RF transceiver with low power chirp acquisition mode

[0003] 1. Field of the Invention

[0004] This invention relates to radio frequency (RF) transceivers, and particularly to portable, fast-hopping RF transceivers.

[0005] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0006] Many modern communications systems employ the concept of “frequency hopping”, in which the frequency of a transmitted signal is changed at a rapid rate. In some frequency-hopping systems, the rate at which a signal frequency f changes with time t, i.e., Δf/Δt, is defined as a “chirp rate”. Data is conveyed in a series of pulses, which can be properly demodulated (or “dechirped”) only when the chirp rate is known.

[0007] The chirp rate of an incoming RF signal is conventionally determined (referred to herein as “chirp acquisition”) using the receiver portion of a transceiver: the incoming signal is mixed with a local oscillator (LO) signal having a frequency which is varied. The resulting intermediate frequency (IF) is processed to detect the LO frequency needed to dechirp the input signal. The incoming RF signals are high frequency, as are the corresponding LO signals needed to detect the chirp rate and to dechirp the input signal. These high frequency LO signals are typically generated with a direct digital synthesizer (DDS) driven with a phase-locked-loop (PLL); as such, there is a significant amount of power associated with the generation of the LO signals. This high power consumption may unacceptably shorten the operational life of battery-powered field transceivers.

[0008] A low power chirp acquisition mode and chirp acquisition method for a fast-hopping RF transceiver are presented which overcome the problems noted above.

[0009] The invention provides a low power, fast-hopping LO generator for the chirp acquisition process. Initially, only pulse detection circuitry is powered. When an incoming pulse is detected, a low power chirp acquisition mode is initiated. While in chirp acquisition mode, all transceiver circuitry not required to determine the chirp rate is powered down. A low power fast-hopping LO generator is powered up to provide one or more LO signals to demodulate the incoming signal, and an active bandpass filter connected to filter the demodulated output is arranged to extend the width of its passband to include the chirp rate. The filtered signal is digitized with an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and processed to determine the incoming signal's chirp rate.

[0010] To determine chirp rate, the low power LO generator must generate LO signals having different frequencies. This is preferably accomplished with the use of a look-up table, which produces a plurality of digital output word sequences in a predetermined order in response to a clock signal having a low frequency relative to the chirp rate. Each digital output word sequence represents a respective discrete LO frequency. The digital word sequences are provided to a sine-weighted digital-to-analog converter (DAC) which produces an analog output signal in response, with the frequency of the analog output signal changing with each digital word sequence. The varying frequency analog output signal is multiplied to produce the discrete LO signals provided to the mixers. The ADC and signal processor are also powered during chirp acquisition mode, with the signal processor determining the chirp rate when an LO signal of appropriate frequency is applied to the mixer. Once the chirp rate is detected, the low power LO generator is powered down, the passband of the active bandpass filter is narrowed, and the remaining receiver circuitry is powered up to dechirp the RF input signal.

[0011] Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, taken together with the accompanying drawings.

[0012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an RF transceiver with a low power chirp acquisition mode per the present invention.

[0013] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another embodiment of an RF transceiver with a low power chirp acquisition mode per the present invention.

[0014] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a low power fast-hopping LO generation circuit per the present invention.

[0015] The basic principles of a fast-hopping RF transceiver 10 per the present invention are illustrated in FIG. 1. An RF INPUT signal which has an associated chirp rate is connected to a pulse detection circuit 12. The pulse detection circuit 12 is arranged to determine whether incoming pulses are to be received and processed, by ascertaining pulse width and pulse repetition rate, for example, and to initiate a low power chirp acquisition mode when an appropriate pulse is detected. All transceiver circuitry other than pulse detection circuit 12 is powered off prior to receiving an appropriate pulse.

