RADIO COMMUNICATION CIRCUITS

Chapter 3
Transceiver, Noise and Nonlinear Distortion

Cuong Huynh, Ph.D

[email protected]

Department of Telecommunication Engineering

Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology
© 2021 FEEE - HCMUT 1 Radio Communication Circuits
 RADIO COMMUNICATION CIRCUITS

Chapter 3
Transceiver, Noise and Nonlinear Distortion

Textbook:
Steven J. Franke, Wireless Communication Systems, UIUC
Chapter 2, 10

References:
B. Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall, Second
Edition, 2011 (Chapter 2)

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 Transceiver, Noise and Nonlinear Distortion

Outline
 Introduction and Historical Progression
 RF Transceiver
 Noise
 Nonlinear Distortion

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1. Introduction and Historical Progression
• The history of radio communication begins at the end of the 19’th century, when
Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi developed the first practical radio
communication system using spark-gap radio transmitters and a nonlinear circuit
element, called a “coherer”, as a detector at the receiving end of the link.

• His most famous accomplishment was demonstration of transatlantic wireless

communications, in 1902, when the Morse-code letter “S” (dot dot dot) was
transmitted from England, and received in Newfoundland.
• Wireless telegraphy transmission using spark-gap transmitters used the
broadband damped oscillations generated when the DC current in an LC circuit is
suddenly interrupted.
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1. Introduction and Historical Progression
Tuned Detector/Demodulator

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1. Introduction and Historical Progression
Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) Receiver

• Very popular receiver architecture that was employed in the 1920’s for AM broadcast receivers

Require:
• Tunable
• High-gain
• Narrow-bandwidth
• Filter/amplifier

A regenerative receiver employing a regenerative amplifier in front of a demodulator

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1. Introduction and Historical Progression
Genesis of the Superheterodyne Receiver

 Superheterodyne receiver was invented by Edwin Armstrong in 1917

• Armstrong became a member of the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War I.
Involved with efforts to find a way to detect enemy airplanes from a distance
• He knew that it might be possible to detect the electromagnetic emissions from the
spark plugs in the engine.
• The problem was that the emissions were strongest at the (then) unusually high
frequencies above a few MHz.
• Triodes of the day had very little gain at such high frequencies, so Armstrong hit on
the idea of employing the heterodyne principle to shift the high-frequency signals to
a lower frequency, where they could be more efficiently amplified and filtered.
• Once he decided to incorporate the heterodyne concept into his receiver, it became
possible to heterodyne any signal of interest, regardless of its frequency, to a fixed
intermediate frequency (IF). Selective filtering, and high-gain amplification could be
done at the fixed IF.

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1. Introduction and Historical Progression
Characteristics of Practical Filters
 Losses in the components used to implement filter networks set a lower
limit on the bandwidth that can be achieved in a bandpass filter.
 In many cases, the resonant circuit Q is
limited by the Q of the inductor.
 For miniature inductors, Q’s may be
limited to values in the range 10-100,
whereas inductors implemented using
spirals of metallization in integrated
circuits typically have very low Q, often
<10.
 Fractional BW is 1/Q
 Generally speaking, LC filters with
fractional bandwidths smaller than around
Definition of -3dB bandwidth 0.01 tend to become impractical.
 Transmission-line and cavity resonator filters -- > difficult to tune
 Filters based on piezoelectric devices - Quartz-Crystal Filter, Ceramic Filter  high
Q, but expensive and low frequencies, not tunable
 SAW filters  high Q, but expensive, not tunable
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1. Introduction and Historical Progression
Filter limitations dictate carrier-frequency conversion

Tuned Radio Frequency (TRF) Receiver

Can we select an RF wanted signal while completely filter the Interferers at RF frequency?
 First, the filter must provide a very high Q
 Second, the filter would need to have a variable and precise center frequency.
 Can we select the channel at RF frequency?

