commercial mixer products.

Figure 5.11 Filter response characteristics.

Figure 5.12 LPF structure and commercial LPF products.

Figure 5.13 HPF structure and its frequency response.

Figure 5.14 BPF structure and frequency response.

Figure 5.15 Bandstop filter structure and its frequency response.

Figure 5.16 Cavity resonator filter.

Figure 5.17 A block diagram of a transceiver and a picture of a COTS duplexe...

Figure 5.18 Block diagram of a phase-locked loop frequency synthesizer.

Figure 5.19 Illustration of noise performance of a PLL frequency synthesizer...

Figure 5.20 Illustration of RLC resonator.

Figure 5.21 Generic block diagram of an oscillator.

Figure 5.22 Voltage-controlled oscillator module.

Figure 5.23 RF power amplifier module.

Figure 5.24 Illustration of linearization process.

Figure 5.25 Simplified block diagram of a feedforward linearization.

Figure 5.26 Photo of a commercial circulator and a diagram of a transceiver ...

Figure 5.27 RF isolator module.

Figure 5.28 Directional couplers.

Figure 5.29 Photograph of a commercial power splitter/combiner and schematic...

Figure 5.30 Commercial attenuator products.

Figure 5.31 RF phase shifter module.

Figure 5.32 6-Bit phase shifter.

Figure 5.33 Application of phase shifters in phased array antenna.

Figure 5.34 Basic types of phase shifters. (a) Switched line phase shifter. ...

Figure 5.35 RF switch for Tx/Rx switching.

Figure 5.36 Transmit/Receive switch using PIN diodes.

Chapter 6

Figure 6.1 Illustration of a communication link with two transceivers.

Figure 6.2 Block diagram of a superheterodyne receiver.

Figure 6.3 Block datagram of a superheterodyne transceiver.

Figure 6.4 Illustration of one dB compression point.

Figure 6.5 Representation of the second- and third-order two-tone intermodul...

Figure 6.6 Illustration of the image frequency in superheterodyne receivers....

Figure 6.7 Illustration of image rejection using a filter in superheterodyne...

Figure 6.8 A dual-conversion superheterodyne receiver.

Figure 6.9 Block diagram of a direct-conversion transceiver.

Figure 6.10 Block diagram of a software-defined radio transceiver.

Figure 6.11 Basic structure of a software-defined radio receiver.

Figure 6.12 Simulink testbench of the receive chain of Table 6.1.

Figure 6.13 RF receiver frontend.

Figure 6.14 A direct-conversion transmitter.

Figure 6.15 Illustration of signal's error vector magnitude.

Figure 6.16 Illustration of operating band unwanted emission (OBUE).

Chapter 7

Figure 7.1 Representation of a radio communications link.

Figure 7.2 Representation of transmit and receive antenna models.

Figure 7.3 Representation of transverse electromagnetic wave.

Figure 7.4 Representation of near-field and far-field regions.

Figure 7.5 Electric field components in a spherical coordinate system.

Figure 7.6 Elevation and azimuth radiation patterns of a dipole antenna.

Figure 7.7 Illustration of antenna radiation pattern parameters.

Figure 7.8 Lobes of an antenna radiation pattern.

Figure 7.9 Radiation patterns of an omnidirectional antenna.

Figure 7.10 Vertically polarized antenna.

Figure 7.11 Linear and circular polarizations of microstrip antenna.

Figure 7.12 Representation of an isotropic point-source antenna.

Figure 7.13 Short linear antenna in a spherical coordinate.

Figure 7.14 Transverse electric (

E

) and magnetic (

H

) fields.

Figure 7.15 Illustration of antenna aperture.

Figure 7.16 Illustration of effective radiated power ERP.

Figure 7.17 Various antenna types.

Figure 7.18 Dipole antenna and its equivalent monopole.

Figure 7.19 Elevation and azimuth radiation patterns of 900 MHz dipole.

