Digital fast dB to gain multiplier for envelope tracking systems

• US 9,075,673 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2011
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc. (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: RF Micro Devices Incorporated (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Inventors: Khlat, Nadim, Prasad, Shanthi
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahn, Sam K
• Assistant Examiner(s): Murillo Garcia, Fabricio R
• Application Number:
  US13/297,470
• Publication Number:
  US 20120119813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,329 Days
• Field of Search: 375/345, 332/106, 332/115, 708/277
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/0307 Logarithmic or exponential functions G06F1/0314, G06F1/035 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 7/556 Logarithmic or exponential functions
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0227 using supply converters
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/04 the radix thereof being two

Abstract

A digital log gain to digital linear gain multiplier is disclosed. The digital log gain to digital linear gain multiplier includes a log gain splitter adapted to split a log gain input into an integer log part and a remainder log part. A log scale-to-linear scale converter is adapted to output a linear gain value in response to the integer log part and the remainder log part. A gain multiply circuit is adapted to multiply a digital signal by the linear gain value to output a gain-enhanced digital signal.

Claims

1. A digital log gain to digital linear gain multiplier for an envelope tracking system comprising:

a log gain splitter including a floor function circuit adapted to split a log gain value into an integer log part that is less than or equal to the log gain value, and a remainder log part, wherein the floor function circuit outputs the integer log part in response to a scaled log gain value received by the floor function that outputs the integer log part; and

an adder circuit coupled to the floor function circuit that outputs the remainder log part by summing the log gain value with the negative of the integer log part;

a binary anti-log circuit adapted to receive the integer log part from the log gain splitter and output a binary anti-log value of the integer log part;

a log-to-linear look up table (LUT) adapted to receive the remainder log part from the adder circuit and output a LUT value corresponding to the remainder log part; and

a converter multiply circuit adapted to multiply the binary anti-log value from the binary anti-log circuit by the LUT value to produce a linear gain value; and

a gain multiply circuit adapted to multiply a digital signal having a sample rate of at least 52 MHz by the linear gain value to output a gain-enhanced digital signal.

2. The digital log gain to digital linear gain multiplier of claim 1 wherein the log gain splitter further comprises a first scale multiply circuit adapted to multiply the log gain value in dB form by a constant that is approximately equal to log₂(10)/20 to output the scaled log gain value.

3. The digital log gain to digital linear gain multiplier of claim 2 wherein the log gain splitter further comprises:

a second scale multiply circuit adapted to multiply the integer log part by a constant that is approximately equal to 20/log₂(10) to output a scaled integer log part; and

an adder circuit that adds a negative value of the scaled integer log part to output the remainder log part.

4. The digital log gain to digital linear gain multiplier of claim 1 wherein the LUT contains LUT values that correspond to remainder log parts for log gain values in base two (dB2).

5. The digital log gain to digital linear gain multiplier of claim 1 wherein the LUT contains LUT values that correspond to remainder log parts for log gain values in dB.

6. The digital log gain to digital linear gain multiplier of claim 1 further including a rounding circuit that rounds values making up the gain-enhanced digital signal.

7. An envelope tracking system comprising:

a power amplifier module (PAM);

a fast switch mode power supply (SMPS) converter adapted to supply modulated power to the PAM in response to an envelope tracking signal (ETS) that is derived from a digital signal that is gain-enhanced and having a sample rate of at least 52 MHz;

an envelope tracking signal (ETS) generator adapted to drive the SMPS converter with the ETS; and

a digital log gain to digital linear gain multiplier for adjusting the gain of the digital signal, comprising;

a log gain splitter including a floor function circuit adapted to split a log gain value into an integer log part that is less than or equal to the log gain value, and a remainder log part, wherein the floor function circuit outputs the integer log part in response to a scaled log gain value received by the floor function that outputs the integer log part; and

an adder circuit coupled to the floor function circuit that outputs the remainder log part by summing the log gain value with the negative of the integer log part;

a binary anti-log circuit adapted to receive the integer log part from the log gain splitter and output a binary anti-log value of the integer log part;

a log-to-linear look up table (LUT) adapted to receive the remainder log part from the adder circuit and output an LUT value corresponding to the remainder log part; and

a converter multiply circuit adapted to multiply the binary anti-log value from the binary anti-log circuit by the LUT value to produce a linear gain value; and

a gain multiply circuit adapted to multiply the digital signal having a sample rate of at least 52 MHz by the linear gain value to output the gain-enhanced digital signal.

8. The envelope tracking system of claim 7 wherein the log gain splitter further comprises a first scale multiply circuit adapted to multiply the log gain value in dB form by a constant that is approximately equal to log₂(10)/20 to output a scaled log gain value.

9. The envelope tracking system of claim 8 wherein the log gain splitter further comprises:

a second scale multiply circuit adapted to multiply the integer log part by a constant that is approximately equal to 20/log₂(10) to output a scaled integer log part; and

an adder circuit that adds a negative value of the scaled integer log part to output the remainder log part.

10. The envelope tracking system of claim 7 wherein the LUT contains LUT values that correspond to remainder log parts for log gain values in dB2.

11. The envelope tracking system of claim 7 wherein the LUT contains LUT values that correspond to remainder log parts for log gain values in dB.

12. The envelope tracking system of claim 7 further including a rounding circuit that rounds values making up the gain-enhanced digital signal.

13. A method of adjusting a gain of a digital signal for an envelope tracking system having a power amplifier module (PAM), and a fast switch mode power supply (SMPS) converter adapted to supply modulated power to the PAM in response to an envelope tracking signal (ETS), comprising:

splitting a log gain value by way of a log gain splitter into an integer log part that is less than or equal to the log gain value, and a remainder log part, wherein a floor function circuit outputs the integer log part in response to a scaled log gain value received by the floor function that outputs the integer log part; and

outputting the remainder log part received from an adder circuit coupled to the floor function circuit by summing the log gain value with the negative of the integer log part;

outputting a binary anti-log value of the integer log part by way of a binary anti-log circuit in response to receiving the integer log part from the log gain splitter;

outputting by way of a log-to-linear LUT an LUT value corresponding to the remainder log part in response to receiving the remainder log part from the adder circuit;

multiplying the binary anti-log value from the binary anti-log circuit by the LUT value to produce a linear gain value;

multiplying a digital signal having a sample rate of at least 52 MHz by the linear gain value by way of a converter multiply circuit;

outputting a resulting gain-enhanced digital signal by way of a gain multiply circuit;

deriving the ETS from the gain-enhanced digital signal; and

driving the SMPS converter with the ETS.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein splitting the log gain value comprises:

receiving a log gain value in dB form;

multiplying the log gain value by a constant that is approximately equal to log₂(10)/20;

multiplying the integer log part by a constant that is approximately equal to 20/log₂(10) to yield a scaled integer log part;

determining the remainder log part by adding a negative of the scaled integer log part to the log gain value.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein splitting the log gain value comprises:

receiving a log gain value in dB2 form; and

determining the remainder log part by adding a negative of the integer log part to the log gain value.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the log gain value is scaled by performing a right shift byte operation.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein digital values making up the gain-enhanced digital signal are rounded to a predetermined precision.