Communication device and method for direct detection and photon receiver

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to communication devices and methods for direct detection and photonic receivers, in particular to devices and components related to direct detection and photonic receivers.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to communication equipment and methods. Background Technology

[0002] New use cases are being developed to test the signaling and processing capabilities of wireless networks and devices. Augmented Reality (AR) and Extended Reality (XR) are two use cases that will benefit from the rapid transmission of large amounts of data over wireless links and reduced power consumption by user devices. AR and XR applications blend real and virtual images for presentation to the user. These applications can be used in a variety of work and life sectors, including industry, logistics, retail, office administration, education, and healthcare services. Attached Figure Description

[0003] Figure 1 An exemplary system according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0004] Figure 2 A receiver according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0005] Figure 3 Another receiver according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0006] Figure 4 Different modulations according to some implementation schemes are shown.

[0007] Figure 5 A demodulator according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0008] Figure 6 A constellation diagram is shown according to some implementation schemes.

[0009] Figure 7 Another demodulator according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0010] Figure 8 Another constellation diagram is shown according to some implementation schemes.

[0011] Figure 9 Another demodulator according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0012] Figure 10 Another constellation diagram is shown according to some implementation schemes.

[0013] Figure 11 The operational flow / algorithm structure according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0014] Figure 12 User equipment according to some implementation schemes is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0015] The following detailed description relates to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, specific details, such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, and techniques, are set forth for illustrative and non-limiting purposes to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of the various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples departing from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods have been omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of this document, the phrases “A / B” and “A or B” refer to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0016] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.

[0017] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to a portion of or includes said hardware component configured to provide the described functionality. Hardware components may include electronic circuitry, logic circuitry, processors (shared, dedicated, or grouped) or memories (shared, dedicated, or grouped), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable devices (FPDs) (e.g., field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), structured ASICs, or programmable system-on-a-chip (SoCs)), or digital signal processors (DSPs). In some embodiments, a circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the said functionality. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and program code for performing the functionality (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuit.

[0018] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" means, is part of, or includes the following: a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuit" may also refer to an application processor, baseband processor, central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit, single-core processor, dual-core processor, triple-core processor, quad-core processor, or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional procedures).

[0019] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" can refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as buses, I / O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, and network interface cards.

[0020] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to equipment having radio communication capabilities that allow a user to access network resources within a communication network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous with and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, or reconfigurable mobile device. Furthermore, the term "user equipment" or "UE" can include any type of wireless / wired equipment or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0021] As used herein, the term "computer system" means any type of interconnected electronic device, computer device, or component thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to the various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to each other. Furthermore, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to each other and configured to share computing resources or network resources.

[0022] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to physical or virtual devices, physical or virtual components within a computing environment, or physical or virtual components within a particular device, such as computer equipment, mechanical equipment, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU utilization, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or utilization, power supply, input / output operations, port or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory utilization, storage, network, database, and application or workload units. "Hardware resource" can refer to computing, storage, or networking resources provided by physical hardware components. "Virtualized resource" can refer to computing, storage, or networking resources provided by virtualized infrastructure to applications, devices, or systems. The terms "network resource" or "communication resource" can refer to resources accessible by a computer device / system via a communication network. The term "system resource" can refer to any kind of shared entity providing a service and can include computing or network resources. System resources can be considered as a coherent set of functions, network data objects, or services accessible through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

[0023] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium used for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous or equivalent with "communication channel," "data communication channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel," "access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link," "carrier," "radio frequency carrier," or any other similar term indicating a path or medium through which data is transmitted. Additionally, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection between two devices used for transmitting and receiving information.

[0024] The term "connection" can mean that two or more elements at a common communication protocol layer have an established signaling relationship with each other through a communication channel, link, interface or reference point.

[0025] Figure 1 An exemplary system 100 according to some embodiments is shown. Specifically, system 100 may include a central office 104 communicatively coupled to an access point 112 via fiber optic connection 108. Fiber optic connection 108 may include, for example, plastic optical fiber, multimode graded-index optical fiber, or single-mode optical fiber.

[0026] Access point 112 can be communicatively coupled to UE 120 via wireless connection 116. For clarity and simplicity, system 100 is a simplified version showing a single representation of each element. It should be understood that one or more elements of each may exist in an implementation of network arrangement 100.

[0027] In some implementations, UE 120 may be a wearable UE, such as smart glasses capable of providing users with AR / XR experiences. In other implementations, UE 120 may be another type of UE.

[0028] The computational / storage-intensive tasks of system 100 can be largely performed in central office 104, which has sufficiently high computing power to facilitate the desired offloading of communication and application tasks that would typically be performed in access point 112 or UE 120. Centralizing computational / storage-intensive tasks within central office 104 reduces complexity and power consumption in access point 112 and UE 120, and also reduces latency that may occur throughout the link between central office 104 and UE 120.

[0029] Wireless connection 116 provides a broadband radio communication link that operates in the terahertz (THz) frequency range and has high bandwidth. As used herein, the THz frequency range can include frequencies above 100 GHz. The optical fronthaul link via fiber optic connection 108 can have a bandwidth that is a multiple of that of wireless connection 116. Central office 104 can provide an analog waveform on fiber optic connection 108, which access point 112 can easily convert into a radio frequency (RF) waveform for transmission on wireless connection 116.