 The bandwidth of CDMA channel is 1.25 MHz, and the center frequency is
approximately 1900 MHz. A fractional bandwidth of 1.25/1900 of 0.00066 is required.
 GSM: 200K/900M

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 2. RF Transceiver

 A Transceiver consists of a Transmitter and a Receiver

 RF/Microwave transceiver can be divided into two sections:

 RF/Microwave Section – analog, high frequencies

 Baseband Section - mostly digital today (DSP), low frequencies

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 2. RF Transceiver

 Typical Digital Receiver

Receiver RF Front-End Receiver RF Back-End

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 2. RF Transceiver

 Typical Digital Transmitter

Transmitter RF Back-End Transmitter RF Front-End

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 2. RF Transceiver
 What are the functions of each building block ?

Signal In

Transmitter

Signal Out

Superheterodyne Receiver
Heterodyne: combine (a high-frequency signal) with another to produce a lower frequency in this way
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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Channel Selection and Band Selection

 It is extremely difficult to select channel at RF frequency due to high-Q RF filter.

 Channel selection must be deferred to some other point where center frequency is lower
and hence required Q is more reasonable
 Most receiver front ends do incorporate a “band-select” filter

 Constant IF: LO frequency is variable, all RF channels within the band of interest translated
to a single value of IF.
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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
Superheterodyne Receiver
 Conversion to a fixed frequency takes advantage of the fact that it is much easier to
realize narrow-band filters and stable, high-gain amplifiers if the frequency of operation
doesn’t change.
 The IF frequency is fixed, the LO frequency is adjusted to select different channel.

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
Mixer Fundamentals

If x(t )  A cos 1t x(t) x(t)y(t)

y (t )  B cos 2t
y(t)
Then the output is
AB AB
A cos 1t  B cos 2t  cos(1  2 )t  cos(1  2 )t
2 2
down convert up convert

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 General Considerations
 The main function of a receiver is the demodulation of a wanted signal (channel)
in the presence of undesired interferers and noise.
 Due to the strong attenuation during air transmission, the RF signal has to be
amplified and recovered.
 Taking into account scenarios with varying attenuation, a wide dynamic range is
required for the detection of signals with high data-rates.

 Wanted signal
 Interferers
 Noise.

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Image Frequency Problem

 Two spectra located symmetrically around ωLO are downconverted to the IF

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
Superheterodyne Receiver

 Using Image Reject Filter

Digital Demodulation

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Image Rejection

 The most common approach is to precede the mixer with an “image-

reject filter”
 The IRF should exhibits the low loss in the desired band and high
attenuation in the image band.
 A filter with high image rejection typically appears between the LNA and
the mixer so that the gain of the LNA lowers the filter’s contribution to the
receiver noise figure.
 The linearity and selectivity required of the image-reject filter have
dictated passive, off-chip implementations.
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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Image Rejection

Example - FM Broadcast Receiver

The FM broadcast band covers 88 - 108 MHz. The channels are separated by 200 kHz and
are assigned to odd multiples of 100 kHz. In almost all cases the IF frequency is chosen to
be 10.7 MHz. As in the previous example “high-side” LO is often used, i.e., the LO tunes
from 98.7 to 118.7 MHz.
Notice that the IF used for FM broadcast receivers is substantially higher than that
used for AM receivers. This choice is motivated by the fact that the image frequency is
separated from the desired carrier frequency by 2fIF. Generally speaking, in order tomake
the preselector filter relatively easy to build and tune, the IF frequency must be raised as
the carrier frequency increases.

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Image Rejection versus Channel Selection

 As noted, the desired channel and the image have a frequency

difference of 2IF· Thus, to maximize image rejection, it is desirable
to choose a large value for IF i.e., a large difference between in and
LO.
 How large can 2IF be? Recall that the premise in a heterodyne
architecture is to translate the center frequency to a sufficiently low
value IF so that channel selection by means of practical filters
becomes feasible.
  Image Rejection - Channel Selection Trade-Off
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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Image Rejection versus Channel Selection

 A high IF allows substantial rejection of the image.

 A low IF helps with the suppression of in-band interferers.

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Image Rejection versus Channel Selection

 The trade-off between image rejection and channel selection in

the heterodyne architecture often proves quite severe: if the IF
is high, the image can be suppressed but complete channel
selection is difficult, and vice versa.
 To resolve this issue, the concept of heterodyning can be
extended to multiple down-conversions, each followed by
filtering and amplification -- >
Double-conversion SupperHeterodyne Receiver

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Double-conversion Supper Heterodyne Receivers

 In a double-conversion receiver the bandwidth of the first IF filter would be chosen to reject
“secondary” image frequencies within the first IF bandwidth.
 A secondary image would be an undesired frequency within the passband of the first IF filter that
could be mixed into the second IF filter’s passband.
 The second IF filter’s bandwidth would usually be just wide enough to pass the entire spectrum of the
desired signal.

