System of and method for reducing or eliminating the unwanted sideband in a signal derived from the output of a quadrature modulator

• US 6,720,839 B1
• Filed: 02/29/2000
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Skyworks Solutions Incorporated
• Inventors: Stubbe, Frederic M., Clark, Ricke W., Torre, Valentina Della, Damgaard, Morten
• Primary Examiner(s): KINKEAD, ARNOLD M
• Application Number:
  US09/515,633
• Time in Patent Office: 1,505 Days
• Field of Search: 332/103, 332/159, 332/161, 332/162, 332/160, 332/170, 455/260, 455/295, 455/296, 455/118, 455/126, 375/296
• US Class Current: 332/103
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 3/009 Compensating quadrature phase or amplitude imbalances

Abstract

A system of and method for reducing or eliminating any unwanted sideband component in a signal derived from the output of a quadrature modulator. An unwanted sideband detector detects the unwanted sideband in the output of the quadrature modulator, and responsive thereto, a correction circuit corrects a baseband signal prior to inputting it to the quadrature modulator. In one embodiment, the unwanted sideband detector is an envelope detector.

Claims

1. A system for reducing or eliminating any unwanted baseband component in the output of a quadrature modulator comprising:

a quadrature modulator for receiving a baseband signal, the baseband signal having I and Q components in a phase relationship, and quadrature modulating a local oscillator signal with the baseband signal to provide a modulator output;

an unwanted sideband detector for detecting an unwanted sideband component in and responsive to the modulator output, and outputting a signal representative thereof; and

a correction circuit for iteratively adjusting the phase relationship of the I and Q components of the baseband signal responsive to a signal derived from the signal output by the unwanted sideband detector until either the detected unwanted sideband component is reduced to an acceptable level or the adjusted phase relationship of the I and Q components is about a quadrature relationship, wherein the unwanted sideband detector is an envelope detector.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the local oscillator signal is a quadrature signal having I and Q components.

3. The system of claim 1 in an RF transmitter.

4. The system of claim 1 in a direct conversion transmitter.

5. The system of claim 1 in an RF transmitter in which the system is coupled to a translation loop upconverter.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the correction circuit is configured to store in a memory one or more parameters representative of the phase relationship between the I and Q components of the baseband signal upon or after determining that the unwanted sideband component has been reduced to an acceptable level.

6. A system for reducing or eliminating any unwanted sideband component in the output of a quadrature modulator comprising:

a quadrature modulator for receiving a baseband signal having I and Q components in a phase relationship, and modulating a local oscillator signal with the baseband signal to provide an output signal, the output signal having an envelope;

an envelope detector for detecting the envelope of the modulator output signal, and outputting a signal representative thereof; and

a correction circuit configured to iteratively adjust the phase relationship of the I and Q components of the baseband signal responsive to a signal derived from the signal output by the envelope detector until either the output of the envelope detector reaches an acceptable level or the adjusted phase relationship of the I and Q components is about a quadrature relationship.

14. The system of claim 6 wherein the correction circuit is configured to store in a memory one or more parameters representative of the phase relationship between the I and Q components of the baseband signal upon or after determining that the unwanted sideband component has been reduced to an acceptable level.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the correction circuit is configured to store the one or more parameters in the memory during a calibration mode of operation.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the correction circuit is configured to adjust the phase relationship between the I and Q components of the baseband signal using the stored one or more parameters during a subsequent transmit mode of operation.

7. A method of reducing or eliminating any unwanted sideband in the output of a quadrature modulator comprising the steps of:

quadrature modulating a local oscillator signal responsive to a baseband signal to provide an output signal, the baseband signal having I and Q components in a phase relationship;

detecting an unwanted sideband in and responsive to the output signal; and

iteratively adjusting the phase relationship of the I and Q components of the baseband signal responsive to a signal derived from the detected unwanted sideband until either the detected unwanted sideband is reduced to an acceptable level or the adjusted phase relationship of the I and Q components is about a quadrature relationship, wherein the output signal has an envelope, and the detecting step comprises detecting the envelope of the output signal.

16. The method of any claim 7 and 8 which is performed during a calibration mode of operation.

8. A method for reducing or eliminating any unwanted sideband in a signal derived from the output of a quadrature modulator comprising the steps of:

quadrature modulating a local oscillator signal responsive to a baseband signal to provide an output signal, the baseband signal having I and Q components in a phase relationship, and the output signal having an envelope;

detecting the envelope of the output signal; and

iteratively adjusting the phase relationship of the I and Q components of the baseband signal responsive to a signal derived from the detected envelope until either the detected envelope reaches an acceptable level or the adjusted phase relationship of the I and Q components is about a quadrature relationship.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the detected envelope reaches an acceptable level when the unwanted sideband in the output signal is reduced to an acceptable level.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising storing one or more parameters representative of the phase relationship between I and Q components of the baseband signal upon or after determining that the unwanted sideband has been reduced to an acceptable level.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising adjusting the phase relationship of the I and Q components of the baseband signal using the one or more stored parameters in a subsequent transmit mode of operation.

12. A method of reducing or eliminating any unwanted sideband in a signal derived from an output of the quadrature modulator, comprising the steps of:

quadrature modulating a local oscillator signal with a baseband signal to form an output signal, the baseband signal having I and Q components in a phase relationship, the output signal having an envelope;

detecting the envelope in and responsive to the output signal;

adjusting the phase relationship of the I and Q components of the baseband signal responsive to a signal derived from the detected envelope; and

repeating the foregoing process until either the signal derived from the detected envelope reaches an acceptable level or the adjusted phase relationship of the I and Q components is about a quadrature relationship.

18. A system for reducing or eliminating any unwanted sideband component in the output of a quadrature modulator comprising:

a quadrature modulator for quadrature modulating a complex carrier signal with a complex baseband signal to provide a complex output signal, the complex baseband signal having I and Q components and one or more parameters including a phase relationship between the I and Q components thereof;

an unwanted sideband detector for detecting an unwanted sideband component in and responsive to the modulator output, and outputting a signal representative thereof, wherein the unwanted sideband detector includes an envelope detector; and

a correction circuit for iteratively adjusting one or more of the parameters of the complex baseband signal responsive to a signal derived from the output of the unwanted sideband detector until either the detected unwanted sideband component is reduced to a predetermined level or the phase relationship of the I and Q components is about a quadrature relationship.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the parameter which is adjusted by the correction circuit is the phase relationship between the components of the complex baseband signal.

20. The system of claim 18 further comprising a memory for storing data representative of the adjusted one or more parameters of the complex baseband signal determined upon or after the unwanted sideband component has been reduced to a predetermined level.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the correction circuit is configured to use the data to adjust the one or more parameters of the complex baseband signal outside the calibration mode of operation.

22. The system of claim 18 wherein the correction circuit is configured to adjust the one or more parameters of the complex baseband signal during a calibration mode of operation.

23. The system of claim 18 wherein the correction circuit is configured to adjust the one or more parameters of the complex baseband signal outside a calibration mode of operation.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the signal derived from the output of the unwanted sideband detector is derived from data stored in a memory, wherein the data is derived from the output of the unwanted sideband detector.

25. A method of reducing or eliminating any unwanted sideband component in the output of a quadrature modulator comprising:

quadrature modulating a complex carrier signal with a complex baseband signal to provide a complex output signal, the complex baseband signal having I and Q components and one or more parameters including a phase relationship between the I and Q components;

detecting an unwanted sideband component in and responsive to the complex output signal, and outputting a signal representative thereof; and

iteratively adjusting one or more of the parameters of the complex baseband signal responsive to a signal derived from the signal representative of the unwanted sideband component in the complex output signal until the detected unwanted sideband component is reduced to a predetermined level or the phase relationship of the I and Q components is about a quadrature relationship, wherein the detecting step includes detecting the envelope of the complex output signal, and outputting a signal representative thereof.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the parameter which is adjusted is the phase relationship between the components of the complex baseband signal.

27. The method of claim 25 further comprising storing data representative of the adjusted one or more parameters of the complex baseband signal determined upon or after the unwanted sideband component has been reduced to a predetermined level.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising using the data to adjust the one or more parameters of the complex baseband signal o,side a calibration mode of operation.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein the adjusting step is performed during a calibration mode of operation.

30. The method of claim 25 wherein the adjusting step is performed outside a calibration mode of operation.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the signal derived from the signal representative of the unwanted sideband component is derived from stored data, wherein the stored data is derived from the signal representative of the unwanted sideband component.