Multi-channel RF front-end module and communication system
By designing a multi-channel RF front-end module and using mixing processing to achieve W-band signal transmission, the problem that the existing technology cannot meet the application needs in the W-band high-frequency band of millimeter-wave radar system is solved, and efficient and low-cost communication effects are achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202411718483.9
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Patents(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-11-28
- Publication Date
- 2025-03-25
- Estimated Expiration
- 2044-11-28
AI Technical Summary
The existing technology cannot effectively meet the application needs of millimeter-wave radar systems in the W-band high-frequency band, and lacks mature mass-producible chip products.
A multi-channel RF front-end module is designed, including a local oscillator module, an up-converting transmitting module, a down-converting receiving module and a control system, and the transmission of W-band signals is realized through mixing processing.
It realizes effective transmission of W-band signals, meets the application needs in the field of millimeter wave radar, improves the communication quality and applicability of the communication system, and reduces costs.
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Figure CN119232196B_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to the field of millimeter wave integrated circuit technology, and in particular to a multi-channel radio frequency front-end module and a communication system. Background Art
[0002] In recent decades, with the rapid development of wireless communication technology, various application scenarios have increasingly demanded large-capacity and fast-transmission communication systems. Compared with the shortage of low-frequency spectrum resources, the millimeter-wave band has natural spectrum resource advantages, large available bandwidth, and corresponding small system size. However, the field of millimeter-wave chips is mainly concentrated in the W-band low-frequency band where the W-band and the E-band overlap, and there are few achievements in the higher-frequency band of the W-band. Therefore, in the related technology, the mass-produced chip products in the W-band high-frequency band for millimeter-wave radar systems are not mature enough to meet the application requirements of millimeter-wave radars. Summary of the invention
[0003] The purpose of the present invention is to solve at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art and to provide a multi-channel RF front-end module and a communication system that can meet the application requirements of millimeter wave radar.
[0004] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a multi-channel radio frequency front-end module, including:
[0005] Local oscillator module, used to generate local oscillator signal;
[0006] An up-conversion transmission module, connected to the local oscillator module to receive the local oscillator signal;
[0007] A down-conversion receiving module, connected to the local oscillator module to receive the local oscillator signal;
[0008] A control system, connected to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module, respectively, for generating a first radio frequency signal and sending it to the up-conversion transmitting module, and receiving a second radio frequency signal from the down-conversion receiving module;
[0009] Among them, the up-conversion transmitting module is used to mix the first RF signal and the local oscillator signal and output the first W-band signal, and the down-conversion receiving module is used to mix the received second W-band signal and the local oscillator signal and output the second RF signal to the control system.
[0010] The multi-channel RF front-end module provided by the embodiment of the present invention has at least the following beneficial effects: a local oscillator module, an up-conversion transmitting module connected to the local oscillator module, a down-conversion receiving module connected to the local oscillator module, and a control system respectively connected to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module are arranged in the multi-channel RF front-end module; the control system can generate a first RF signal and send it to the up-conversion transmitting module, so that the up-conversion transmitting module mixes the first RF signal with the local oscillator signal and then outputs a first W-band signal; and the control system receives a second RF signal obtained by mixing a second W-band signal with the local oscillator signal from the down-conversion receiving module, thereby realizing the transmission of W-band signals and meeting the application requirements in the field of millimeter-wave radars.
[0011] In the above-mentioned multi-channel RF front-end module, the up-conversion transmitting module includes a multi-channel up-conversion chip, the input end of the multi-channel up-conversion chip is provided with four up-conversion input channels for receiving the first RF signal, the output end of the multi-channel up-conversion chip is provided with four up-conversion output channels, the multi-channel up-conversion chip includes a first amplifier, a first power divider, a first mixing module, and a power amplifier, the first amplifier, the first power divider, the first mixing module, and the power amplifier are connected in sequence, four first mixing modules are provided and are respectively provided on each of the up-conversion input channels, and four power amplifiers are provided and are respectively provided on each of the up-conversion output channels.
