A fully integrated, programmable mixed-signal transceiver comprising a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) which is frequency and protocol agnostic with digital inputs and outputs, the transceiver being programmable and configurable for multiple radio frequency bands and standards and being capable of connecting to many networks and service providers. The RFIC does not use spiral inductors and instead includes transmission line inductors allowing for improved scalability. Components of the transceiver are programmable to allow the transceiver to switch between different frequency bands of operating. Frequency switching can be accomplished though the content of digital registers coupled to the components.

Programmable radio transceiver

A multiple-mode multiple band transceiver is disclosed. Some embodiments include a multiple-channel transmitter including a plurality of selectable transmit-channel components, the plurality of selectable transmit-channel components sharing at least one element coupled to a modulator, the plurality of selectable transmit channel components forming at least first and second transmit channels configured to generate radio-frequency signals using at least a first and a second multiple-access modulation technique, and a first switch configured to enable at least one of the first and second transmit channels to transmit a communication signal using at least one of the first and the second multiple-access modulation techniques.

Shared functional block multi-mode multi-band communication transceivers

The semiconductor integrated circuit (RF IC) for a mobile telephone capable of transmitting/receiving the signals of plural bands reduces the DC offsets of the amplifiers located in the following stages of the mixers that demodulate or down-convert the reception signals The invention scrambles the signal lines to transmit the outputs of the plural mixers that demodulate or down-convert the reception signals of different bands, so as to avoid the adjacent signal lines from making the same combination from the starting ends to the finishing ends

Semiconductor integrated circuit device

We present an ultra-low-power Bluetooth low-energy (BLE) transceiver (TRX) for the Internet of Things (IoT) optimized for digital 28-nm CMOS. A transmitter (TX) employs an all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL) with a switched current-source digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) featuring low frequency pushing, and class-E/F2 digital power amplifier (PA), featuring high efficiency. Low 1/ $f$ DCO noise allows the ADPLL to shut down after acquiring lock. The receiver operates in discrete time at high sampling rate (~10 Gsamples/s) with intermediate frequency placed beyond 1/ $f$ noise corner of MOS devices. New multistage multirate charge-sharing bandpass filters are adapted to achieve high out-of-band linearity, low noise, and low power consumption. An integrated on-chip matching network serves to both PA and low-noise transconductance amplifier, thus allowing a 1-pin direct antenna connection with no external band-selection filters. The TRX consumes 2.75 mW on the RX side and 3.7 mW on the TX side when delivering 0 dBm in BLE.

/pdf/a-bluetooth-low-energy-transceiver-with-3-7-mw-all-digital-1q5rqrcdnh.pdf

A Bluetooth Low-Energy Transceiver With 3.7-mW All-Digital Transmitter, 2.75-mW High-IF Discrete-Time Receiver, and TX/RX Switchable On-Chip Matching Network

The present invention provides a semiconductor integrated circuit for communication (RF IC) realizing high yield without deteriorating a carrier leak characteristic even when a modulation circuit is formed by using cheep parts with large variations. In a semiconductor integrated circuit (RF IC) including: an input circuit constructed by a differential amplifier circuit and a level shifter, which is provided on the ante stage of a mixer of a differential circuit called a Gilbert Cell; and a modulation circuit that performs modulation by adding an I/Q signal and a carrier wave signal, a calibration circuit for canceling a DC offset in an output of the input circuit is provided.

Semiconductor integrated circuit for communication

We are approaching an age of IoT, in which sensors and controllers in all types of devices, including smart phones and PCs, are connected together. The strongest candidate fora wireless interface is the Bluetooth Low Energy® (BLE) standard because it is already widely used in smart phones. Many markets, especially for wearable devices like smart watches, demand BLE devices with a small module area and low current consumption. In previous research, solutions to the requirements for BLE have been widely discussed such as using the sliding IF (SIF) architecture in the RX [1,2] and a Class-D amplifier [2] with HD2 calibration [4] in the TX to achieve lower current consumption. The SIF architecture, however, involves RF image blocking violation without exception rule or the use of additional off-chip filters. In the TX, meanwhile, the calibration incurs a weakness in terms of the offset issue. Moreover, there is no approach to achieve "zero" external components for the RF port. In this paper, a BLE transceiver, with a reconfigurable filter, embedded into an on-chip matching network without any external components, is presented.

13.4 A 6.3mW BLE transceiver embedded RX image-rejection filter and TX harmonic-suppression filter reusing on-chip matching network

A transmitter is provided which includes a transmitting circuit that does not require a high-performance low noise VCO restricting cost reduction thereof and that can reduce the number of parts without requiring an RF filter. A direct conversion that does not require a transmission VCO is applied to the transmitting circuit. In order to achieve noise reduction in a receiving band, low-pass filters are provided a IQ input sections of a modulator that converts IQ signals into RF signals. In comparison with a conventional transmitter using offset PLL, an external VCO required in addition to an RF integrated circuit, a power amplifier, and a front end circuit is reduced. Even in current transistor performance, by using a filter having rapid waveform characteristics such as a SAW more inexpensive than the VCO, or the like, it is possible to provide a GSM/GSM 1800/GSM1900 triple band transmitter.

Direct-conversion transmitting circuit and integrated transmitting/receiving circuit

A transmitter that can reduce noise without using an SAW filter whose IC integration is hard, and copes with two modulation formats of constant envelope modulation and non-constant envelope modulation, and a downsized and low-cost wireless communication apparatus that uses the transmitter are provided. The transmitter includes a quadrature modulator that modulates an input signal by quadrature modulation, a first amplifier that amplifies a modulation signal outputted by the quadrature modulator, and a second amplifier that amplifies an output signal of the first amplifier. The first amplifier operates as a limiter when the modulation format is the constant envelope modulation, and performs linear operation when the modulation format is the non-constant envelope modulation.

Transmitter and wireless communication apparatus using same

A communication semiconductor integrated circuit includes a phase control loop and an amplitude control loop. A gain of a variable gain amplifier when it is detected from an output of the comparator that the amplitudes of the reference signal and the feedback signal are equal to each other while a predetermined DC voltage is applied to an amplifier which amplifies an output of a transmission oscillation circuit and is controlled by the amplitude control loop to vary the gain of the variable gain amplifier on a feedback path is held in a register. Thereafter, the DC voltage is changed to another value to detect the gain of the variable gain amplifier, so that the gain of a variable gain amplifier on the forward path is decided on the basis of the detected gain and the gain held in the register.

Hiroaki Matsui

Papers

Semiconductor integrated circuit for communication

13.4 A 6.3mW BLE transceiver embedded RX image-rejection filter and TX harmonic-suppression filter reusing on-chip matching network

Direct-conversion transmitting circuit and integrated transmitting/receiving circuit

Transmitter and wireless communication apparatus using same

Communication semiconductor integrated circuit, communication electronic component and wireless communication system