Tunable radio frequency (RF) equalizer

• US 9,729,358 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2016
• Issued: 08/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Optical Communications LLC (Corning Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Corning Optical Communications Wireless Ltd. (Corning Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ziv, Roi Yosy
• Primary Examiner(s): PHU, PHUONG M
• Application Number:
  US15/156,533
• Publication Number:
  US 20160352541A1
• Time in Patent Office: 448 Days
• Field of Search: 375219, 375220, 375222, 375350, 375229, 375346, 375295, 375316, 333176, 333132, 4555621
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/03019 adaptive, i.e. capable of adjustment during data reception
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/01 Equalisers baseband equalizers at the transmitter end H04L25/03343; in analogue transmission systems H04B3/04, H04B7/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex

Abstract

A radio frequency (RF) equalizer includes a coupler including an input port, an output port, a coupling port, and an isolation port; a combination circuit including; a coupling node electrically coupled to the coupling port; a first digitally controlled capacitor (DTC) connected between the coupling node and ground; a resistor connected between the coupling node and ground for controlling a quality factor (Q) of resonance of the equalizer; an isolation node coupled to the isolation port; and a second DTC connected between the isolation node and ground. A system and a method of operation are provided.

Claims

1. A radio frequency (RF) equalizer, comprising:

a coupler comprising an input port, an output port, a coupling port, and an isolation port;

a combination circuit, comprising;

a coupling node electrically coupled to the coupling port;

a first digitally tunable capacitor (DTC) connected between the coupling node and ground;

a resistor connected between the coupling node and ground for controlling a quality factor (Q) of resonance;

an isolation node coupled to the isolation port; and

a second DTC connected between the isolation node and ground.

2. The RF equalizer of claim 1, wherein one of the first DTC and the second DTC comprises a coarse DTC and the other one of the first DTC and the second DTC is a fine DTC.

3. The RF equalizer of claim 2, wherein the coarse DTC provides wide tuning equalization and the fine DTC provides narrow tuning equalization.

4. The RF equalizer of claim 1, wherein the coupler is a directional coupler.

5. The RF equalizer of claim 1, wherein each of the first DTC and the second DTC is controlled by a digital Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus.

6. The RF equalizer of claim 1, wherein limiting flow of current across the first DTC affects the quality factor (Q) of a frequency resonance of the first DTC and the resistor.

7. The RF equalizer of claim 6, wherein a lower resistance of the resistor reduces an amount of equalizer correction in a given frequency range and a higher resistance increases an amount of the equalizer correction in a given frequency range.

8. The RF equalizer of claim 1, further comprising:

a second coupler comprising a second input port coupled to the input port, a second output port, a second coupling port, and a second isolation port;

a second combination circuit, comprising;

a second coupling node electrically coupled to the second coupling port;

a third digitally tunable capacitor (DTC) connected between the second coupling node and ground;

a second resistor connected between the second coupling node and the ground for controlling a quality factor (Q) of a second resonance;

a second isolation node coupled to the second isolation port; and

a fourth DTC connected between the second isolation node and the ground.

9. A method for equalizing a circuit, comprising:

(a) coupling a first digitally tunable capacitor (DTC) between a coupling port of a coupler and ground;

(b) coupling a second DTC between an isolation port of the coupler and ground;

(c) determining a frequency response of the circuit in a desired band of operation;

(d) setting the first DTC to a predetermined resonance frequency outside the desired band of operation to generate a frequency response for equalizing the frequency response of the circuit in the desired band of operation; and

(e) adjusting the second DTC to fine tune the equalizing the frequency response.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the frequency response of the circuit in the desired band of operation includes a negative slope and the predetermined resonance frequency is set at a frequency below the desired band of operation.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the frequency response of the circuit in the desired band of operation includes a positive slope and the predetermined resonance frequency is set at a frequency above the desired band of operation.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

(f) coupling a third DTC between a coupling port of a second coupler and ground;

(g) coupling a fourth DTC between an isolation port of the second coupler and ground;

wherein the step of determining the frequency response of the circuit in the desired band of operation indicates the frequency response of the circuit in the desired band of operation includes a negative slope and a positive slope;

wherein the step of setting the first DTC to a predetermined resonance frequency outside the desired band of operation sets the first DTC to a frequency below the desired band of operation for equalizing the negative slope of the frequency response of the circuit in the desired band of operation;

wherein the step of adjusting the second DTC fine tunes the equalizing frequency response set by the first DTC;

(h) setting the third DTC to a predetermined resonance frequency above the desired band of operation to generate a frequency response for equalizing the positive slope of the frequency response of the circuit in the desired band of operation; and

(i) adjusting the fourth DTC to fine tune the equalizing the frequency response set by the third DTC.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

(f) determining a return loss frequency response at an input terminal of the coupler;

(g) determining the return loss frequency response at an output terminal of the coupler; and

(h) performing steps (c), (d) and (e) again if an input return loss at the input terminal of the coupler and at an output return loss at the output terminal of the coupler are at or below −

10 dB.

14. An equalizing system, comprising:

a distributed antenna system (DAS) for receiving at least one service from at least one base station, the DAS comprising a head end unit and a plurality of remote antenna units, the plurality of remote antenna units being distributed over a deployment site, the head end unit being configured for routing the at least one service to the plurality of remote antenna units; and

a RF equalizer disposed in at least one of the head end unit and one of the plurality of remote antenna units, the RF equalizer comprising;

a coupler comprising an input port, an output port, a coupling port, and an isolation port;

a combination circuit, comprising;

a coupling node electrically coupled to the coupling port;

a first digitally tunable capacitor (DTC) connected between the coupling node and ground;

a resistor connected between the coupling node and ground that controls a quality factor (Q) of resonance;

an isolation node coupled to the isolation port; and

a second DTC connected between the isolation node and ground.

15. The equalizing system of claim 14, wherein one of the first DTC and the second DTC is configured as a coarse DTC and the other one of the first DTC and the second DTC is configured as a fine DTC.

16. The equalizing system of claim 15, wherein the coarse DTC provides wide tuning equalization.

17. The equalizing system of claim 15, wherein the fine DTC provides narrow tuning equalization.

18. The equalizing system of claim 14, wherein the coupler is a directional coupler.

19. The equalizing system of claim 14, wherein each of the first DTC and the second DTC is controlled by a digital SPI bus.

20. The equalizing system of claim 14, wherein limiting flow of current across the first DTC affects the quality factor (Q) of the resonance of the first DTC and the resistor.

21. The equalizing system of claim 20, wherein a lower resistance of the resistor reduces an amount of equalizer correction in a given frequency range and a higher resistance increases an amount of the equalizer correction in a given frequency range.

22. The equalizing system of claim 14 further comprising:

a second coupler comprising a second input port coupled to the input port, a second output port, a second coupling port, and a second isolation port;

a second combination circuit, comprising;

a second coupling node electrically coupled to the second coupling port;

a third digitally tunable capacitor (DTC) connected between the second coupling node and ground;

a second resistor connected between the second coupling node and the ground for controlling a quality factor (Q) of a second resonance;

a second isolation node coupled to the second isolation port; and

a fourth DTC connected between the second isolation node and the ground.