Figure 7.20 900 MHz dipole and its 3D radiation pattern.

Figure 7.21 Simulated input impedance and

S

11

of a 900 MHz dipole antenna.

Figure 7.22 Rectangular patch antenna and the top view of a microstrip linea...

Figure 7.23 53.5 GHz microstrip patch antenna on Rogers RO4350 substrate.

Figure 7.24 3D Radiation pattern of a 53.5 GHz microstrip patch antenna on R...

Figure 7.25 E-plane radiation pattern of a 53.5 GHz microstrip patch antenna...

Figure 7.26 Simulated

S

11

of a 53.5 GHz microstrip patch antenna on Rogers R...

Figure 7.27 N-element microstrip antenna array.

Figure 7.28 Simulated array factor for 7-element and 13-element linear array...

Figure 7.29 illustration of multipath propagation.

Figure 7.30 Illustration of flat fading.

Figure 7.31 Illustration of delay spread.

Figure 7.32 Simulated path loss for free space and indoor signals.

Figure 7.33 Representation of propagation path loss vs. distance.

Figure 7.34 Measuring propagation path loss exponent.

Figure 7.35 Radio Fresnel zones.

Figure 7.36 Photograph of an antenna anechoic chamber [14].

Figure 7.37 A pyramidal radiation absorbent material (RAM).

Figure 7.38 Illustration of a single-reflector CATR system and its quiet zon...

Figure 7.39 Practical CATR system [15].

Figure 7.40 Test setup for measuring the antenna gain.

Figure 7.41 Test setup for measuring antenna radiation patterns.

Figure 7.42 Impedance measurement vs. frequency.

Figure 7.43 Test setup for measuring antenna input impedance.

Chapter 8

Figure 8.1 5G application areas.

Figure 8.2 Free space path loss vs. frequency for 1 km link.

Figure 8.3 Illustration of a 5G radio frame.

Figure 8.4 Illustration of 5G NR resource grid.

Figure 8.5 Illustration of an antenna panel of 64 elements for a 32T32R MIM ...

Figure 8.6 Illustration of a full dimension MIMO system [8].

Figure 8.7 Simplified channel matrix model in MIMO system.

Figure 8.8 Illustration of electronically steered phase array antenna.

Figure 8.9 Normalized radiation patterns of single radiating element, 7-elem...

Figure 8.10 Illustration of antenna array beam steering by controlling the p...

Figure 8.11 Illustration of an analog beamforming in a wireless transmitter....

Figure 8.12 Illustration of digital beamforming in a wireless transmitter.

Figure 8.13 Illustration of a hybrid beamforming in a wireless transmitter....

Chapter 9

Figure 9.1 Vector signal generator (R&S SMW200A) [5].

Figure 9.2 Vector spectrum analyzer (Keysight Technologies) [6].

Figure 9.3 Radiated and conducted reference points of base station type 1-H....

Figure 9.4 Test setup for measuring transmitter output power.

Figure 9.5 Illustration of transmitter ON and OFF periods [2].

Figure 9.6 Example of measured transmitter OFF power.

Figure 9.7 An image of measured frequency error [7].

Figure 9.8 Illustration of signal's error vector magnitude.

Figure 9.9 An image of measured EVM (error vector magnitude) [7].

Figure 9.10 Test setup for measuring the TAE between two antenna connectors ...

Figure 9.11 An image of measured TAE [7].

Figure 9.12 An image of measured OBW of a single carrier [7].

Figure 9.13 Illustration of adjacent leakage power ratio (ACLR).

Figure 9.14 Illustration of operating band unwanted emission (OBUE).

Figure 9.15 Test setup for measuring OBUE.

Figure 9.16 Test setup for measuring transmitter spurious emissions.

Figure 9.17 An example of measured transmitter spurious emissions.

Figure 9.18 Test setup for measuring transmitter intermodulation.

Figure 9.19 Test setup for measuring the receiver reference sensitivity.