[0030] Central office 104 may include AP control circuitry to provide control signals for wireless connection 116 to access point 112. Central office 104 may also include UE control circuitry to provide control signals for wireless connection 116 and data signals for user output to UE 120.

[0031] In some implementations, the central office 104 may control sensing occurring on communication channel 116 to calculate various communication parameters. Sensing can be used to determine link quality (e.g., channel state information) and perform beam management for direct transmission / reception by access point 112 and UE 120. In some examples, the central office 104 may periodically control access point 112 to perform beam scanning operations by transmitting reference signals on multiple beams. UE 120 may measure these multiple beams and transmit the measurement results to the central office 104. In some implementations, the measurement data may be transmitted to the central office 104 in its raw form to avoid UE 120 having to process the measurement results. The central office 104 can then use the measurement data to determine the desired beams to be used at both access point 112 and UE 120.

[0032] In some implementations, central office 104 can control the sensing of communication channel 116 by providing an optical signal with radar components. Feedback from radar reflections sensed at access point 112 can be provided to central office 104 so that central office 104 can determine the location of objects around access point 112.

[0033] Upon receiving feedback from access point 112 and UE 120, central office 104 can generate communication parameters, which can then be transmitted to access point 112 and UE 120 to control various aspects of communication via wireless connection 116. These communication parameters may relate to transmit / receive beams, uplink / downlink transmit power, modulation and coding schemes, joint bandwidth, polarization, forward error correction (FEC), or carrier / local oscillator (LO) frequency.

[0034] In one example, the AP control circuitry can calculate beamforming weights or precoding matrices transmitted to access point 112. Access point 112 can utilize these beamforming weights / precoding matrices to form transmit / receive beams to facilitate communication via wireless connection 116. Similarly, the UE control circuitry can transmit beamforming weights / precoding matrices to UE 120, which can utilize these matrices to form transmit / receive beams at UE 120. Beamforming can be particularly useful in system 100 given the relatively high attenuation levels that wireless signals can experience in the terahertz frequency range.

[0035] Both access point 112 and UE 120 may include antenna arrays that can be used to form transmit / receive beams. These arrays may include microstrip antennas, printed antennas fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, patch antennas, or phased array antennas. Given the high frequency of the signals transmitted via wireless connection 116, the antennas can be small. This provides flexibility in designing UE 120 to accommodate antenna arrays with a small footprint.

[0036] While some implementations describe UE 120 as smart glasses that enable XR / AR experiences, system 100 may be additionally / optionally used to facilitate other end-user applications with other UEs.

[0037] System 100 can utilize Time Division Duplex (TDD). In some implementations, downlink communication may rely on Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and have a high data rate exceeding 50 gigabits per second, while uplink communication may rely on simpler modulation schemes, such as Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), and can have a relatively lower data rate of approximately 1 MB / s. Given the link quality, forward error correction may be almost unnecessary in the communication of System 100.

[0038] In the downlink, coherent modulation and demodulation of the QAM signal constellation can be transmitted via the combined optical fiber communication and radio channel of system 100. This, along with antenna beamforming that can be performed by UE 120, is associated with high synchronization requirements. Embodiments of this disclosure describe how optical receiver antenna array steering, which can be performed prior to direct detection / demodulation, can be used to efficiently generate the output bitstream. Differential modulation described in the various embodiments reduces architectural complexity and avoids sophisticated digital signal processing. For example, the use of complex analog-to-digital converters in the data path can be reduced or even eliminated. While the above embodiments describe QAM-based downlink communication, other modulations, as described herein, can be used.

[0039] As described above, the fiber optic and radio resources of system 100 can be tightly coupled. This provides an unresolved constraint, given that previous communication systems were able to independently optimize the fiber optic fronthaul and radio channels. Combining fiber optic and radio parameters (e.g., bandwidth, modulation order, polarization, and symbol rate) as much as possible allows access point 112 to have limited complexity. Access point 112 with limited complexity (also referred to as thin access point 112) can perform only a small amount of processing to orient the fiber optic signal toward the terahertz radio signal. In the simplest case, the optical polarization plane can be frequency-shifted to the terahertz linearly polarized radio signal. This avoids any demodulation and remodulation within access point 112. Therefore, the fiber optic channel and the radio transmission channel can be considered as a combined overall channel. Therefore, the implementation describes a modulation scheme applicable to both domains that can also be effectively implemented in UE 120.

[0040] Figure 2 A receiver 200 according to some embodiments is shown. The receiver 200, which may be located within the UE 120, may have an antenna 204 to receive an OTA signal, which in some embodiments may have a frequency of 262 GHz (f_THz). The antenna 204 may be, for example, a bowtie antenna. The antenna 204 may be coupled to a photodetector 208. In some embodiments, the photodetector 208 may be a single-line carrier (UTC) photodiode.