[0012] In the above-mentioned multi-channel RF front-end module, each of the up-conversion output channels is provided with a corresponding amplifier power module, and the amplifier power module is used to control the power supply state of the power amplifier corresponding to the up-conversion output channel.
[0013] In the above-mentioned multi-channel RF front-end module, the down-conversion receiving module includes a multi-channel down-conversion chip, the input end of the multi-channel down-conversion chip is provided with four down-conversion input channels for receiving the second W-band signal, the output end of the multi-channel down-conversion chip is provided with four down-conversion output channels, the multi-channel down-conversion chip includes a third amplifier, a second power divider, a second mixing module, and a low-noise amplifier, the third amplifier, the second power divider, and the second mixing module are connected in sequence, the low-noise amplifier is connected to the second mixing module, four second mixing modules are provided and are respectively provided on each of the down-conversion output channels, and four low-noise amplifiers are provided and are respectively provided on each of the down-conversion input channels.
[0014] In the above-mentioned multi-channel RF front-end module, each of the down-conversion output channels is provided with a corresponding amplifier power module, and the amplifier power module is used to control the power supply state of the second mixing module corresponding to the down-conversion output channel.
[0015] In the above-mentioned multi-channel RF front-end module, the up-conversion transmission module also includes a first ESD circuit, and the first ESD circuit is connected to the multi-channel up-conversion chip.
[0016] In the above-mentioned multi-channel RF front-end module, the down-conversion receiving module also includes a second ESD circuit, and the second ESD circuit is connected to the multi-channel down-conversion chip.
[0017] In the above-mentioned multi-channel RF front-end module, the local oscillator module includes a local oscillator chip and a microstrip balun connected to each other. The local oscillator chip is used to output two differential signals with a phase difference of 180° to the microstrip balun. The microstrip balun is used to synthesize the two differential signals into one local oscillator signal and output it to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module respectively.
[0018] In the above-mentioned multi-channel RF front-end module, the microstrip balun includes a balun design model, and the balun design model is provided with a first port, a second port and a third port, the second port and the third port have a phase difference of 180°, two differential signals are respectively input through the second port and the third port, and a local oscillator signal synthesized based on the two differential signals is output from the first port.
[0019] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication system, comprising the multi-channel RF front-end module as described in the embodiment of the first aspect above.
[0020] Other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in the following description, and partly become apparent from the description, or understood by practicing the present invention. The purpose and other advantages of the present invention can be realized and obtained by the structures particularly pointed out in the description and the drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] The present invention is further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments;
[0022] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of a multi-channel radio frequency front-end module provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
[0023] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of a multi-channel up-conversion chip provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
[0024] Figure 3 It is a structural schematic diagram of a multi-channel down-conversion chip provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
[0025] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a balun design model provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
[0026] Figure 5 is a simulation result diagram of the operating frequency band of the microstrip balun provided in the embodiment of the present application;
[0027] Figure 6 This is a simulation result diagram of the phase difference between the second port and the third port of the microstrip balun provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0028] This section will describe in detail the specific embodiments of the present invention. The preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawings. The purpose of the accompanying drawings is to supplement the description of the text part of the specification with graphics, so that people can intuitively and vividly understand each technical feature and the overall technical solution of the present invention, but it cannot be understood as a limitation on the scope of protection of the present invention.
[0029] It should be understood that in the description of the embodiments of the present invention, if there is a description of "first", "second", etc., it is only used for the purpose of distinguishing technical features, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features or implicitly indicating the order of the indicated technical features. "At least one" means one or more, "more than" means more than two, greater than, less than, exceeding, etc. are understood to not include the number itself, above, below, within, etc. are understood to include the number itself, and "several" means one or more, unless otherwise clearly and specifically limited. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. It can be understood that A and / or B can represent the situation where A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, or B exists alone. Among them, A and B can be singular or plural.
