Reconfigurable Bandpass Sampling Receivers for Software-Defined Radio Applications

提案标题：用于软件无线电应用的可重构带通采样接收器。在过去的几十年里，无线通信技术的发展取得了巨大的进步。无线技术已紧密融入当今社会的方方面面，为人类文明的进步做出了重大贡献。未来的无线系统有望拥有更多的功能，更长的电池寿命，更小的尺寸，更重要的是，更低的成本。与此同时，大量不同的无线标准、设备和系统不断向我们提出挑战，要求我们更好地利用已经拥挤的无线电频谱。一个例子是4G蜂窝网络，它已经在全球范围内分配了40多个不同的频段，给蜂窝基础设施提供商和移动手机制造商带来了重大的实施问题。为了克服这些挑战，人们提出了软件定义无线电和认知无线电等概念。在这些系统中，软件和硬件（模拟和射频前端电路）都可以自适应地重新配置，以最有效地利用可用频谱。尽管在这方面已经做了很多研究，但制造真正可重构的无线电前端电路仍然是一个挑战。在这项研究中，我们提出了一个在工作频率、带宽和信号波形方面可重构的带通采样接收器架构。提出的研究将对未来的无线通信系统产生变革性的影响。通过这项研究获得的高度可重构无线接收器不仅可以实现高度通用的移动系统，而且还可以实现更加经济和环保的电信基础设施。这种基础设施和系统将导致更有效地利用和公众获取无线电频谱。与低通采样接收器相比，所提出的接收器以相对于信号中心频率低得多的频率进行采样。因此，带通采样无线电中的模数转换器（ADC）在更低的带宽下工作，从而显著降低功耗。I/Q分离和基带处理（通道滤波，基带AGC等）可以完全在数字域进行。这将提高灵活性，以适应不同的波形和无线标准。高q可调射频带通滤波器的使用确保了带外干扰带来的最小失真。与现有的解决方案相比，所提出的架构在不牺牲动态范围的情况下，使数字化尽可能靠近天线。所提出的接收机具有显著提高日益拥挤的无线电频谱利用率的潜力。这项研究的结果将通过学术和贸易期刊/会议以及pi的研究小组网站广泛传播。pi计划建立一个关于无线技术的暑期拓展项目，以提高高中学生和教师对STEM学科，特别是工程学的兴趣。研究结果也将被整合到pi所开发的研究生和本科课程中。此外，pi计划让本科生参与研究，以提高他们攻读工程高级学位的兴趣。

Proposal Title: Reconfigurable Band-Pass Sampling Receivers for Software-Defined Radio Applications. Institution: University of California-DavisThe last few decades have seen tremendous progress in the development of wireless communication technologies. Wireless technologies are tightly woven into every facet of today's society and have significantly contributed to the advancement of human civilization. Future wireless systems are expected to have even more functionality, longer battery life, smaller size and more importantly, lower cost. At the same time, a proliferation of vastly different wireless standards, devices, and systems has continued to challenge us to make better use of the already congested radio spectrum. One example is the 4G cellular networks, which have been allocated more than 40 different bands worldwide, causing significant implementation problems for cellular infrastructure providers and mobile handset manufacturers. To overcome these challenges, concepts such as software defined radios and cognitive radios have been proposed. In these systems, both software and hardware (analog and radio frequency front-end circuits) can be reconfigurable adaptively to make the most efficient use of the available spectrum. Although much research has been done in this area, making truly reconfigurable radio front-end circuit remains a challenge. In this research, we propose a band-pass sampling receiver architecture that is reconfigurable in terms of operating frequency, bandwidth, and signal waveforms. The proposed research will have a transformative impact on future wireless communication systems. The highly reconfigurable wireless receivers made available through this research will enable not only highly versatile mobile systems but also a significantly more economical and environmentally friendly telecommunication infrastructure. Such infrastructure and systems will result in more efficient utilization of and public access to the radio spectrum.In contrast to a low-pass sampling receiver, the proposed receiver samples at a much lower frequency with respect to the center frequency of the signal. The analog-to-digital converter (ADC) in the band-pass sampling radio therefore operates at a much lower bandwidth, resulting in a significant reduction in power consumption. The I/Q separation and baseband processing (channel filtering, base-band AGC, etc) can be carried out entirely in the digital domain. This will improve flexibility in terms of adapting to different waveforms and wireless standards. The use of high-Q tunable RF band-pass filters ensures that minimum distortion is introduced by out of band interferers. Compared with existing solutions, the proposed architecture pushes digitization closer to the antenna as possible without having to sacrifice the dynamic range. The proposed receiver has the potential to significantly increase the utilization of the ever more crowded radio frequency spectrum.The outcome of this research will be widely disseminated through academic and trade journals/conferences and the PIs' research group websites. The PIs plan to establish a summer outreach program on wireless technology to promote interests in STEM subjects, engineering in particular for high-school students and teachers. The outcome of the research will also be integrated into the graduate and undergraduate courses the PIs have developed. In addition, the PIs plan to engage undergraduate students in research to promote their interest in pursuing advanced degrees in engineering.