[0041] The photodetector 208 can be driven by an optical local oscillator (LO) carrier provided by the laser 216. The laser 216, which can be a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), can provide an LO signal with high output power, enabling the mixing and amplification of both signals for the upconverted data path via the photodetector 208. The frequency of the LO signal (f_LO) can be 200 THz.

[0042] The photodetector 208 can generate an optical signal based on the electrical signal received from the antenna 204 and the LO signal received from the laser 216. The photodetector 208 can provide the generated signal to the demodulator 224. The receiver 200 is shown as having a single polarization plane; however, other embodiments may include more than one polarization plane.

[0043] Receiver 200 can process the received signal based on differential modulation and direct detection techniques. These techniques play an important role because they rely on fewer building blocks and typically operate in the analog domain, thus avoiding radio and mixed-signal building blocks. Various implementations can be selected based on the modulation type that can be efficiently applied to fiber optics, converted to radio, and detected by UE 104. Demodulation operations can be doubled per polarization plane.

[0044] Receiver 200 can employ optical demodulation, which reduces the electrical processing steps that demodulator 224 must perform. Specifically, optical demodulation can reduce or avoid the expensive ADCs used for in-phase and quadrature paths. Receiver 200 can be very flexible because it can cover a wide input frequency range and signal bandwidth by avoiding frequency-selective components in the main signal path and LO path. Furthermore, providing mixing in the optical domain allows receiver 200 to avoid electrical amplification by a low-noise amplifier (LNA) before direct detection, which is particularly expensive in the THz (or sub-THz) domain.

[0045] Figure 3 A receiver 300 according to some embodiments is shown. Receiver 300 may be similar to receiver 200 and is substantially interchangeable with it. Unless otherwise described, the components of receiver 300 may be similarly named to those of receiver 200.

[0046] Receiver 300 may have antenna array 304 to receive OTA signals. Antenna 304 may provide antenna array receive gain sufficient to achieve the appropriate link budget desired by receiver 300. Antenna 304 may be coupled to photodetector 308.

[0047] The photodetector 308 can be driven entirely by an optical LO carrier with a separate phase shift (phase l). In the optical domain, the Mach-Zender modulator (MZM) 312 (or delay line interferometer (DLI)) can apply a separate phase shift per antenna / photodetector pair.

[0048] Receiver 300 may also include an optical combiner (OC) 320 to combine signals from photodetector 308 to generate array gain. The optical combiner 320 can provide the combined signal to demodulator 324. Receiver 300 is shown as having a single polarization plane; however, other embodiments may include more than one polarization plane.

[0049] The antenna beamforming provided by receiver 300 can apply a phase shift to only one path of the mixing process (e.g., the LO path). The resulting photocurrent from each photodetector in photodetector 308 can be provided by:

[0050]

[0051] Among them, the phase shift applied in the optical LO domain The upconversion is performed directly to the output domain before the optical combiner 320, and is independent of the terahertz frequency. This method can be applied to both the upconversion transmitter and receiver 300. Furthermore, in addition to applying a phase shift, a true time delay can be applied under different settings. This provides the advantage of frequency independence. As an alternative to upconversion, the LO-generated signal can be selected to be below the terahertz frequency f.TH This will effectively perform a downconversion to a low mid-frequency (e.g., 20 GHz (not depicted here)).

[0052] Similar to the discussion above, providing mixing in the optical domain allows the receiver 300 to avoid electrical amplification by the LNA before direct detection. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the received signals from all branches of the beam can be coherently superimposed before detection without excessive power consumption.

[0053] Figure 4 Differential modulation 400 that can be used according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0054] Differential modulation 400 can be an optical modulation scheme with high spectral efficiency. Differential modulation 400 can be a single-level or multi-level modulation scheme. Differential modulation 400 may include differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK), differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), eight-differential phase shift keying (8DPSK), 16-differential phase shift keying (16DPSK), or star-shaped 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM).

[0055] When combining intensity and phase modulation, the symbols in the constellation diagram can be arranged in different circles (e.g., star QAM) or positioned in a square (e.g., square QAM).

[0056] Figure 5 A DBPSK demodulator 500 according to some embodiments is shown. Demodulator 500 may be similar to demodulator 224 and is substantially interchangeable with it.

[0057] The demodulator 500 may include a delay line interferometer (DLI) 504 that receives a signal x(t) that has been up-converted, pre-amplified by an optical preamplifier (OA) 508, and filtered by an optical bandpass filter 512. In addition to amplification, the OA 508 may also add noise to the signal. The OA 508 and the optical bandpass filter 512 may be separate components of the receiver from the demodulator 500.

[0058] DLI 504 may include two branches, where the upper branch provides a delay (T) in symbol duration compared to the lower branch. s The branch of DLI 504 can provide a differential phase modulated optical signal. DLI 504 can generate a pair of intensity modulated optical signals based on the differential phase modulated optical signal, which are provided to the balanced detector (BD) 516.

[0059] The balance detector 516 may provide detection operation based on the square law of photodiodes. The balance detector 516 may include a pair of photodiodes 520 to generate a pair of corresponding electrical signals based on the pair of intensity-modulated optical signals provided by DLI 504. The electrical signals may be filtered by a low-pass filter 524. After subtracting the two signals, the balance detector 516 may include a bi-level detector 528 that operates on the difference (denoted as y1) between the filtered electrical signals and performs a thresholding operation, thus providing a positive or negative value to the logic circuit 528.