[0030] In addition, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the term "connected / connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection or a movable connection, a detachable connection or a non-detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection, an electrical connection, or can communicate with each other; it can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium. It should be noted that although the logical order is shown in the flowchart, in some cases, the steps shown or described can be performed in a different order from that in the flowchart. It should be noted that the technical features involved in the various embodiments of the present invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not conflict with each other.
[0031] It is worth noting that in recent decades, with the rapid development of wireless communication technology, various application scenarios have increasingly strong demands for large-capacity and fast-transmission communication systems. Compared with the shortage of spectrum resources in low-frequency bands, the millimeter-wave band has natural spectrum resource advantages, large available bandwidth, and corresponding small system size. The RF transceiver front end is a core component of the wireless communication system, and its performance indicators directly affect the performance of the entire wireless communication system.
[0032] In the related art, a W-band phased array transceiver chip with 2×2 RF channels is proposed, and its size is 2mmx2mm; and a transceiver system with an integrated antenna that can realize phased array scanning test is designed through PCB technology. In addition, there is also a W-band phased array AiP packaging system, such as a W-band AIP package with a frequency conversion module in the related art, which AIP packages four 16-channel multifunctional chips that integrate transceiver and frequency conversion with a local oscillator chip to form a 64-channel antenna array. Its multifunctional chip has a frequency conversion function, the local oscillator frequency is in the X-band, and the intermediate frequency is in the C-band. The conversion between the W-band and the C-band is achieved through 8th harmonic mixing.
[0033] The existing research results on W-band millimeter wave chips have the following limitations:
[0034] (1) Although a variety of mature products have been launched in the field of millimeter wave chips, they are mainly concentrated in the low frequency band of the W band where the W band and the E band overlap. There are few related studies and reports in the higher frequency band of the W band, and most of the results are concentrated on a single module circuit or a single antenna. There are no mature, mass-produced chip products in the high frequency band of the W band for millimeter wave radar systems on the market.
[0035] (2) Currently, most W-band chip solutions focus on complete system packaging modules of active phased array AiP. Wireless communication application scenarios are becoming increasingly complex, and the existing fixed-form phased array solutions are not enough to meet other application requirements.
[0036] (3) The existing W-band chips have a low level of integration, integrating only a single-channel module or only 2×2 transceiver channels, which cannot meet the design requirements of multi-channel transceiver of millimeter-wave radar, limiting its system performance.
[0037] (4) Existing W-band modules often need to directly output or receive W-band signals, but the chip yield is low, the cost is high, and it is difficult to mass-produce. This leads to difficult design, increased R&D and production costs, and low reliability.
[0038] In summary, the RF front-end modules of related technologies cannot meet the application requirements in the millimeter wave radar field well.
[0039] Based on this, the present application proposes a multi-channel RF front-end module and communication system, which can be combined with existing mature chip products to realize the reception and transmission of W-band signals, and can be applied to the field of millimeter-wave radar to fill the gap in this demand. Moreover, the module proposed in this application can meet the design requirements of W millimeter-wave radar, and the components of each part of the module are small in size and easy to integrate into other wireless communication systems or radar systems. In addition, compared with the W-band frequency conversion components in the related art, either a single circuit has only 1 to 2 channels, and the multi-channel RF front-end module can realize the RF component or radar design of the multi-channel solution. Finally, the W frequency conversion chip in the multi-channel RF front-end module has a simple structure, low cost, and the yield rate of each channel is independently controllable, which effectively reduces the cost of the W-band transceiver module.
[0040] The embodiments of the present invention are further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
[0041] like Figure 1 As shown, Figure 1 A schematic structural diagram of a multi-channel RF front-end module provided in an embodiment of the present invention, the multi-channel RF front-end module includes a local oscillator module, an up-conversion transmitting module, a down-conversion receiving module and a control system.