 The front-end filter selects the band while providing some image rejection as well (Point B)
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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Double-conversion Supper Heterodyne Receivers

 After amplification and image-reject filtering, spectrum of C obtained

 Sufficiently linear mixer translates desired channel and adjacent interferers to first IF
(Point D)

 Partial channel selection BPF3 permits the use of a second mixer with reasonable linearity.
(Point E)
 Spectrum is translated to second IF. (Point F)

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Double-conversion Supper Heterodyne Receivers

 BPF4 suppresses the interferers to acceptably low levels (Point G)

 An optimum design scales both the noise figure and the IP3 of each stage
according to the total gain preceding that stage.

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver

 The problems associated with the image rejection have

motivated designers to invent other receiver architecture and
smart techniques for the rejection of the image frequency.
 Receiver architectures
 Heterodyne receiver – image problem
 Super-heterodyne receiver – more circuits, more power
 Image-reject receivers
 Harley receiver
 Weaver architecture
 Homodyne (direct conversion, zero-IF) – DC offset
 Low IF
 Digital IF

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Direct-conversion Receiver – (Zero-IF)
 The idea is to translate the RF signal directly to zero-IF frequency.

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
 Direct-conversion receivers
 Advantage:
o The channel filtering can be performed by a low-pass filter.
o Eliminating the image problem. Hence, no external high-Q image reject
filter is required making fully integrated solutions feasible.
 The zero-IF approach seems to be superior compared with other architectures.
However, the following issues impede its widespread use in today’s radios.
o The RF carrier and the local oscillator are at the same frequency. Thus, LO
leakage to the mixer input can lead to self mixing resulting in a time-
varying DC offset at the output of the mixer.
o This DC offset may corrupt the signal and can lead to a saturation of the
following stages thereby significantly degrading the upper boundary of the
dynamic range. Consequently, sophisticated offset cancellation techniques
are required in practical implementations.
o The flicker noise of the active devices becomes significant at low
frequencies. Thus, low noise amplification and active filtering is difficult
for zero-IF topologies degrading the lower limit of the dynamic range.

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
Demodulator

Modulator

 Transceivers consist of both a receiver and a transmitter.

 In many cases, a transceiver needs only one multifunctional VCO since it may
be used for both the receiver and transmitter.
 SPDT (Single Pole Double Throw) switches can be employed to change
between the receive- and transmit- modes.
 These switches exhibits the additional losses of around 0.5–2 dB, which
directly add to the overall noise figure in the receiver and reduce the effective
PA power.
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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
Example - AM Broadcast Receiver
 A typical AM broadcast receiver covers the frequency range 540 - 1700 kHz.
 AM broadcast stations in the U.S. are assigned frequencies that are integer
multiples of 10 kHz, therefore the adjacent channel separation is 10 kHz. The
IF frequency is very often chosen to be 455 kHz.

Local oscillator tuning range:

1. 995 kHz to 2155 kHz
2. 85 kHz to 1245 kHz

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver
Example - FM Broadcast Receiver

 The FM broadcast band covers 88 - 108 MHz. The channels are separated by
200 kHz and are assigned to odd multiples of 100 kHz.
 In almost all cases the IF frequency is chosen to be 10.7 MHz.
 As in the previous example “high-side” LO is often used, i.e., the LO tunes
from 98.7 to 118.7 MHz. Why ?
 Notice that the IF used for FM broadcast receivers is substantially higher
than that used for AM receivers.
 This choice is motivated by the fact that the image frequency is separated
from the desired carrier frequency by 2fIF.
 Generally speaking, in order to make the preselector filter relatively easy to
build and tune, the IF frequency must be raised as the carrier frequency
increases.

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 2. RF Transceiver - Receiver

HW: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18 (Image-reject mixer)

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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
 The effect of noise is critical to the performance of most RF/Microwave communications,
radar, and remote sensing systems.
 Noise ultimately determines the threshold for the minimum signal that can be reliably detected
by a receiver.