Figure 9.20 Test setup for measuring receiver dynamic range.

Figure 9.21 Test setup for measuring adjacent channel selectivity (ACS).

Figure 9.22 Relationship between wanted and interference signals.

Figure 9.23 Illustration of in-band blocking.

Figure 9.24 Test setup for measuring in-band blocking.

Figure 9.25 Test setup for measuring the out-of-band blocking.

Figure 9.26 Illustration of out-of-band blocking.

Figure 9.27 Test setup for measuring receiver spurious emissions.

Figure 9.28 Test setup for receiver intermodulation characterization.

Figure 9.29 illustration of interference signals that cause receiver intermo...

Figure 9.30 Test setup for in-channel selectivity measurement.

Figure 9.31 Illustration of conducted and over-the-air test methods.

Figure 9.32 Illustration of near/far filed boundary.

Figure 9.33 Illustration of an OTA test setup.

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

About the Author

Preface

Acknowledgments

Begin Reading

Index

End User License Agreement

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Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing

A Practical Guide for Wireless Systems

Ibrahim A. Haroun

Copyright © 2024 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved.

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This book is dedicated to my late wife Magdalene who used to edit my publications and I have learned a lot from her. She will always be remembered.

About the Author

Dr. Ibrahim A. Haroun is a retired senior RF system designer, Canada. In his career, Dr. Haroun has worked for a number of companies in different capacities, from a senior radio frequency (RF)/microwave designer to an RF hardware system design manager, and worked as a Research Scientist/Engineer at the Communications Research Centre, Canada. He was a Lecturer with the Marine Institute of Memorial University, Canada, and he was a Research Adjunct Professor with the Department of Electronics, Carleton University, and the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Dr. Haroun has also published and presented several papers at international conferences and is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

Preface

The purpose of this book, Essentials of RF Front-end Design and Testing: A Practical Guide for Wireless Systems, is to provide the required knowledge for developing RF transceiver front-ends using commercial off-the-shelf building blocks, as well as verifying their RF performance, and developing RF prototypes for wireless applications. It covers relevant topics for underlying RF systems from baseband to transmission. In addition, the book should serve as a reference for RF systems engineers to develop and characterize RF transceiver front-ends and proof-of-concept wireless systems, and provide complementary materials for academic students (undergraduate/graduate) to enhance their learning experience on RF system development and testing. The book includes nine chapters. Each chapter has learning objectives, review questions, a list of references related to the covered topics, and suggested readings that present the up-to-date developments related to the topics covered in the chapters. The chapters are organized as follows:

Chapter 1 provides an overview of wireless communications, radio system classifications (simplex, half-duplex, and full-duplex), radio transceivers, cellular phone systems, terahertz (THz) communication, MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output), the basic concept of modulation, and radio frequency spectrum allocation.

Chapter 2 introduces and explains the principles of analog communications, amplitude modulation AM, single-sideband modulation, AM demodulation, frequency modulation FM, noise suppression in FM, FM phase-locked loop detector, and phase modulation PM.

Chapter 3 discusses and presents an overview of digital communications, types of digital signals, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion, digital modulation including frequency-shift keying FSK, phase shift keying PSK, and quadrature amplitude modulation QAM. Spectral efficiency and noise, wideband modulation including spread spectrum frequency hopping, direct sequence spread spectrum, and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM.

Chapter 4 covers high-frequency transmission lines, transmission line analysis, reflection due to impedance mismatch, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), the input impedance of a transmission line, quarter-wave impedance matching, planar transmission lines, the Smith chart, single-stub and double-stub matching, S-parameters, and ABCD parameters.

Chapter 5 provides the essential background for testing and characterizing the building blocks of RF transceiver front-ends. Such blocks include low-noise amplifiers, mixers, RF filters (low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, band-stop), cavity filters, duplexers, frequency synthesis, voltage-controlled oscillators, power amplifiers, circulators and isolators, directional couplers, power combiners, RF switches, and RF phase shifters.

