SpecEES:Switched-Capacitor Radiofrequency Signal Processing for Spectrally-Agile Low-Energy Wireless Transceivers

SpecEES：用于频谱捷变低能耗无线收发器的开关电容器射频信号处理

• 批准号: 1824442
• 负责人: Hossein Hashemi
• 金额: $ 67.5万
• 依托单位: University of Southern California
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1824442&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SpecEES; Switched; Capacitor; Radiofrequency; Signal

Over the past few decades, enabled by the advancements in computation and communication, the continued ease of information processing and access has had one of the most profound societal and global impacts. Starting around 1980s, every decade has seen a major improvement in wireless standards (1G in 1980s, 2G in 1990s, 3G in 2000s, and 4G in 2010s) each necessitating new infrastructure and supporting devices. The fifth-generation of wireless standards with the goals of improving the overall wireless capacity by 1000 times, improving the coverage, and reducing the latency is envisioned to be deployed within the next decade. On the other hand, the number of wirelessly connected devices is increasing exponentially under the internet of things (IoT) vision. Spectrum management, security assurance, and energy efficiency are key parameters to realize future wireless networks. The proposed research is focused on the design and experimental demonstrations of radio-frequency (RF) integrated circuits that can be realized in commercial semiconductor fabrication processes and enable energy-efficient spectrum-agile wireless communication transceivers. Energy-efficient secure wireless access is at the core of several Grand Challenges for Engineering that have been identified by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) such as Advance Health Informatics, Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure, Enhance Virtual Reality, and Advance Personalized Learning. This project will enable training the next-generation engineers and encouraging broader participation of young pre-college students to consider pursuing engineering and technology. The research results are expected to be transitioned to industry for commercialization and ultimately transform the curriculum.The energy efficiency of wireless transceivers, when dominated by noise, is dictated by the energy efficiency of transmitter (mainly power amplifier) and, when dominated by interferences, is dictated by the energy efficiency of receiver (mainly filters and local oscillator). In the conventional approach, the energy efficiency of the above circuits is directly related to the quality factor (Q) of the resonators and inductors used in the circuit. Spectrum agility requires RF transceiver circuits to be tunable across a wide frequency range. Unfortunately, compact high-Q tunable resonators and inductors do not exist in standard integrated circuit platforms. Consequently, the power consumption, size, and cost of a spectrum-agile RF transceiver would be increased by using the conventional approach. Recent research has demonstrated frequency-agile discrete-time (sampled), or more generally, periodic time varying, RF circuits, such as switched-capacitor filters and power amplifiers, that do not require high-Q tunable inductors or resonators. This project focuses on theory, design, and experimental verifications of discrete-time, periodic or quasi-periodic time varying RF signal processors with emphasis on spectrum agility and energy efficiency. Specific research directions include the following: energy-efficient and frequency-agile RF transmitters leveraging switched-capacitor power amplifiers with embedded filtering and driven by hybrid delta-sigma modulator; multi-input multi-output (MIMO) discrete-time RF signal processors; linear periodic or quasi-periodic time-varying network analysis with applications in reconfigurable RF filters and multiplexers; and energy-efficient, compact frequency synthesizers leveraging phase-noise and spur cancellation techniques in ring oscillator-based digital phase locked loops.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在过去几十年里，由于计算和通信的进步，信息处理和获取的持续便利产生了最深远的社会和全球影响之一。从20世纪80年代左右开始，每十年都会出现无线标准的重大改进(20世纪80年代为1G，90年代为2G，21世纪初为3G，2010年代为4G)，每个标准都需要新的基础设施和支持设备。第五代无线标准的目标是将整体无线容量提高1000倍，扩大覆盖范围，减少延迟，预计将在未来十年内部署。另一方面，在物联网(IoT)的愿景下，无线连接设备的数量正在呈指数级增长。频谱管理、安全保障和能源效率是实现未来无线网络的关键参数。拟议的研究集中在射频集成电路的设计和实验演示上，这些集成电路可以在商业半导体制造工艺中实现，并实现能效高的频谱捷变无线通信收发器。节能安全的无线接入是美国国家工程院(NAE)确定的几大工程挑战的核心，这些挑战包括推进健康信息学、恢复和改善城市基础设施、增强虚拟现实和推进个性化学习。该项目将培训下一代工程师，并鼓励年轻的大学预科学生更广泛地参与，考虑攻读工程和技术。无线收发信机的能效在以噪声为主时由发射机(主要是功率放大器)的能效决定，当受干扰时由接收器(主要是滤波器和本机振荡器)的能效决定。在传统方法中，上述电路的能量效率与电路中使用的谐振器和电感的品质因数(Q)直接相关。频谱敏捷性要求射频收发电路在较宽的频率范围内可调。不幸的是，标准集成电路平台中不存在紧凑型高Q可调谐振器和电感。因此，使用传统方法将增加频谱捷变射频收发机的功耗、尺寸和成本。最近的研究表明，不需要高Q可调电感或谐振器的频率捷变离散时间(采样)射频电路，或更广泛地说，周期性时变射频电路，如开关电容滤波器和功率放大器。本项目侧重于离散时间、周期或准周期时变射频信号处理器的理论、设计和实验验证，重点是频谱敏捷性和能量效率。具体的研究方向包括：能效和频率捷变射频发射器，利用具有嵌入式滤波和混合Delta-sigma调制器驱动的开关电容功率放大器；多输入多输出(MIMO)离散时间RF信号处理器；线性周期或准周期时变网络分析，应用于可重新配置的RF滤波器和复用器；以及高能效、紧凑的频率合成器，利用基于环形振荡器的数字锁相环中的相位噪声和杂散消除技术。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

4.1 A Watt-Level Phase-Interleaved Multi-Subharmonic Switching Digital Power Amplifier Achieving 31.4% Average Drain Efficiency

• DOI: 10.1109/isscc.2019.8662511
• 发表时间: 2019-02
• 期刊: 2019 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference - (ISSCC)
• 作者: Aoyang Zhang;M. Chen

A Time-Approximation Filter for Direct RF Transmitter

用于直接射频发射机的时间逼近滤波器

• DOI: 10.1109/jssc.2020.3036342
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits
• 影响因子: 5.4
• 作者: Su, Shiyu;Chen, Mike Shuo-Wei
• 通讯作者: Chen, Mike Shuo-Wei

SAW-Less Direct RF Transmitter With Multimode Noise Shaping and Tri-Level Time-Approximation Filter

具有多模噪声整形和三级时间逼近滤波器的无 SAW 直接射频发射器

• DOI: 10.1109/jssc.2021.3116933
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits
• 影响因子: 5.4
• 作者: Su, Shiyu;Chen, Mike Shuo-Wei
• 通讯作者: Chen, Mike Shuo-Wei

Surface-Acoustic-Wave Waveguides for Radio Frequency Signal Processing

• DOI: 10.1109/tmtt.2022.3222395
• 发表时间: 2023-03
• 期刊: IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
• 影响因子: 4.3
• 作者: Masashi Yamagata;N. Cao;D. John;H. Hashemi

A Watt-Level Phase-Interleaved Multi-Subharmonic Switching Digital Power Amplifier

• DOI: 10.1109/jssc.2019.2944831
• 发表时间: 2019-11
• 期刊: IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits
• 影响因子: 5.4
• 作者: Aoyang Zhang;M. Chen