ANTENNA IMPEDANCE/POWER AMPLIFIER SOURCE IMPEDANCE MEASUREMENT CIRCUITRY AND DEVICE OPERATION BASED THEREON

• US 20100317297A1
• Filed: 06/11/2010
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: KRATOCHWIL, KONRAD, FORBES, MARCELLUS, BEHZAD, ARYA REZA
• Granted Patent: US 8,948,713 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/102 Power radiated at antenna
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0251 using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/52 using AGC [Automatic Gain Control] circuits or amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A wireless device includes impedance determination and processing circuitry. The impedance determination circuitry determines load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device. The processing circuitry couples to the impedance determination circuitry and alters at least one operating parameter of the wireless device based upon the determined load impedance. Alteration of at least one operating parameter of the wireless device may include altering a gain of at least one transmit path component, altering a gain of at least one receive path component, altering tuning settings of at least one transmit path component, altering tuning settings of at least one receive path component, altering a rail voltage setting, altering baseband processing pre-distortion settings, altering baseband processing receive signal processing operations, altering antenna configuration settings, altering antenna tuning parameters, altering antenna diversity settings, and altering Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) settings.

Claims

1. A method for operating a wireless device comprising:

impedance determination circuitry determining a load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device; and

altering at least one operating parameter of the wireless device based upon the determined load impedance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein altering at least one operating parameter of the wireless device is selected from the group consisting of:

altering a gain of at least one transmit path component;

altering a gain of at least one receive path component;

altering tuning settings of at least one transmit path component;

altering tuning settings of at least one receive path component;

altering a rail voltage setting;

altering baseband processing pre-distortion settings;

altering baseband processing receive signal processing operations;

altering antenna configuration settings;

altering antenna tuning parameters;

altering antenna diversity settings; and

altering Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) settings.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the impedance determination circuitry further monitors at least a portion of receive path circuitry of the wireless device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the impedance determination circuitry comprises dedicated circuitry.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein impedance determination circuitry determining load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device comprises determining load impedance for a plurality of RF power amplifiers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein impedance determination circuitry determining load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device comprises using Vector Network Analysis (VNA) to determine the load impedance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein impedance determination circuitry determining a load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device is performed during preamble packet operations.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein impedance determination circuitry determining load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device is performed during data packet operations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein impedance determination circuitry determining a load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device is performed for a single tone.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein impedance determination circuitry determining a load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device is performed for multiple tones.

11. A method for operating a wireless device comprising:

for each of a plurality of applied antenna impedances coupled to at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier, impedance determination circuitry determining an load impedance at an output of at least one RF power amplifier of the wireless device; and

based upon the plurality of load impedances determined, determining source impedances of each of the at least one RF power amplifiers.

12. An apparatus of a wireless device comprising:

impedance determination circuitry operable to determine a load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device; and

processing circuitry coupled to the impedance determination circuitry and operable to alter at least one operating parameter of the wireless device based upon the determined load impedance.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processing circuitry altering at least one operating parameter of the wireless device is selected from the group consisting of:

altering a gain of at least one transmit path component;

altering a gain of at least one receive path component;

altering tuning settings of at least one transmit path component;

altering tuning settings of at least one receive path component;

altering a rail voltage setting;

altering baseband processing pre-distortion settings;

altering baseband processing receive signal processing operations;

altering antenna configuration settings;

altering antenna tuning parameters;

altering antenna diversity settings; and

altering Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) settings.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the impedance determination circuitry is further operable to monitor at least a portion of receive path circuitry of the wireless device.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the impedance determination circuitry comprises dedicated circuitry.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the impedance determination circuitry determines load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device by determining load impedance for a plurality of RF power amplifiers.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the impedance determination circuitry determines load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device by using Vector Network Analysis (VNA) to determine the load impedance.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the impedance determination circuitry determines load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device during preamble packet operations.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the impedance determination circuitry determines load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device during data packet operations.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the impedance determination circuitry determines load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device for a single tone.

21. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the impedance determination circuitry determines load impedance at an output of at least one Radio Frequency (RF) power amplifier of the wireless device for multiple tones.