[0042] Among them, the local oscillator module is used to generate a local oscillator signal; the up-conversion transmitting module is connected to the local oscillator module to receive the local oscillator signal, and the up-conversion transmitting module is used to mix the first RF signal and the local oscillator signal and output the first W-band signal; the down-conversion receiving module is connected to the local oscillator module to receive the local oscillator signal, and is used to mix the received second W-band signal and the local oscillator signal and output the second RF signal to the control system; the control system is respectively connected to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module, and the control system is used to generate the first RF signal and send it to the up-conversion transmitting module, and receive the second RF signal from the down-conversion receiving module.
[0043] The second W-band signal can be received from the outside by the down-conversion receiving module through the receiving antenna. It should be noted that the application of W-band signals in millimeter-wave chip products has significant benefits because it provides multiple advantages such as high speed, long-distance transmission, high resolution and anti-interference, which are key performance indicators pursued by modern communication systems. The first W-band signal emitted by the up-conversion transmitting module of the embodiment of the present invention can better meet the communication effect and is suitable for application scenarios in the W-band high frequency band of the millimeter-wave radar system.
[0044] Exemplarily, the control system includes a main RF chip and a Soc chip, wherein the first RF signal is sent by the main RF chip in the control system. The main RF chip of the control system can select a variety of mature chip products that have been mass-produced on the market or other RF modules developed in experiments, and can be flexibly selected and matched according to actual needs. In the present invention, the main RF chip uses an E-band chip with an operating frequency of 76~81G, and other RF chips can also be selected. The Soc chip ensures the normal operation of the entire control system through programming control.
[0045] The up-conversion transmission module includes a multi-channel up-conversion chip and the first ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) circuit. The multi-channel up-conversion chip is a four-channel W-band up-conversion chip, which adopts GaAs (gallium arsenide) technology and is packaged in WLCSP (Wafer-Level Chip Scale Packaging Technology). It can realize the frequency conversion function from E-band to W-band, uses X-band signal as local oscillator drive, has a simple structure, small size, and each channel can independently control the switch state, which can reduce power consumption according to actual use needs. In addition, the local oscillator frequency input range of the multi-channel up-conversion chip can be adjusted within 10MHz~20GHz, and the frequency conversion range can cover a large range of W-band, which can be combined with the existing mature mass-produced millimeter-wave chip products to expand a wider frequency band.
[0046] The first ESD circuit is mainly used to protect electronic devices from damage caused by electrostatic discharge. In electronic devices, the design of the first ESD circuit is crucial because electrostatic discharge may cause permanent damage to sensitive integrated circuits.
[0047] In an embodiment of the present application, a local oscillator module, an up-conversion transmitting module connected to the local oscillator module, a down-conversion receiving module connected to the local oscillator module, and a control system respectively connected to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module are provided in a multi-channel RF front-end module. The control system can generate a first RF signal and send it to the up-conversion transmitting module, so that the up-conversion transmitting module mixes the first RF signal and the local oscillator signal and outputs a first W-band signal. The control system also receives a second RF signal obtained by mixing a second W-band signal and the local oscillator signal from the down-conversion receiving module, thereby realizing the transmission of the W-band signal and meeting the application requirements in the field of millimeter-wave radar.
[0048] In one embodiment, Figure 1 and Figure 2As shown, the up-conversion transmission module includes a multi-channel up-conversion chip, the input end of the multi-channel up-conversion chip is provided with four up-conversion input channels for receiving the first radio frequency signal, the output end of the multi-channel up-conversion chip is provided with four up-conversion output channels, the multi-channel up-conversion chip includes a first amplifier DA1, a first power divider 120, a first mixing module 110, and a power amplifier PA, the first amplifier DA1, the first power divider 120, the first mixing module 110, and the power amplifier PA are connected in sequence, the first mixing module 110 is provided with four and respectively provided on each up-conversion input channel, the first mixing module 110 includes a second amplifier DA2; the power amplifier PA is provided with four and respectively provided on each up-conversion output channel. Among them, the up-conversion input channel receives the signal through the TX_IN1 pin, the TX_IN2 pin, the TX_IN3 pin and the TX_IN4 pin, and the up-conversion output channel outputs the signal through the TX_OUT1 pin, the TX_OUT2 pin, the TX_OUT3 pin and the TX_OUT4 pin.