 Wanted signal
 Interferers
 Noise.

Noise power in a receiver will be introduced from:

 The external environment through the receiving antenna – External Noise
 Internal circuits of receivers – Internal Noise
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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
External noise may be introduced into a system either by a receiving antenna or by
electromagnetic coupling.
Some sources of external RF noise include the following:
 Thermal noise from the ground
 Cosmic background noise from the sky
 Noise from stars (including the sun)
 Lightning
 Gas discharge lamps
 Radio, TV, and cellular stations
 Wireless devices
 Microwave ovens
 Deliberate jamming devices

Noise vs. Interferer

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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems

Internal Noise generated in a device or component is usually caused

by random motions of charges or charge carriers in devices and
materials.
Such motions may be due to any of several mechanisms, leading to
various types of noise:
 Thermal noise is the most basic type of noise, being caused by
thermal vibration of bound charges. It is also known as Johnson or
Nyquist noise.
 Shot noise is due to random fluctuations of charge carriers in an
electron tube or solid-state device.
 Flicker noise occurs in solid-state components and vacuum tubes.
Flicker noise power varies inversely with frequency, and so is often
called 1/ f -noise.

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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
Noise in Bipolar Transistors
 Bipolar transistors contain physical resistances in their base, emitter, and collector
regions, all of which generate thermal noise. Moreover, they also suffer from “shot
noise” associated with the transport of carriers across the base-emitter junction.

 In low-noise circuits, the base resistance thermal noise and the collector current
shot noise become dominant. For this reason, wide transistors biased at high
current levels are employed.

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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
Noise in resistor: Noise as a Random Process

Higher temperature

 The average current remains equal to VB/R but the instantaneous current displays random
values

 T must be long enough to accommodate several cycles of the lowest frequency.

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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
 Noise of Resistor

k = 1.380 × 10−23 J/K is Boltzmann’s constant.

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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
Desired signal power
𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨 (𝑺𝑵𝑹) =
Undesired noise power

Noise Figure: measures the degradation

in the signal-to-noise ratio between the input
and output of the component

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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
Desired signal power
𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨 (𝑺𝑵𝑹) =
Undesired noise power

Noise Figure: measures the degradation in the signal-to-noise ratio

between the input and output of the component
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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems

Noise Figure

No=NinG + Na =KTBG + Na
Na is the added noise power generated
from internal components
Na
N in 
No GN in  N a G
NF   
GN in GN in N in
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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems

Friis equation
NF2  1 NF3  1 NFn  1
NF  NF1    ...+
G1 G1G2 G1G2 ...Gn 1
3
NFn is the noise factor in linear (not in dB) of the n−th
-1 stage
Gn is the power gain in linear (not in dB), too.

What do we learn from the Friis equation ?

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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
Noise Figure Exercise
1. In a two –stage system, show that :
NF2  1
NF  NF1 
G1
2. Using Friis equation, find the total NF of a system having the BPF
(with the insertion loss of L) as the first block.
What is your conclusion from the result ?

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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
Sensitivity:

Na
N in 
No GN in  N a G
NF   
GN in GN in N in
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 3. Noise in RF/Microwave Systems
Required Receiver Sensitivity – A Qualitative View
What is the required receiver NF to achieve
Na
a certain level of sensitivity? No GN in  N a
N in 
NF    G
GN in GN in N in
Transmit Power

Path Loss • To find Receiver NF

• Transmit Power – FCC regulated
• Path loss
Receiver Sensitivity
Required SNRo • Receiver sensitivity – govern by
standards and applications
Input Noise Floor (No/G)
• Required SNR – depends on BER
Noise Figure requirement and modulation
Input Noise (Ni) scheme
• Noise floor – thermal noise or
circuit noise limited depending on
the modulation schemes

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

linear

nonlinear

 The input/output characteristic of a memoryless nonlinear system can be

approximated with a polynomial

 In this idealized case, the circuit displays only second-order nonlinearity

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

 Nonlinear Distortion

vi vo Taylor series: f(x)=

 Harmonic generation (multiples of a fundamental signal)

 Gain Compression (gain reduction in an amplifier)
 Desensitization - Blocking
 Inter-modulation Distortion (products of a two-tone input
signal)