[0060] Detector 528 can output a negative value (-) of y1 when the first optical signal is less than the second optical signal, or output a positive value (+) of y1 when the first optical signal is greater than the second optical signal. Then, logic circuit 548 can be based on... Figure 6 The constellation diagram 600 shown determines the bit value corresponding to y1. For example, logic circuit 548 can determine that a negative y1 value corresponds to a constellation point associated with bit value 0, and a positive y1 value corresponds to a constellation point associated with bit value 1.

[0061] In one receiver option, N can be used with a phase shift suitable for phase detection. ph / 2DLI, where N ph Represents the number of phase states (for M DPSK, N) ph =M). In some implementations, in order to detect the star-shaped QAM signal, an additional branch for intensity detection can be provided for separate intensity evaluation (see, for example...). Figure 4 (Star-shaped 16QAM).

[0062] The M-ary optical DPSK signaling format can have M=N provided by Nph / 2DLI and a phase threshold. ph Each phase code. Figure 7 A direct embodiment of a receiver 700 having a demodulator for an optical 8DPSK system is shown according to some implementation schemes. In this embodiment, receiver 700 may include four parallel DLI / BDs. Each DLI / BD may be a one-bit delayed Mach-Zehnder (MZ) interferometer, wherein there is a phase shift of π / 8, 3π / 8, -π / 8, or -3π / 8 between the two arms of the interferometer. The DLI / BDs of receiver 700 may be similar to Figure 5 DLI / BD.

[0063] Although receiver 700 can be a simple extension of an optical DQPSK receiver, the output electrical signal from the balanced detector can now have four specific levels. Each decision variable can be viewed as a two-level signal that can be processed with a single threshold in its corresponding clock and data recovery (CDR) module. As... Figure 3The required phase threshold is achieved in the receiver's optics, thus enabling this at least partially.

[0064] The four BDs can output positive or negative values ​​corresponding to y1–y4, respectively. Logic circuit 728 can recover the data using a decoding table such as Gray code. Logic circuit 728 can be based on... Figure 8 The constellation diagram 800 shown defines the bit streams corresponding to y1–y4. For example, logic circuit 748 can determine that: the (y1,y2,y3,y4) values ​​of (+,+,-,-) each correspond to the constellation points associated with bit stream 000; the (y1,y2,y3,y4) values ​​of (+,-,-,-) each correspond to the constellation points associated with bit stream 001; the (y1,y2,y3,y4) values ​​of (-,-,-,-) each correspond to the constellation points associated with bit stream 011; and the (y1,y2,y3,y4) values ​​of (-,-,-,+) each correspond to the constellation points associated with bit stream 010. The associated constellation points; the (y1,y2,y3,y4) values ​​of (-,-,+,+) each correspond to the constellation points associated with bit stream 110; the (y1,y2,y3,y4) values ​​of (-,+,+,+) each correspond to the constellation points associated with bit stream 111; the (y1,y2,y3,y4) values ​​of (+,+,+,+) each correspond to the constellation points associated with bit stream 101; the (y1,y2,y3,y4) values ​​of (+,+,+,-) each correspond to the constellation points associated with bit stream 100.

[0065] Figure 9 A direct embodiment of a receiver with a demodulator 900 for an 8DPSK system, according to other embodiments, is shown. The demodulator 800 can reduce the number of DLI / BDs by relying on a multi-stage electrical decision technique for 8DPSK systems. In this configuration, missing phase information from an insufficient number of DLI / BDs can be realized in the electrical domain by increasing the number of decision thresholds used by the detectors of the BDs.

[0066] For example, the detector can be a multi-level detector capable of outputting single-level or multi-level values ​​or negative values ​​corresponding to the difference signals y1 and y2. For example, for y1, the detector can: output double negative values ​​(--) when the first optical signal is smaller than the second optical signal by more than a first threshold; output a single negative value (-) when the first optical signal is smaller than the second optical signal by less than the first threshold; output a single positive value (+) when the first optical signal is larger than the second optical signal by less than a second threshold (which may correspond to the first threshold); and output double positive values ​​(++) when the first optical signal is larger than the second optical signal by more than the second threshold.

[0067] The 928 logic circuit can be based on, for example Figure 10The constellation diagram 1000 shown defines the bit stream corresponding to y1–y2. The constellation diagram 1000 can represent the detection (optical and electrical) thresholds and decoding tables for a multi-stage receiver employing a demodulator 900. For example, logic circuit 928 can determine that: the y1 value of (++) and the y2 value of (-) correspond to constellation points associated with bit stream 000; the y1 value of (+) and the y2 value of (--) correspond to constellation points associated with bit stream 001; the y1 value of (-) and the y2 value of (-) correspond to constellation points associated with bit stream 011; the y1 value of (-) and the y2 value of (-) correspond to constellation points associated with bit stream 010; the y1 value of (-) and the y2 value of (+) correspond to constellation points associated with bit stream 110; the y1 value of (-) and the y2 value of (++) correspond to constellation points associated with bit stream 111; and the y1 value of (+) and the y2 value of (++) correspond to constellation points associated with bit stream 101.