[0049] The first power divider 120 is a one-to-four power divider that can amplify a single input signal and distribute it into four output signals. Exemplarily, after the local oscillator signal LO is processed by the first amplifier DA1, it forms four local oscillator signals through the first power divider 120, and after being processed again by the second amplifier DA2, it is mixed with the first RF signal input through the TX_IN1 pin, TX_IN2 pin, TX_IN3 pin and TX_IN4 pin (Mixer), and then after being amplified by the power amplifier PA, the four first W-band signals are output through the TX_OUT1 pin, TX_OUT2 pin, TX_OUT3 pin and TX_OUT4 pin, and the output power thereof is ≥13dBm (input power ≥7dBm).
[0050] In one embodiment, each up-conversion output channel is provided with a corresponding amplifier power module, and the amplifier power module is used to control the power supply state of the power amplifier PA corresponding to the up-conversion output channel. Figure 2 As shown, each channel input by the TX_OUT1 pin, the TX_OUT2 pin, the TX_OUT3 pin and the TX_OUT4 pin has an independent amplifier power module, and each channel can be independently switched on and off by the amplifier power module. For example, the corresponding amplifier power supply can be controlled by the power switch in the amplifier power module.
[0051] It is understandable that when the up-conversion output channel and the up-conversion input channel of the multi-channel up-conversion chip are not working, the power switch can be controlled to turn off to achieve the purpose of reducing power consumption.
[0052] In an embodiment of the present application, an independent amplifier power supply module can perform independent switching control of each channel through a power switch to ensure that the device is started and shut down in a specific order, thereby achieving precise management of the power supply of each channel, providing a high degree of flexibility and convenience, while also being able to avoid current shocks, extend the life of the device, and provide better diagnosis and fault isolation when problems arise, to ensure stable operation of the system.
[0053] In one embodiment, Figure 1 and Figure 3 As shown, the down-conversion receiving module includes a multi-channel down-conversion chip, the input end of the multi-channel down-conversion chip is provided with four down-conversion input channels for receiving the second W-band signal, the output end of the multi-channel down-conversion chip is provided with four down-conversion output channels, the multi-channel down-conversion chip includes a third amplifier DA3, a second power divider 140, a second mixing module 130, and a low noise amplifier LNA, the third amplifier DA3, the second power divider 140, and the second mixing module 130 are connected in sequence, the low noise amplifier LNA is connected to the second mixing module 130, the second mixing module 130 is provided with four and respectively provided on each down-conversion output channel, the low noise amplifier LNA is provided with four and respectively provided on each down-conversion input channel. The second mixing module 130 includes a fourth amplifier DA4.
[0054] The second power divider 140 is a one-to-four power divider, which can amplify a single input signal and distribute it into four output signals. Exemplarily, the local oscillator signal LO is processed by the third amplifier DA3, and four local oscillator signals are formed through the second power divider 140. The external second W-band signal received through the RX_IN1 pin, RX_IN2 pin, RX_IN3 pin and RX_IN4 pin is amplified by the low noise amplifier LNA, and then mixed with the local oscillator signal (Mixer) to output four band signals (i.e., the second RF signal). In one embodiment, the local oscillator signal LO is an X-band, and the local oscillator signal LO is mixed with the second W-band signal to output an E-band signal, which has a 14dB conversion gain and a 6dB receiving noise coefficient.
[0055] In one embodiment, each down-conversion output channel is provided with a corresponding amplifier power module, and the amplifier power module is used to control the power supply state of the second mixer module 130 corresponding to the down-conversion output channel. Figure 3 As shown, each channel of the RX_OUT1 pin, RX_OUT2 pin, RX_OUT3 pin and RX_OUT4 pin has an independent amplifier power module, and each channel can be independently switched on and off through a power switch.
[0056] It is understandable that when the down-conversion output channel and the down-conversion input channel of the multi-channel down-conversion chip are not working, the power switch can be controlled to turn off, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing power consumption.
