Advances in Digital Front-End and Software RF Processing:Part I

One of the biggest technology trends in wireless broadband, radar, sonar, and broadcasting systems is software radio frequency processing and digital front-end. This trend encompasses a broad range of topics, from circuit design and signal processing to system integration. It includes digital up-conversion （DUC） and down-conversion （DDC）, digital predistortion （DPD）,

Advances in Digital Front-End and Software RF Processing: PartⅡ

In the first editorial of this two-part special issue, we pointed out that one of the biggest trends in wireless broadband, radar, sonar, and broadcasting technology is software RF processing and digital front-end [1]. Thistrend encompasses signal processing algorithms and integrated circuit design and includes digital pre-distortion （DPD）, conversions between digital and analog signals, digita up-conversion （DUC）, digital down-conversion （DDC）, DC offset,

Time Modulated Array Antennas: A Review

Time-modulated array(TMA)antennas,introduce the dimension of time into antenna design to control the radiation patterns and frequency spectral characteristics,thus improve the reconfigurability of array antennas and provide multiple functional-ities.They have great application potential in military and civilian fields,such as precision guidance and mobile communication,and are currently a hot spot of academic research.This article provides a review on the fundamentals and applications of TMAs.First,the basic theory and mathematical formulations of TMAs are introduced.Second,the most important applications of TMAs,namely time-modulated phased arrays(TMPA),are discussed from the perspectives of harmonic suppression and harmonic utiliza-tion,which are used for single-beam and multibeam radiation.Then,we survey the combination of TMA with various types of novel antenna arrays,such as single-channel digital beamforming(DBF)arrays,frequency diverse arrays(FDAs),and retrodirective arrays,to create new hardware implementation methods and enhance their performance.Next,recent advances in dedicated integrated chips for TMA,which have played a significant role in driving the progress of TMAs from academic research to practical applications,are presented.Finally,the challenges and prospects for TMAs are discussed,including new research directions and emerging applica-tion scenarios.

Improving the RF stabilities of BEPCII by a disturbance observer based controller

Background A digital low level radio frequency(DLLRF)system has been developed to replace the old analog LLRF and operated stably at BEPCII east RF station in the past two years.The RF stabilities required for BEPCII are±1%in magnitude and±1 degree in phase.These are satisfied both by the new DLLRF and the old analog LLRF.Yet,the DLLRF did not improve the RF stabilities so much as expected,especially when the beam current was high in collision mode.Purpose The purpose is to improve the RF stabilities further and meet the requirements by the upgraded BEPCII project(BEPC3).Method A disturbance observer based(DOB)controller to suppress the noise was developed and tested with beam at BEPCII RF system.Results The DOB controller works and the RF stabilities with beam may be improved from±1%to less than±0.5%in magnitude and from±1 degree to less than±0.5 degrees in phase.

Discrete-time charge analysis for a digital RF charge sampling mixer

This paper presents an approach for analyzing the key parts of a general digital radio frequency(RF) charge sampling mixer based on discrete-time charge values.The cascade sampling and filtering stages are analyzed and expressed in theoretical formulae.The effects of a pseudo-differential structure and CMOS switch-on resistances on the transfer function are addressed in detail.The DC-gain is restrained by using the pseudo-differential structure.The transfer gain is reduced because of the charge-sharing time constant when taking CMOS switch-on resistances into account.The unfolded transfer gains of a typical digital RF charge sampling mixer are analyzed in different cases using this approach.A circuit-level model of the typical mixer is then constructed and simulated in Cadence SpectreRF to verify the results.This work informs the design of charge-sampling,infinite impulse response(ⅡR) filtering,and finite impulse response(FIR) filtering circuits.The discrete-time approach can also be applied to other multi-rate receiver systems based on charge sampling techniques.