[0068] In some implementations, there may be an excess set that does not match the constellation of the optical D8PSK signal. The number of all possible decision sets is 16 (2 for a two-stage receiver). 4 And for multi-level receivers, it is 4 2 Even though redundant sets can represent symbol errors, they can still be corrected to the nearest symbol using a maximum likelihood approach. This can be used to improve bit error rate (BER) performance.

[0069] Figure 11 An operational flow / algorithm structure 1100 according to some implementation schemes is shown. The operational flow / algorithm structure 1100 may be executed or implemented by a UE such as, for example, UE 120 or 1200; or by a component thereof such as receiver 1210.

[0070] The operation process / algorithm structure 1100 may include: at 1104, generating an electrical signal based on the OTA signal. The OTA signal may be an RF signal in the THz frequency range that is received by the antenna array and converted into an electrical signal.

[0071] The operation flow / algorithm structure 1100 may further include: at 1108, generating a phase-shifted optical signal based on the LO signal. The LO signal, which can be generated by the VCSEL, can be phase-shifted by multiple MZMs or DLIs. Control for phase-shifting the optical signal can be based on beamforming weights determined by a beamforming process performed on the UE or remotely (e.g., at the access point or central office).

[0072] The operation process / algorithm structure 1100 may further include: at 1112, generating an optical signal based on an electrical signal and a phase-shifted optical signal. The optical signal may be generated by a photodetector that upconverts the electrical signal based on the phase-shifted optical signal.

[0073] The operation process / algorithm structure 1100 may also include: at 1116, combining optical signals into combined optical signals. This can be performed by an optical combiner.

[0074] The operation flow / algorithm structure 1100 may further include: at 1120, demodulating the combined optical signal. Demodulation may be performed by one or more demodulation chains followed by logic circuitry. Each demodulation chain may include a DLI and a balance detector. The DLI can be used to generate an intensity-modulated optical signal, and the balance detector can be used to generate a two-stage or multi-stage electrical signal based on the intensity-modulated optical signal. The logic circuitry may use a signal constellation based on a DBPSK, DQPSK, 8DPSK, 16DPSK, or star 16QAM modulation scheme to generate a digital signal based on the two-stage or multi-stage electrical signal.

[0075] Figure 12 UE 1200 is shown according to some implementation schemes. UE 1200 may be similar to UE 120 and is substantially interchangeable with it.

[0076] The UE 1200 can be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as, for example, a mobile phone, computer, tablet, industrial wireless sensor (e.g., microphone, carbon dioxide sensor, pressure sensor, humidity sensor, thermometer, motion sensor, accelerometer, laser scanner, fluid level sensor, stock sensor, voltmeter / ammeter, or actuator), video surveillance / monitoring device (e.g., camera or camcorder), wearable device (e.g., smartwatch), or Internet of Things device.

[0077] UE 1200 may include a processor 1204, RF interface circuitry 1208, memory / storage device 1212, user interface 1216, sensor 1220, drive circuitry 1222, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1224, antenna structure 1226, and battery 1228. Components of UE 1200 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions of integrated circuits, discrete electronic devices or other modules, logic components, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof. Figure 12 The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of some of the components of the UE 1200. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other specific implementations.

[0078] Components of UE 1200 can be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 1232, which can represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, or optical connector, allowing various circuit components (on common or different chips or chipsets) to interact with each other.

[0079] Processor 1204 may include processor circuitry, such as, for example, baseband processor circuitry (BB) 1204A, central processing unit circuitry (CPU) 1204B, and graphics processing unit circuitry (GPU) 1204C. Processor 1204 may include any type of circuitry or processor circuitry that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, or functional processes from memory / storage device 1212) to cause UE 1200 to perform the operations described herein.

[0080] In some implementations, the baseband processor circuit 1204A can access the communication protocol stack 1236 in the memory / storage device 1212 to communicate over a 3GPP-compliant network. Generally, the baseband processor circuit 1204A can access the communication protocol stack 1236 to perform the following operations: user plane functions at the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, and PDU layers; and control plane functions at the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and NAS layers. In some implementations, PHY layer operations may additionally / optionally be performed by components of the RF interface circuit 1208.

[0081] The baseband processor circuit 1204A can generate or process baseband signals or waveforms carrying information in wireless networks such as 3GPP-compliant networks. In some implementations, the waveforms may be based on DBPSK, DQPSK, 8DPSK, 16DPSK, or star 16QAM.

[0082] Memory / storage device 1212 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, including instructions (e.g., communication protocol stack 1236) that can be executed by one or more processors in processor 1204 to cause UE 1200 to perform the various operations described herein. Memory / storage device 1212 includes any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that can be distributed throughout UE 1200. In some embodiments, some memory / storage devices in memory / storage device 1212 may be located on processor 1204 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage devices 1212 may be located external to processor 1204 but accessible via a memory interface. Memory / storage device 1212 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0083] RF interface circuitry 1208 may include transceiver circuitry and a radio frequency front-end module (RFEM), which allows UE 1200 to communicate with other devices via a radio access network. RF interface circuitry 1208 may include various components arranged in the transmit or receive path. These components may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuitry, and control circuitry.

[0084] In the receiving path, the RFEM may have a receiver 1210, which may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with receiver 200.

[0085] In the transmission path, the transceiver's transmitter upconverts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides the RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM amplifies the RF signal using a power amplifier before it is radiated across the air interface via antenna 1226.

[0086] In various implementations, the RF interface circuit 1208 can be configured to transmit / receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technology.

[0087] Antenna 1226 may include antenna elements to convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves back into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged in one or more antenna panels. Antenna 1226 may have omnidirectional, directional, or combinations thereof antenna panels to enable beamforming and multiple-input multiple-output communication. Antenna 1226 may include: a microstrip antenna; a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards; a patch antenna; or a phased array antenna. Antenna 1226 may have one or more panels designed for a specific frequency band, including the frequency bands in FR1 or FR2.

[0088] User interface circuitry 1216 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable users to interact with UE 1200. User interface circuitry 1216 includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, particularly including one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. Output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). Output device circuitry may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, particularly including one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary status indicators such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and multi-character visual outputs), or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, and projectors), wherein the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc., is generated or produced by the operation of UE 1200.

[0089] Sensor 1220 may include devices, modules, or subsystems intended to detect events or changes in their environment and transmit information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, or subsystem. Examples of such sensors include: inertial measurement units including accelerometers, gyroscopes, or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) including triaxial accelerometers, triaxial gyroscopes, or magnetometers; level sensors; flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capture devices (e.g., cameras or lensless aperture sensors); light detection and ranging sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiation detectors, etc.); depth sensors; ambient light sensors; ultrasonic transceivers; and microphones or other similar audio capture devices.

[0090] The driving circuit 1222 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 1200. The driving circuit 1222 may include various drivers that allow other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may exist within or be connected to the UE 1200. For example, the driving circuit 1222 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device; a touchscreen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touchscreen interface; a sensor driver for acquiring sensor readings of the sensor circuit 1220 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 1220; a driver for acquiring actuator positions of electromechanical components or controlling and allowing access to electromechanical components; a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device; and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0091] The PMIC 1224 manages the power supplied to various components of the UE 1200. Specifically, relative to the processor 1204, the PMIC 1224 controls power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0092] Battery 1228 can power UE 1200, but in some examples, UE 1200 may be deployed in a fixed location and may have a power source coupled to the grid. Battery 1228 may be a lithium-ion battery; a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery; an aluminum-air battery; a lithium-air battery; and so on. In some specific implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, battery 1228 may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

[0093] As is widely recognized, the use of personally identifiable information should comply with privacy policies and practices that are generally accepted to meet or exceed industry or governmental requirements for protecting user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly explained to users.

[0094] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods as described in the Examples section below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples below. As another example, circuitry associated with the UE, base station, or network element described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the Examples section below.

[0095] Example

[0096] Further exemplary implementations are provided in the following sections.

[0097] Example 1 includes an apparatus comprising: an antenna for providing an electrical signal based on a received over-the-air (OTA) signal; a photodiode coupled to the antenna for providing an optical signal based on the electrical signal; and a demodulator coupled to the photodiode for generating a digital signal based on the optical signal.

[0098] Example 2 includes the apparatus according to Example 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the demodulator is used to perform differential demodulation.

[0099] Example 3 includes the apparatus according to Example 2 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the demodulator includes: a delay line interferometer configured to: receive a portion of the optical signal; generate a differential phase modulated optical signal based on the portion; and generate a pair of intensity modulated optical signals based on the differential phase modulated optical signal; and a balance detector coupled to the delay line interferometer, the balance detector having: a pair of photodiodes configured to generate a pair of corresponding electrical signals based on the pair of intensity modulated optical signals; and a threshold detector configured to generate two-level or multi-level signals based on the difference between the pair of electrical signals.

[0100] Example 4 includes the apparatus according to Example 2 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the demodulator further includes: a plurality of branches, each branch including a delay line interferometer and a balance detector to output a two-stage or multi-stage signal; and logic circuitry coupled to the plurality of branches for generating one or more information bits based on the two-stage or multi-stage signal output from the plurality of branches.

[0101] Example 5 includes the apparatus according to Example 4 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the logic circuit is used to generate the one or more information bits based on differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK), differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), octet DPSK (8DPSK), hexadecimal DPSK (16DPSK), or star hexadecimal amplitude modulation (16QAM).

[0102] Example 6 includes an apparatus comprising: an antenna array for providing electrical signals based on received over-the-air (OTA) signals; a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) array for providing phase-shifted optical signals; a photodiode array coupled to the antenna array and the MZM array for providing optical signals based on the electrical signals and the phase-shifted optical signals; and an optical combiner coupled to the photodiode array for generating combined optical signals based on the optical signals from the photodiode array.

[0103] Example 7 includes the apparatus according to Example 6 or any other embodiment herein, the apparatus further including: a demodulator coupled to the optical combiner for generating a digital signal based on the combined optical signal.

