Temperature-stable FBAR transmitter

• US 10,097,387 B1
• Filed: 08/15/2016
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verily Life Sciences LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verily Life Sciences LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wiser, Robert Francis, Yeager, Daniel, Schauer, Justin, Sankaragomathi, Kannan Aryaperumal
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Chieh M
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAILEGIORGIS, FITWI Y
• Application Number:
  US15/237,623
• Time in Patent Office: 785 Days
• Field of Search: 375295, 370281, 455208
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/04 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0475 with means for limiting noise, interference or distortion H04B1/0483 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/125 using a controlled oscillator in an open loop
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method that includes calculating a first frequency drift associated with an oscillator at a current temperature; based on the calculation, generating a first signal indicative of temperature compensation data; generating a second signal indicative of packet data and a modulation scheme; using the first signal, the second signal, and a first predetermined signal to generate a first tuning signal; and using the first tuning signal to tune a first capacitor array coupled to the oscillator and a second tuning signal to tune a second capacitor array coupled to the oscillator such that (i) the oscillator generates a modulated RF signal indicative of the packet data and (ii) the modulated RF signal has a second frequency drift that is less than a threshold.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

calculating a first frequency drift associated with an oscillator at a current temperature;

based on the calculation, generating a first signal indicative of temperature compensation data;

generating a second signal indicative of packet data and a modulation scheme

using the first signal, the second signal, and a first predetermined signal to generate a first tuning signal; and

using the first tuning signal to tune a first capacitor array coupled to the oscillator and a second tuning signal to tune a second capacitor array coupled to the oscillator such that (i) the oscillator generates a modulated RF signal indicative of the packet data and (ii) the modulated RF signal has a second frequency drift that is less than a threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the oscillator is a Pierce oscillator comprising a thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first frequency drift is calculated based on the current temperature, a turnover temperature, and a gain coefficient.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first capacitor array comprises a first and a second fine tuning capacitor array, and wherein the second capacitor array comprises a first and a second coarse tuning capacitor array.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first tuning signal comprises a first fine tuning signal, and a second fine tuning signal, wherein the second tuning signal comprises a first coarse tuning signal and a second coarse tuning signal, and wherein using the first tuning signal to tune a first capacitor array coupled to the oscillator and a second tuning signal to tune a second capacitor array coupled to the oscillator comprises:

tuning the first coarse capacitor array and the second coarse capacitor array with the first coarse tuning signal and the second coarse tuning signal respectively; and

tuning the first fine capacitor array and the second fine capacitor array with the first fine tuning signal and the second fine tuning signal respectively.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first predetermined signal is indicative of a fine tuning offset associated with the first and the second fine capacitor arrays.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second tuning signal is indicative of a coarse tuning offset associated with the first and the second coarse capacitor arrays.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the modulation scheme is Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein generating the second signal indicative of the packet data and the modulation scheme comprises:

generating a serialized data stream based on the packet data;

whitening the serialized data stream;

filtering the whitened data stream using a Gaussian filter;

multiplying the filtered data stream by a second predetermined signal to generate the second signal, wherein the second predetermined signal is indicative of a frequency deviation of the modulation scheme.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first and the second predetermined signals, the second tuning signal, the turnover temperature, and the gain coefficient are predetermined using an off-chip two-point calibration process.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the modulated RF signal comprises advertising packets.

12. A broadcasting unit comprising:

an oscillator;

a first capacitor array and a second capacitor array coupled to the oscillator;

a temperature sensor;

a controller comprising a processor programmed to;

calculate a first frequency drift associated with the oscillator at a current temperature;

based on the calculation, generate a first signal indicative of temperature compensation data;

generate a second signal indicative of packet data and a modulation scheme;

use the first signal, the second signal, and a first predetermined signal to generate a first tuning signal; and

use the first tuning signal to tune the first capacitor array and a second tuning signal to tune the second capacitor array such that (i) the oscillator generates a modulated RF signal indicative of the packet data and (ii) the modulated RF signal has a second frequency drift that is less than a threshold.

13. The broadcasting unit of claim 12, wherein the first capacitor array comprises a first and a second fine tuning capacitor array, and wherein the second capacitor array comprises a first and a second coarse tuning capacitor array.

14. The broadcasting unit of claim 13, wherein the first tuning signal comprises a first fine tuning signal and a second fine tuning signal, wherein the second tuning signal comprises a first coarse tuning signal and a second coarse tuning signal, and wherein the processor is programmed to:

tune the first coarse capacitor array and the second coarse capacitor array with the first coarse tuning signal and the second coarse tuning signal respectively; and

tune the first fine capacitor array and the second fine capacitor array with the first fine tuning signal and the second fine tuning signal respectively.

15. The broadcasting unit of claim 14, wherein the first predetermined signal and the second tuning signal are predetermined using an off-chip two-point calibration process.

16. A system comprising:

a sensor;

a transceiver coupled to the sensor, the transceiver comprising;

an oscillator comprising a thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR);

a first capacitor array and a second capacitor array coupled to the oscillator;

a temperature sensor; and

an antenna;

a controller comprising a processor programmed to;

calculate a first frequency drift associated with the oscillator at a current temperature;

based on the calculation, generate a first signal indicative of temperature compensation data;

generate a second signal indicative of packet data and a modulation scheme;

use the first signal, the second signal, and a first predetermined signal to generate a first tuning signal; and

use the first tuning signal to tune the first capacitor array and a second tuning signal to tune the second capacitor array such that (i) the oscillator generates a modulated RF signal indicative of the packet data and (ii) the modulated RF signal has a second frequency drift that is less than a threshold.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first capacitor array comprises a first and a second fine tuning capacitor array, and wherein the second capacitor array comprises a first and a second coarse tuning capacitor array.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first tuning signal comprises a first fine tuning signal and a second fine tuning signal, wherein the second tuning signal comprises a first coarse tuning signal and a second coarse tuning signal, and wherein the processor is programmed to:

tune the first coarse capacitor array and the second coarse capacitor array with the first coarse tuning signal and the second coarse tuning signal respectively; and

tune the first fine capacitor array and the second fine capacitor array with the first fine tuning signal and the second fine tuning signal respectively.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the packet data is based on an output of the sensor.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the modulation scheme is Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK).