Systems and methods of RF power transmission, modulation, and amplification, including transfer function embodiments

• US 7,466,760 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2007
• Issued: 12/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ParkerVision, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ParkerVision, Inc.
• Inventors: Rawlins, Gregory S., Sorrells, David F., Rawlins, Michael W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Khai
• Application Number:
  US11/653,388
• Publication Number:
  US 20070133714A1
• Time in Patent Office: 700 Days
• Field of Search: 375/294, 375/295, 375/322, 375/298, 375/261, 455/127.3, 455/323, 455/333, 455/310, 330/52, 330/151, 330/149
• US Class Current: 375/294
• CPC Class Codes: H03C 5/00 Amplitude modulation and angle modulation produced simultaneously or at will by the same modulating signal H03C7/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/02 Modifications of amplifiers to raise the efficiency, e.g. gliding Class A stages, use of an auxiliary oscillation
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0205 in transistor amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0233 by using a signal derived from the output signal, e.g. bootstrapping the voltage supply
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0294 using vector summing of two or more constant amplitude phase-modulated signals
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/32 Modifications of amplifiers to reduce non-linear distortion by negative feedback H03F1/34
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/3205 in field-effect transistor amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/3223 using feed-forward H03F1/3211 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/336 A I/Q, i.e. phase quadrature, modulator or demodulator being used in an amplifying circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/387 A circuit being added at the output of an amplifier to adapt the output impedance of the amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/451 the amplifier being a radio frequency amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2201/3215 To increase the output power or efficiency
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/193 with field-effect devices H03F3/195 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/211 using a combination of several amplifiers H03F3/60 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/24 of transmitter output stages
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/245 with semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/45071 with semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/3042 in modulators, frequency-changers, transmitters or power amplifiers transmission power control in bidirectional transmission systems H04W52/04
• 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: H04B 1/0483 : Transmitters with multiple parallel paths
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/045 : with means for improving efficiency
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/0491 : with frequency synthesizers, frequency converters or modulators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/20 : Modulator circuits; Transmitter circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/36 : Modulator circuits; Transmitter circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/362 : Modulation using more than one carrier, e.g. with quadrature carriers, separately amplitude modulated H04L27/366 takes precedence

Abstract

Methods and systems for vector combining power amplification are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a plurality of signals are individually amplified, then summed to form a desired time-varying complex envelope signal. Phase and/or frequency characteristics of one or more of the signals are controlled to provide the desired phase, frequency, and/or amplitude characteristics of the desired time-varying complex envelope signal. In another embodiment, a time-varying complex envelope signal is decomposed into a plurality of constant envelope constituent signals. The constituent signals are amplified equally or substantially equally, and then summed to construct an amplified version of the original time-varying envelope signal. Embodiments also perform frequency up-conversion.

Claims

1. A method for generating control signals from a time-varying complex envelope signal, comprising:

receiving in-phase and quadrature phase data components of the time-varying complex envelope signal;

determining magnitudes of the received in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

determining a magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal based on the determined magnitudes of the in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

calculating a phase shift angle based on the determined magnitudes of the received in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

calculating in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals based on the determined magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal and the calculated phase shift angle; and

outputting the calculated control signals to a vector modulation stage,

wherein said vector modulation stage uses said control signals to generate substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of determining a magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal comprises performing the computation R=√

{square root over (|I|²+|Q|²)}, where R is the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal, |I| is the magnitude of the in-phase data component, and |Q| is the magnitude of the quadrature phase data component.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of calculating a phase shift angle comprises performing the computation

$\theta$

= tan - 1 ⁡

( 

Q 



I 

) ,

where θ

is the phase shift angle, |I| is the magnitude of the in-phase data component, and |Q| is the magnitude of the quadrature phase data component.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of calculating in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals comprises:

calculating an outphasing angle based on the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal; and

calculating the in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals based on the calculated outphasing angle and the phase shift angle.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the outphasing angle defines a phase difference between the substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals comprise in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude information associated with the substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

7. A transfer function apparatus for generating control signals from a time-varying complex envelope signal, comprising:

an input interface including a digital input/output (I/O) bus configured to receive in-phase and quadrature phase data components of the time-varying complex envelope signal;

a first magnitude generation module configured to generate magnitudes of the received in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

a second magnitude generation module configured to generate a magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal based on the determined magnitudes of the in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

a first signal generation module configured to generate a phase shift angle based on the magnitudes of the in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

a second signal generation module configured to generate in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals based on the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal and the generated phase shift angle; and

an output interface configured to output the generated control signals to a vector modulation stage,

wherein said vector modulation stage uses said control signals to generate substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the input interface samples the in-phase and quadrature phase data components according to a sampling clock.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first magnitude generation module includes a magnitude detector.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second magnitude generation module performs the computation R=√

{square root over (|I|²+|Q|²)}, where R is the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal, |I| is the magnitude of the in-phase data component, and |Q| is the magnitude of the quadrature phase data component.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first signal generation module performs the computation

$\theta$

= tan - 1 ⁡

( 

Q 



I 

) ,

where θ

is the phase shift angle, |I| is the magnitude of the in-phase data component, and |Q| is the magnitude of the quadrature phase data component.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second signal generation module, comprises:

a module to receive the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal from the second magnitude generation module;

a module to calculate an outphasing angle based on the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal;

a module to receive the phase shift angle from the first signal generation module; and

a module to calculate the in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals based on the calculated outphasing angle and the phase shift angle.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the outphasing angle defines a phase difference between the substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

14. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals comprise in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude information associated with the substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the output interface separately outputs the generated control signals to respective digital-to-analog converters.

16. A method for generating control signals from a time-varying complex envelope signal, comprising:

receiving in-phase and quadrature phase data components of the time-varying complex envelope signal;

determining magnitudes of the received in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

determining a magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal based on the determined magnitudes of the in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

normalizing the determined magnitudes of the in-phase and quadrature phase data components to generate in-phase and quadrature phase clock phase signals;

calculating in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals based on the determined magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal; and

outputting the calculated control signals and the clock phase signals to a vector modulation stage,

wherein said vector modulation stage uses said control signals and clock phase signals to generate substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said step of determining a magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal comprises performing the computation R=√

{square root over (|I|²+|Q|²)}, where R is the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal, |I| is the magnitude of the in-phase data component, and |Q| is the magnitude of the quadrature phase data component.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said step of normalizing the determined magnitudes of the in-phase and quadrature phase data components comprises generating the in-phase and quadrature phase clock phase signals such that |I_clk—

_phase|²+|Q<sub>clk—

phase</sub>|² is constant, wherein |I<sub>clk—

phase</sub>| is the magnitude of the in-phase clock phase signal and |Q<sub>clk—

phase</sub>| is the magnitude of the quadrature phase clock phase signal.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein said step of calculating in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals comprises:

calculating an outphasing angle based on the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal; and

calculating the in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals based on the calculated outphasing angle.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the outphasing angle defines a phase difference between the substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals comprise in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude information associated with the substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

22. A transfer function apparatus for generating control signals from a time-varying complex envelope signal, comprising:

an input interface including a digital input/output (I/O) bus configured to receive in-phase and quadrature phase data components of the time-varying complex envelope signal;

a first magnitude generation module configured to generate magnitudes of the received in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

a second magnitude generation module configured to generate a magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal based on the magnitudes of the in-phase and quadrature phase data components;

a normalization module configured to normalize the magnitudes of the in-phase and quadrature phase data components to generate in-phase and quadrature phase clock phase signals

a signal generation module configured to generate in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals based on the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal; and

an output interface configured to output the generated control signals and clock phase signals to a vector modulation stage,

wherein said vector modulation stage uses said control signals and clock phase signals to generate substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the input interface samples the in-phase and quadrature phase data components according to a sampling clock.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the first magnitude generation module includes a magnitude detector.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the second magnitude generation module performs the computation R=√

{square root over (|I|²+|Q|²)}, where R is the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal, |I| is the magnitude of the in-phase data component, and |Q| is the magnitude of the quadrature phase data component.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the normalization module generating the in-phase and quadrature phase clock phase signals such that |I_clk—

_phase|²+|Q<sub>clk—

phase</sub>|² is constant, wherein |I<sub>clk—

phase</sub>| is the magnitude of the in-phase clock phase signal and |Q<sub>clk—

phase</sub>| is the magnitude of the quadrature phase clock phase signal.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the signal generation module, comprises:

a module to receive the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal from the second magnitude generation module;

a module to calculate an outphasing angle based on the magnitude of the time-varying complex envelope signal; and

a module to calculate the in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals based on the calculated outphasing angle.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the outphasing angle defines a phase difference between the substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

29. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude control signals comprise in-phase and quadrature phase amplitude information associated with the substantially constant envelope constituents of the time-varying complex envelope signal.

30. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the output interface separately outputs the generated control signals to respective digital-to-analog converters.