Method for processing RF signals for receiving and transmission

Summary

Radio frequency (RF) radiation is often used in the communication fields for signal receiving and transmission. There is however a lot of interference which needs to be suppressed and the current techniques used for this are expensive and often hard to integrate in to Integrated Circuits (IC's). Integrated circuits are used in almost all electronic equipment in use today and have revolutionized the world of electronics.

Our technique solves the current problem of integrating high quality filtering components with RF signal processing.

Benefits

Using current techniques:

In the receiver

• modulated RF signals are received
• filtered to attenuate interference (especially image signals)
• down converted into Intermediate Frequencies (IF) (created by mixing the carrier signal with a local oscillator (LO) signal)

In the transmitter

• Further filtering, mainly to reduce interference for communication channels and receivers

The filtering components

• cannot usually be made from normal inductors and capacitors (which can be easily integrated into ICs)
• higher performance components are used and although work well they are bulky, expensive, sensitive and difficult to integrate into ICs.

Our New Method:

The receiver:

• Desired signal and image signal are spread and so the image interference can be effectively attenuated by the receiver
• performance is improved and cost lowered as the filters and mixers are designed to process multiple frequencies
• Due to the above, performance of the filtering components doesn't have to be as high so they can be easily integrated into ICs
• Able operate at wider bands

The transmitter:

• Interference to communication channels and receivers is reduced
• Also due to further spreading of signal the filter requirements are lowered → easier to integrate into ICs
• Can operate at different frequency bands
• Power consumption efficiency and gain is increased

Applications:

• Telecommunications
• Television broadcasts, microwave ovens, mobile phones, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, GPS and two-way radios such as Land Mobile, FRS and GMRS radios
• Analog ICs, such as sensors, power management circuits, and operational amplifiers, work by processing continuous signals. They perform functions like amplification, active filtering, demodulation, mixing, etc. Analog ICs ease the burden on circuit designers by having expertly designed analog circuits available instead of designing a difficult analog circuit from scratch.

Availability

Available for licence/assignment

IP status

Granted patents in US and China