[0016] Transceiver 10 also includes a receiver section 14, which is designed to determine the chirp rate of the RF INPUT signal. When the low power chirp acquisition mode is initiated, pulse detection circuit 12 causes receiver section 14 to be powered up, while all other transceiver electronics remain powered down. Receiver section 14 includes a mixer circuit 16 which receives the RF INPUT signal at one input 18 and at least one LO signal at a second input 20, and produces an IF output 22. The IF output is connected to an active bandpass filter 24, and the filtered output 26 is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 28. The digitized output is fed to a signal processing circuit 30 which is arranged to analyze the digitized output and determine the chirp rate of the RF INPUT signal.

[0017] Filter 24 is arranged such that it can be configured to provide one of two possible passbands: while in low power chirp acquisition mode, the filter's bandwidth is opened up to one-half the Nyquist rate of the ADC; the passband is narrowed at all other times. The extended bandwidth allows a wide bandwidth to be digitized by the ADC, which simplifies the signal processing circuit's task of determining the chirp rate.

[0018] Receiver section 14 includes a low power, fast-hopping LO generating circuit 32, which is only active during the low power chirp acquisition mode. LO generating circuit 32 preferably includes a look-up table 34 which drives a sine-weighted digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 36. Look-up table 34 stores multiple sets of digital word sequences, each of which represents a particular discrete LO frequency. Look-up table 34 is driven with a clock 38 having a relatively low frequency with respect to the chirp rate. Clock 38 is provided by an oscillator circuit 39, the output of which drives ADC 28 and, when divided down by a divider circuit 40, look-up table 34. In response to clock 38, a first digital word sequence is fed to DAC 36 to produce an analog output 41 having a first frequency. After a predetermined time, a second digital word sequence is fed to the DAC to produce an analog output having a second frequency. In this way, the frequency of analog output 41 is stepped through a series of values in a predetermined sequence.

[0019] The analog output 41 of DAC 36 is fed to a multiplier circuit 42 to provide the discrete high frequency LO signals needed to demodulate the RF INPUT signal, with the frequency of the generated LO signal varying with the frequency of DAC output 41.

[0020] To acquire the chirp rate of the RF INPUT signal, the frequencies of the LO tones provided to mixer circuit 16 should have a minimum spacing equal to the bandwidth of the ADC. To be conservative, it is preferred that these frequency slots overlap. For example, if the bandwidth of the RF INPUT signal is 2.0 GHz, and the bandwidth of the ADC is 0.24 GHz, at least 8 discrete LO tones should be created to determine the chirp rate. With a wider ADC bandwidth, less LO tones are needed, and acquisition time is reduced.

[0021] Once the chirp rate is acquired, low power LO generating circuit 32 is powered down, and the receiver circuitry needed to dechirp the RF INPUT signal is powered up. This typically includes a separate “dechirp LO generating circuit” 44, the output 46 of which is connected to mixer 16 (via a switch 47) to provide the LO signals necessary to dechirp the RF INPUT signal. The chirp rate information is stored, preferably digitally, and is used to drive dechirp LO generating circuit 44. The transceiver also includes a transmitter circuit 48, which may also be powered up once the chirp rate is acquired.

[0022] Active bandpass filter 24 may be made reconfigurable in several ways. For example, a mux/demux scheme can be used to affect the filter's bandwidth. Here, IF signal 22 is routed to an analog 1:2 demultiplexer circuit which has two separate outputs. One output goes to a wideband active bandpass filter having a bandwidth which is one half the Nyquist rate of ADC 28. The second output goes to a narrowband active bandpass filter having a bandwidth which is a fraction of the ADC's Nyquist rate. The outputs of the two filters go to a 2:1 analog multiplexer, the output of which drives ADC 28. The mux and demux are digitally controlled, and are selected depending on the mode of operation. Similarly, the active filters are powered up and down in accordance with the mode of operation.

[0023] An alternative method of making filter 24 reconfigurable would employ a digitally programmable DAC to control the transconductance value of a g_m/C filter.