[0104] Example 8 includes the apparatus according to Example 7 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the demodulator is used to perform differential demodulation.

[0105] Example 9 includes the apparatus according to Example 8 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the demodulator includes: a delay line interferometer for: receiving a portion of the optical signal; generating a differential phase modulated optical signal based on the portion; and generating a pair of intensity modulated optical signals based on the differential phase modulated optical signal; and a balance detector coupled to the delay line interferometer, the balance detector having: a pair of photodiodes for generating a pair of corresponding electrical signals based on the pair of intensity modulated optical signals; and a threshold detector for generating two-level or multi-level signals based on the difference between the pair of electrical signals.

[0106] Example 10 includes the apparatus according to Example 8 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the demodulator further includes: a plurality of branches, each branch including a delay line interferometer and a balance detector to output a two-stage or multi-stage signal; and logic circuitry coupled to the plurality of branches for generating one or more information bits based on the two-stage or multi-stage signal output from the plurality of branches.

[0107] Example 11 includes the apparatus according to Example 10 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the logic circuitry is used to generate the one or more information bits based on differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK), differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), octet DPSK (8DPSK), hexadecimal DPSK (16DPSK), or star hexadecimal amplitude modulation (16QAM).

[0108] Example 12 includes the apparatus according to Example 6 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the OTA signals include frequencies higher than 100 GHz.

[0109] Example 13 includes the apparatus according to Example 6 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the MZM array includes: a first MZM for receiving a local oscillator (LO) signal and shifting the LO signal by a first phase shift; and a second MZM for receiving the LO signal and shifting the LO signal by a second phase shift, wherein the first phase shift and the second phase shift are based on beamforming weights for transmitting these OTA signals.

[0110] Example 14 includes the apparatus according to Example 13 or some other embodiment herein, the apparatus further comprising: a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser for generating the LO signal.

[0111] Example 15 includes the apparatus according to Example 6 or any other embodiment herein, the apparatus further comprising: an antenna array having a first antenna and a second antenna; and a dielectric lens coupled to the antenna array for amplifying a first OTA signal and a second OTA signal.

[0112] Example 16 includes a method comprising: generating an electrical signal based on an over-the-air (OTA) signal; generating a phase-shifted optical signal based on a local oscillator signal; generating an optical signal based on the electrical signal and the phase-shifted optical signal; and combining the optical signals into a combined optical signal.

[0113] Example 17 includes the method according to Example 16 or some other embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprising: demodulating the combined optical signal to generate a digital signal.

[0114] Example 18 includes the method according to Example 17 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein demodulating the combined optical signal includes performing differential demodulation on the combined optical signal.

[0115] Example 19 includes the method according to Example 17 or some other embodiment herein, wherein demodulating the combined optical signal includes: generating a pair of intensity-modulated optical signals using a delay line interferometer.

[0116] Example 20 includes the method according to Example 19 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein demodulating the combined optical signal further includes: generating a two-level or multi-level electrical signal based on the pair of intensity-modulated optical signals.

[0117] Example 21 includes the method according to Example 20 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein demodulating the combined optical signal further includes: generating one or more information bits based on the two-level or multi-level electrical signal.

[0118] Example 22 includes the method according to Example 17 or some other embodiment of the present invention, wherein demodulating the combined optical signal further includes: generating a plurality of bi-level or multi-level electrical signals by means of a plurality of delay line interferometers and a balanced detector; and generating the digital signal based on the plurality of bi-level or multi-level electrical signals.

[0119] Example 23 includes the method according to Example 17 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the demodulation of the combined optical signal is based on differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK), differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), octet DPSK (8DPSK), hexadecimal DPSK (16DPSK), or star hexadecimal amplitude modulation (16QAM).

[0120] Example 24 includes the method according to Example 19 or some other embodiment herein, wherein generating these optical signals includes: upconverting these phase-shifted optical signals based on these electrical signals using a photodetector process.

[0121] Example 25 includes the method according to Example 16 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the air signals are in the terahertz frequency range.

[0122] Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25 or any other method or process described herein.

[0123] Example 27 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of the method or any other method or process described herein, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25.

[0124] Example 28 may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuitry for performing one or more elements of the method described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25 or any other method or process described herein.

[0125] Example 29 may include a method, technique, or process, or a part or component thereof, described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25.

[0126] Example 30 may include an apparatus comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25.

[0127] Example 31 may include a signal, or a portion thereof, described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25.

[0128] Example 32 may include a datagram, information element, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message, or a portion or component thereof, as described or otherwise in this disclosure, according to any one of Examples 1 to 25.

[0129] Example 33 may include a signal encoded with data, or a portion or component thereof, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0130] Example 34 may include a signal, or a portion or component thereof, encoded as a datagram, IE, packet, frame, segment, PDU, or message, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0131] Example 35 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors will cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25.

[0132] Example 36 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element will cause the processing element to perform, or in part with, the methods, techniques or processes described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 25.

[0133] Example 37 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0134] Example 38 may include methods for communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0135] Example 39 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0136] Example 40 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0137] Unless otherwise expressly stated, any of the examples above may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The foregoing description of one or more specific embodiments provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. In light of the teachings above, modifications and variations are possible, or modifications and variations may be derived from practice of various embodiments.