Chapter 6 presents different receiver and transmitter architectures, focusing on system performance and characterization rather than circuit design. It covers different architectures including superheterodyne, direct conversion (i.e., Zero-IF), low-IF, software-defined radio (SDR). The receiver parameters that are discussed include receiver sensitivity and selectivity, receiver intermodulation, and dynamic range. The transmitter system parameters that are covered include output transmitter power, spurious emission, frequency error, error vector magnitude (EVM), occupied bandwidth (OBW), adjacent channel leakage power ratio (ACLR), operating band unwanted emission (OBUE), spurious emission, and transmitter intermodulation. The impact of the transmitter and receiver parameters on the system performance is also addressed. The RF block-level budget analysis and examples of the receiver RF block-level budget analysis are presented to help the readers apply the topic to develop an RF block-level budget.

Chapter 7 covers antenna fundamentals including antenna gain, radiation pattern, antenna input impedance, antenna polarization, antenna noise temperature, antenna types, microstrip antennas, and the theory of array antennas. It also discusses multipath propagation and propagation path loss, Fresnel zones, antenna anechoic chamber, compact antenna test range, and antenna measurements including gain, radiation pattern, and input impedance.

Chapter 8 covers the basics of MIMOs and beamforming technology for wireless systems such as 5G, with a focus on the RF architecture of the beamforming subsystems. The chapter provides a brief overview of 5G NR technology including the technology evolution, 5G NR frequency bands, 5G NR frame structure, 5G numerology and subcarrier spacing, and 5G resource grid. Such an overview helps the readers understand the specifications of the RF conformance testing of 5G NR transceivers. The concept of massive MIMO, the MIMO channel, and the beamforming types including analog, digital, and hybrid beamforming are discussed.

Chapter 9 introduces and explains the test setups for characterizing the key RF test parameters of 5G NR base station transmitters and receivers. The transmitter test parameters that are discussed include the output power dynamic range, ON/OFF transmit power, error-vector-magnitude (EVM), occupied bandwidth, adjacent channel leakage power, operating band unwanted emissions (OBUE), spurious emissions, and intermodulation. Images of the measured transmitter test results are presented. The receiver test parameters that are covered include receiver sensitivity, dynamic range, adjacent channel selectivity, in-band blocking, receiver spuriousness, and receiver intermodulation. The chapter also explains the over-the-air (OTA) testing method for characterizing the performance of wireless systems.

Canada, 13 October 2023

Ibrahim A. Haroun

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my former students at the Marine Institute of Memorial University, who suggested having a book that covers various radio communication disciplines in a single book. Also, I would like to thank Wiley's team for their support in completing this book project.

1Introduction to Wireless Systems

This chapter presents a brief overview of wireless communications and cellular phone systems to lay the foundation for discussing the book's remaining chapters. It covers the basic functional blocks of a wireless communication system, radio systems classifications (simplex, half-duplex, and full-duplex), radio transceivers of wireless systems, cellular phone systems including first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), and fifth-generation (5G) New Radio wireless technologies. Further topics cover the air interface technologies, including frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), terahertz (THz) communications for next-generation 6G wireless technology, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology, the basic concept of modulation, time and frequency-domain signals, and frequency spectrum allocation. These topics are discussed in further detail in the references list at the end of the chapter. The chapter also provides review questions to help the reader understand the covered topics, and suggested readings that present the up-to-date research activities that are related to the topics of this chapter.

1.1 Chapter Objectives

On reading this chapter, the reader will be able to:

Draw a block diagram of a wireless communication model and explain the function of each block.

Compare and contrast full-duplex, simplex, and half-duplex radio systems.

Explain the difference between 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G wireless technologies.

Explain the applications of

frequency range 1

(

FR1

) and

frequency range 2

(

FR2

) of 5G NR (new radio) wireless technology.