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Effects of Nonlinearity: Harmonic Distortion

DC Fundamental Second Third

Harmonic Harmonic

 Even-order harmonics result from αj with even j

 nth harmonic grows in proportion to An

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Gain Compression: 1-dB Compression Point

 Output falls below its ideal value by 1 dB at the 1-dB compression point
 Peak value instead of peak-to-peak value

Pin = ? , Pout = ?
Voltage gain ?
Power Gain ?
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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Nonlinear Distortion – Harmonic Generation and Gain Compression

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Gain Compression: Effect on FM and AM Waveforms

 FM signal carries no information in its amplitude and hence tolerates

compression.
 AM contains information in its amplitude, hence distorted by compression

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Gain Compression: Desensitization - Blocking

For A1 << A2

 Desensitization: the receiver gain is reduced by the large excursions produced

by the interferer even though the desired signal itself is small.

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Nonlinear Distortion – Desensitization and Blocking

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Effects of Nonlinearity: Intermodulation—
Recall Previous Discussion
So far we have considered the case of:

 Single Signal Harmonic distortion

 Signal + one large interferer Desensitization

 Signal + two large interferers Intermodulation

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Effects of Nonlinearity: Inter-modulation Distortion (IMD)
assume
Thus

Intermodulation products:

Fundamental components:

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Nonlinear Distortion – Inter-modulation Distortion (IMD)

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Intermodulation Product Falling on Desired Channel

Interferer

desired

 A received small desired signal along with two large interferers

 Intermodulation product falls onto the desired channel, corrupts signal.

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Example of Intermodulation
Suppose four Bluetooth users operate in a room as shown in figure below. User 4
is in the receive mode and attempts to sense a weak signal transmitted by User 1
at 2.410 GHz. At the same time, Users 2 and 3 transmit at 2.420 GHz and 2.430 GHz,
respectively. Explain what happens.

Solution:

Since the frequencies transmitted by Users 1, 2, and 3 happen to be equally spaced, the
intermodulation in the LNA of RX4 corrupts the desired signal at 2.410 GHz.
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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Intermodulation: Third Intercept Point is the point where the output power at 1 equals to
output power at (21 - 2 )

 IP3 is not a directly measureable quantity, but a point obtained by

extrapolation
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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Nonlinear Distortion – Inter-modulation Distortion (IMD)

3rd order intercept point : IP3

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Nonlinear Distortion – Inter-modulation Distortion (IMD)

3rd order intercept point : IP3

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Nonlinear Distortion – Inter-modulation Distortion (IMD)
3rd order intercept point : IP3 Input IP is the point where the output power at
1 equals to output power at (21 - 2 )

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Nonlinear Distortion – Inter-modulation Distortion (IMD)
3rd order intercept point : IP3 Input IP is the point where the output power at
1 equals to output power at (21 - 2 )

 For a given input level (well below P1dB), the IIP3 can be calculated by halving
the difference between the output fundamental and IM levels and adding the
result to the input level, where all values are expressed as logarithmic
quantities.
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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems

Nonlinear Distortion – Inter-modulation Distortion (IMD)

Determine IP3 by Spectrum Measurement

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Example of Third Intercept Point
A low-noise amplifier senses a -80-dBm signal at 2.410 GHz and two -20-dBm
interferers at 2.420 GHz and 2.430 GHz. What IIP3 is required if the IM products
must remain 20 dB below the signal? For simplicity, assume 50-Ω interfaces at the
input and output.

Solution:

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 G1 G2

IIP3: Power quantity

G: Power gain

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 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Nonlinear Distortion – SFDR)

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© 2021 FEEE - HCMUT 72 Radio Communication Circuits
 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Nonlinear Distortion – SFDR)
Po,PIMD dBm

IP3

1dBA

SNRo,min
No

INF Pin,min Pin,max Pin,1dB IIP3 Pin[dBm]

A
SNRi,min A SFDR A

73
© 2021 FEEE - HCMUT 73 Radio Communication Circuits
 4. Nonlinear Distortion in RF/Microwave Systems
Nonlinear Distortion – SFDR)

Prove ?

74
© 2021 FEEE - HCMUT 74 Radio Communication Circuits