SBIR Phase I: Improved Sigma Delta Modulators for Radio Frequencies

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将探索如何使用编码和信号处理技术来构建更好的数模转换器，用于射频通信和其他应用。射频硬件中对这种设备的一个关键要求是动态范围，即同时表示小信号和大信号的能力。如今，最高动态范围转换器使用一种称为Sigma-Delta调制的技术。Sigma-Delta调制允许从二进制量化数据生成高精度信号，因此消除了对精确模拟电平的要求。传统上，Sigma-Delta调制是用线性反馈系统来解释的。这项研究将表明，Sigma-Delta调制实际上是一种粗略的优化算法。这项工作将继续寻找比现在使用的Sigma-Delta方法更好的方法来解决这个优化问题。这个项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将出现在必须将数字计算与物理世界相连接的地方，例如，获得天线辐射的模拟信号。实际上，数字革命依赖于模数和数模转换。个人CD机、移动电话、高清晰度电视、计算机调制解调器和深空通信系统都使用模数和数模转换块。此外，A到D和D到A的转换是目前许多重要系统中的薄弱环节，例如软件无线电。从新的角度看待转换问题，将导致性能提高、复杂性降低的解决方案。考虑到当今存在的CD播放机、移动电话、调制解调器和电视的数量，这些产品在制造方面的任何性能改进或成本降低都将对我们生活的世界产生重大影响，改善我们的生活水平。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will explore how techniques from coding and signal processing can be used to build better digital to analog converters for RF communications and other applications. A key requirement for such devices in radio frequency hardware is dynamic range, i.e., the ability to represent small and large signals simultaneously. Today, the highest dynamic range converters use a technique called Sigma-Delta modulation. Sigma-Delta modulation allows a high precision signal to be generated from binary quantized data, and so removes the requirement for precise analog levels. Traditionally, Sigma-Delta modulation is explained in terms of a linear feedback system. This research will show that Sigma-Delta modulation is, in fact, a crude optimization algorithm. The work will go on to find far better ways of solving this optimizations problem than the Sigma-Delta approach that is used now. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will appear wherever digital computationmust be interfaced to the physical world, e.g., to get the analog signal which an antenna radiates.Indeed, the digital revolution depends on analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion. Personal CDplayers, cellular telephones, high definition TV, computer modems, and deep space communicationsystems all use analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion blocks. Furthermore, A to D and D to A conversion is currently the weak link in many important systems, e.g., software defined radio. Looking at the conversion problem from a new perspective will result in solutions with improved performance and reduced complexity.Considering the number of CD players, cellular telephones, modems, and televisions in existencetoday, any improvement in performance or cost reduction in the manufacturing of these productswill have a major impact on the world in which we live and improve our standard of living.