Explain the advantages and challenges of using THz frequency in the future 6G wireless technology.

Explain the advantages of MIMO wireless systems.

Briefly explain the difference between

amplitude modulation

(

AM

) and

frequency modulation

(

FM

) and why modulation is needed.

Illustrate the time-domain and frequency domain of a sinusoidal signal.

Explain the differences between FDMA, TDMA, and CDMA wireless access technologies.

Explain why radio transceivers' front end uses circulators and

radiofrequency

(

RF

) switches.

Illustrate and explain the frequency spectra of an OFDM signal.

1.2 Overview of Wireless Communications

Wireless communication [1–8] is a global industry people depend on in many ways for effective business, efficiency in service (e.g., education, health, security, etc.), as well as for critical situations (e.g., lifeline emergencies), which makes it indispensable to public safety. Wireless technology was first introduced in 1901 when Guglielmo Marconi successfully achieved the first transatlantic communication. Radio broadcasting began in the 1920s and used vacuum-tube technology in transmitters and receivers. The invention of integrated circuits in 1958 enabled the design and development of small-size wireless communication systems.

The primary function of a wireless communication system is to send information, such as voice, video images, data, or other physical variables (e.g., temperature, speed, pressure, etc.), from the information source to the information destination through a radio channel (i.e., free-space transmission medium). Figure 1.1 shows a simplified block diagram of a wireless communication model.

In Figure 1.1, the source block represents a transducer that converts physical variables into electrical signals. These electrical signals are also called baseband signals that can be processed (e.g., encoding, interleaving, etc.) in the transmitter chain. Microphones and cameras are transducers that convert sound and visual images to baseband signals. Baseband signals cannot be transmitted directly over the air because such a transmission requires large antennas. To transmit baseband signals over the air, they must be combined with a higher frequency called carrier frequency, and this process is called modulation. The modulated signal gets amplified and applied to the antenna, which acts as an interface between the transmitter's output and the free space. The antenna converts the RF signals to radio waves (i.e., electromagnetic waves) that propagate over the air at the speed of light (3 × 108 m/s). Antennas and radio wave propagation are discussed in detail in Chapter 7.

At the receiver end of a wireless link, the antenna converts the radio waves into electrical signals that get down-converted to an intermediate frequency (IF) and baseband. Finally, the transducers convert the baseband signals back to the original physical variables that were sent by the transmitter.

Figure 1.1 Simplified block diagram of a wireless communication model.

1.3 Radio Systems Classification

Radio communications systems are classified into simplex, half-duplex, and full-duplex. In a simplex system, communication is one-way from the transmitter to the receiver, as in radio and TV broadcasting. In a full-duplex system, transmission and reception coincide (thus creating a two-way communication) as in mobile phones. In a half-duplex radio system, the receiver and transmitter alternate (i.e., take turns). Figure 1.2 illustrates half-duplex and full-duplex transmission between two wireless systems A and B.

1.3.1 Radio Transceivers

Radio transceivers transmit and receive radio signals in wireless communication systems such as cellular phones, radars, two-way radios, and electronic navigation systems. In radio transceivers, the transmitter and the receiver share the same antenna and are packaged in the same enclosure.

When the transmit frequency differs from the receive frequency, a duplexer is used to enable the use of a single antenna for both transmit and receive operations. Figure 1.3 shows a simplified block diagram of an RF transceiver that uses a duplexer.

Figure 1.2 Types of radio communication systems.

Figure 1.3 Block diagram of a radio transceiver front-end using a duplexer.

A duplexer is a device that enables bi-directional communication in wireless communications systems, and it isolates the receiver from the transmitter while permitting them to share a common antenna. In Figure 1.3, the duplexer consists of two bandpass filters: one is the transmit bandpass filter (TX BPF) that passes the transmit signal to the antenna and blocks the received signal, while the other is the receive bandpass filter (RX BPF) that passes the received signal from the antenna to the receiver and blocks the transmit signal. In this way, a single antenna can be shared by both the transmitter and the receiver.