[0138] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, many variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the disclosure is fully understood. This disclosure is intended to render the following claims as encompassing all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. An apparatus, the apparatus comprising: An antenna for providing an electrical signal based on received over-the-air (OTA) signals; A photodiode, coupled to the antenna to provide an optical signal based on the electrical signal; as well as A demodulator coupled to the photodiode to generate a digital signal based on the optical signal, wherein the demodulator is used to perform differential demodulation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the demodulator comprises: Delay line interferometer, the delay line interferometer being used for: Receive a portion of the optical signal; Based on the aforementioned portion, a differentially phase-modulated optical signal is generated; as well as A pair of intensity-modulated optical signals are generated based on the differentially phase-modulated optical signal; as well as A balance detector, coupled to the delay line interferometer, the balance detector having: a pair of photodiodes, the pair of photodiodes being used to generate a corresponding pair of electrical signals based on the pair of intensity-modulated optical signals; as well as A threshold detector, which is used to generate two-level or multi-level signals based on the difference between the pair of electrical signals.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the demodulator comprises: Multiple branches, each including a delay line interferometer and a balanced detector to output two- or multi-stage signals; as well as A logic circuit coupled to the plurality of branches for generating one or more information bits based on the two-level or multi-level signals output from the plurality of branches.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the logic circuitry is configured to generate the one or more information bits based on differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK), differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), octal DPSK (8DPSK), hexadecimal DPSK (16DPSK), or star hexadecimal amplitude modulation (16QAM).

5. An apparatus, the apparatus comprising: Antenna array, the antenna array being used to provide electrical signals based on received over-the-air (OTA) signals; Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) array, which is used to provide phase-shifted optical signals; A photodiode array, which is coupled to the antenna array and the MZM array respectively to provide an optical signal based on the electrical signal and the phase-shifted optical signal; as well as An optical combiner coupled to the photodiode array to generate a combined optical signal based on the optical signal from the photodiode array.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: A demodulator coupled to the optical combiner to generate a digital signal based on the combined optical signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the demodulator comprises: Delay line interferometer, the delay line interferometer being used for: Receive a portion of the combined optical signal; Based on the aforementioned portion, a differentially phase-modulated optical signal is generated; as well as A pair of intensity-modulated optical signals are generated based on the differentially phase-modulated optical signal; as well as A balanced detector, coupled to the delay line interferometer, has the following characteristics: A pair of photodiodes, the pair of photodiodes being used to generate a corresponding pair of electrical signals based on the pair of intensity-modulated optical signals; as well as A threshold detector, which is used to generate two-level or multi-level signals based on the difference between the pair of electrical signals.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the demodulator comprises: Multiple branches, each including a delay line interferometer and a balanced detector to output two- or multi-stage signals; as well as A logic circuit coupled to the plurality of branches for generating one or more information bits based on the two-level or multi-level signals output from the plurality of branches.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the logic circuitry is configured to generate the one or more information bits based on differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK), differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), octal DPSK (8DPSK), hexadecimal DPSK (16DPSK), or star hexadecimal amplitude modulation (16QAM).

10. The apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein the OTA signal comprises a frequency higher than 100 GHz.

11. The apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein the MZM array comprises: The first MZM is used to receive the local oscillator (LO) signal and shift the LO signal by a first phase shift; as well as A second MZM is used to receive the LO signal and shift the LO signal by a second phase shift, wherein the first phase shift and the second phase shift are based on beamforming weights used to transmit the OTA signal.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising: A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is used to generate the LO signal.

13. The apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises: An antenna array having a first antenna for receiving a first OTA signal and a second antenna for receiving a second OTA signal; as well as A dielectric lens, coupled to the antenna array, is used to amplify the first OTA signal and the second OTA signal.

14. A method, the method comprising: Electrical signals are generated based on over-the-air (OTA) signals; Phase-shifted optical signals are generated based on local oscillator signals; An optical signal is generated based on the electrical signal and the phase-shifted optical signal; as well as The optical signals are combined into a combined optical signal.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising: The combined optical signal is demodulated to generate a digital signal.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein demodulating the combined optical signal comprises: A pair of intensity-modulated optical signals are generated using a delay line interferometer.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein demodulating the combined optical signal further comprises: Based on the pair of intensity-modulated optical signals, two-level or multi-level electrical signals are generated.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein demodulating the combined optical signal further comprises: One or more information bits are generated based on the two-level or multi-level electrical signals.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, wherein the demodulation of the combined optical signal is based on differential binary phase shift keying (DBPSK), differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), eight DPSK (8DPSK), sixteen DPSK (16DPSK), or star sixteen quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM), and the method further comprises: Multiple two-stage or multi-stage electrical signals are generated by corresponding multiple delay line interferometers and balance detectors; as well as The digital signal is generated based on the multiple two-level or multi-level electrical signals.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 18, wherein the air signal is in the terahertz frequency range, and generating the optical signal comprises: The photoelectric detection process uses the electrical signal to up-convert the phase-shifted optical signal.

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