[0024] Another embodiment of transceiver 10 is shown in FIG. 2. Here, a low noise amplifier (LNA) 50 preferably buffers the incoming RF INPUT signal. Mixer circuit 16 preferably comprises a pair of mixers 52 and 54, preferably Gilbert mixers, which receive the buffered RF INPUT signal at inputs 56 and 58, respectively, and a pair of quadrature LO signals at inputs 60 (90°) and 62 (0°), respectively. Mixers 52 and 54 produce respective outputs 64 and 66, with mixer output 64 containing components of the sum and difference of inputs 56 and 60, and mixer output 66 containing components of the sum and difference of inputs 58 and 62. A phase shift network 68, preferably comprising first and second phase shifters 70 and 72 which introduce +45° and −45° phase shifts into signals 64 and 66, respectively, is connected so as to introduce a 90° phase difference between the mixer outputs. The resulting mixer outputs (74, 76) are summed with a summing circuit 78 to produce IF output 22. The phase shift circuits 70, 72 provide image rejection for the receiver's front-end; one method of implementing this technique to provide active image rejection is described in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/220,288, which is assigned to the present assignee. Active image rejection tends to provide more accurate cancellation of the image frequency and is thus preferred; however, passive image rejection techniques may also be employed.

[0025] For this embodiment, low power fast-hopping LO generating 32 must generate quadrature LO signals. Multiplier circuit 42 is thus configured to receive the quadrature outputs 41aand 41bof the quadrature sine weighted DACs 36aand 36b, and to generate both the 0° and 90° LO signals in response—using, for example, a pair of properly configured multipliers 80 and 82. Oscillator circuit 39 is preferably implemented with a fixed frequency oscillator 84 driving a PLL circuit 86, which multiplies the oscillator frequency up to the necessary value.

[0026] Once the chirp rate has been acquired, dechirp LO generating circuit 44 provides LO signals 46 to mixers 52 and 54, respectively. Circuit 44 preferably includes a direct digital synthesis (DDS) circuit 88 driven by a PLL 90, and a pair of DACs 92 and 94. DDS 88 stores digital word sequences, each of which represents a desired waveform. DDS circuit 88 receives a clock signal from PLL 90, and in response provides respective sequences of digital words to DACs 92 and 94, which in turn produce the 0° and 90° LO signals for mixers 54 and 52, respectively. DDS circuits of this sort are well-known, and are discussed, for example, in High Speed Design Techniques, Analog Devices, Inc. (1996), pp. 6-2 to 6-4 and 6-7 to 6-8.

[0027] Mixers 52 and 54 are typically designed to receive square wave LO signals. One way to accommodate this is for DDS 88 to store digital word sequences that result in square waves being produced by DACs 92 and 94. Preferably, however, the words stored in DDS 88 are arranged to produce sinusoidal outputs from DACs 92 and 94, which are passed through squaring circuits (not shown) to produce the necessary square waves. The sinusoidal outputs may be bandpass filtered via filters 96 and 98 before they are delivered to the squaring circuits and to mixers 52 and 54.

[0028] An alternative implementation of low power fast-hopping LO generating circuit 32 is shown in FIG. 3. As before, clock signal 38 is preferably provided by an oscillator circuit 39 which includes a PLL multiplier 86 driven with a fixed frequency oscillator 84. Look-up table 34 drives sine-weighted DAC 36 to produce an analog output signal 41, which is provided to multiplier circuit 42. Multiplier circuit 42 is here implemented with a PLL which includes a ring oscillator VCO 100 to generate the quadrature LO signals. The PLL typically includes a phase detector 102 driving a charge pump 104 and loop filter 106 into VCO 100, and a low pass filter (LPF) 108 and divider 110 in the feedback loop.

[0029] Note that the PLL circuit shown in FIG. 3 is merely exemplary; a wide variety of PLL circuits could be employed to provide the LO signals. Further note that it is not essential that a PLL circuit be used to provide the LO signals; other frequency generating circuits capable of providing highly stable and accurate reference frequencies as required by the application may also be used.

[0030] When active image rejection and filtering is employed, the components making up the transceiver front-ends of either FIG. 1 or FIG. 2 can be integrated together on a common substrate. Similarly, the ADC 28 and signal processor 30 can be integrated with the front-end components on a common substrate to provide a complete system-on-a-chip (SOC).

[0031] While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, numerous variations and alternate embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention be limited only in terms of the appended claims.