If the transmitter and receiver operate on the same frequency, an RF switch connects the transmitter to the antenna during the transmission and isolates the receiver. The switch also connects the antenna to the receiver and isolates the transmitter during the reception to enable sharing of the antenna by the transmitter and the receiver. Figure 1.4 shows a block diagram of an RF transceiver that uses an RF switch.

To prevent transmit power leakage to the receiver, the RF switch should have sufficient isolation. The transmit (TX) leakage to the receiver's input reduces the signal-to-noise ratio, degrading the receiver sensitivity (i.e., the ability to detect weak signals). A circulator can be used to enable the transceiver to transmit and receive without constraint on the transmitter and the receiver timing and frequency. Figure 1.5 shows a radio transceiver that uses a circulator.

A circulator is a passive, nonreciprocal three-port device that enables a radiofrequency signal to pass from one port to another while isolating the signal from the other port. The performance specifications and testing of duplexers, RF switches, and circulators are discussed in further detail in Chapter 5. Figure 1.6 shows a block diagram of an RF transceiver that uses a transmit/receive (T/R) switch.

Figure 1.4 Block diagram of a radio transceiver with an RF switch.

Figure 1.5 Block diagram of a radio transceiver using a circulator.

Figure 1.6 Block datagram of an RF transceiver.

Figure 1.6 shows the basic functional blocks of an RF transceiver, including a (T/R) switch, low-noise amplifier (LNA), filters, power amplifier, mixers, local oscillators (LO), analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital-to-analog converter (DAC), modulator, and demodulator. Some of these building blocks can be used standalone or integrated into an integrated chip. Although similar RF building blocks in different types of transceivers perform the same basic function, the complexity of each implementation can considerably vary depending on the overall system requirement and operating environment for each specific application. The performance of these blocks is affected by many factors, such as the communication link range, information bandwidth, and power budget. The basic theory of operation and testing of the RF building blocks that are used in wireless communication systems are discussed in Chapter 5.

In the transmit chain shown in Figure 1.6, the in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) signals from the digital-signal-processing (DSP) block get converted by the DAC blocks and then filtered, amplified, and applied to the I/Q modulator. The signals from the I/Q modulator are combined by a power combiner and then applied to a gain block to drive the mixer that converts the signal to the required transmit frequency. The LO port of the mixer is connected to the LO block that generates the carrier signal. The output of the mixer is filtered by a bandpass filter that suppresses any undesired frequency components that are generated in the mixing process. The output of the filter is applied to a driver amplifier to compensate for the filter's insertion loss and to amplify the signal to the level that drives the power amplifier. The power amplifier amplifies the signal to the required transmit power level. The isolator between the power amplifier and the T/R switch prevents any reflection from the switch to the power amplifier. The T/R switch connects the transmit signal to the antenna and isolates the receiver from the antenna during the transmission time. The antenna converts the transmit signal to electromagnetic waves propagating in the free space at the speed of light.

In the receiver chain shown in Figure 1.6, the antenna converts the received electromagnetic waves to an electrical signal. At the same time, the T/R switch connects the antenna to the LNA and isolates the transmit chain to protect the receiver. The LNA amplifies the received RF signal for subsequent processing; the output of the LNA is then applied to a BPF filter to suppress out-of-band signals. The down converter mixer converts the RF to a lower frequency signal to be demodulated by the I/Q demodulator and converted to I and Q signals by the ADC blocks. The I and Q signals are further processed by the DSP block to optimize the receiver performance. Each block of the transceiver's blocks and their performance parameters is discussed in Chapter 6.

1.4 Cellular Phone Systems

Cellular phones are the most widely used wireless systems because they enable users to connect to the standard telephone systems, support sending text messages, checking email, accessing the Internet, finding a location, and taking high-resolution photos. The original cellular technology advanced mobile phone system (AMPS