[0057] In an embodiment of the present application, an independent amplifier power supply module can perform independent switching control of each channel through a power switch to ensure that the device is started and shut down in a specific order, thereby achieving precise management of the power supply of each channel, providing a high degree of flexibility and convenience, while also being able to avoid current shocks, extend the life of the device, and provide better diagnosis and fault isolation when problems arise, to ensure stable operation of the system.
[0058] In one embodiment, Figure 1 As shown, the up-conversion transmission module also includes a first ESD circuit, which is connected to the multi-channel up-conversion chip; the down-conversion receiving module also includes a second ESD circuit, which is connected to the multi-channel down-conversion chip, so as to achieve electrostatic protection. Specifically, the PCB board in the multi-channel RF front-end module can design ESD circuits for all amplifier pin power supplies of the two frequency conversion chips for electrostatic protection, thereby effectively protecting the amplifier pin power supplies of the frequency conversion chip from ESD damage, thereby improving the reliability and durability of the entire module.
[0059] In one embodiment, Figure 1 As shown, the local oscillator module includes a local oscillator chip and a microstrip balun connected to each other. The local oscillator chip is used to output two differential signals with a phase difference of 180° to the microstrip balun. The microstrip balun is used to synthesize the two differential signals into one local oscillator signal and output the local oscillator signal to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module respectively.
[0060] The local oscillator chip can be a mature mass-produced chip, which can provide any frequency signal within 10MHz~20GHz, and its frequency output can be flexibly controlled. In the embodiment of the present application, by using a mature mass-produced local oscillator chip, combined with a multi-channel up-conversion chip in the up-conversion receiving module and a multi-channel down-conversion chip in the down-conversion receiving module, low-cost W-band transceiver is achieved.
[0061] In the embodiment of the present application, two differential signals with a phase difference of 180° output by the local oscillator chip are synthesized into one local oscillator signal through a microstrip balun and output to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module respectively, which can increase the power of the local oscillator signal.
[0062] In one embodiment, Figure 4As shown, the microstrip balun includes a balun design model, which is provided with a first port Port1, a second port Port2 and a third port Port3. The second port Port2 and the third port Port3 have a phase difference of 180°. Two differential signals are respectively input through the second port Port2 and the third port Port3. The two differential signals are synthesized into a local oscillator signal through the balun design model, and then the local oscillator signal is output from the first port Port1.
[0063] like Figure 5 and Figure 6 As shown, Figure 5 is a simulation result diagram of the operating frequency band of the microstrip balun in the embodiment of the present application; Figure 6 : is a simulation result diagram of the phase difference between the second port and the third port of the microstrip balun in the embodiment of the present application, Figure 5 and Figure 6 It can be seen that within the working frequency band, the second port Port2 and the third port Port3 of the balun have a phase difference of 180°, which ensures the quality of the synthetic signal. It should be noted that Figure 5 and Figure 6 It is only a simulation example diagram and does not limit the embodiments of the present invention.
[0064] In the embodiment of the present application, the working frequency of the local oscillator signal synthesized based on two differential signals with a phase difference of 180° can basically cover the X and Ku bands, and the second port Port2 and the third port Port3 of the balun design model have a phase difference of 180° within the working frequency band, thereby ensuring the quality of the synthesized signal. Among them, the working frequency band of the microstrip balun refers to the frequency range in which the balun can work normally and provide good performance.
[0065] An embodiment of the present invention provides a communication system, including a multi-channel RF front-end module as in the above embodiment. The communication system has the beneficial effects brought by the multi-channel RF front-end module in any of the above embodiments. For example, a local oscillator module, an up-conversion transmitting module connected to the local oscillator module, a down-conversion receiving module connected to the local oscillator module, and a control system connected to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module are provided in the multi-channel RF front-end module. The control system can generate a first RF signal and send it to the up-conversion transmitting module, so that the up-conversion transmitting module mixes the first RF signal and the local oscillator signal and outputs a first W-band signal, and the control system receives the second RF signal obtained by mixing the second W-band signal and the local oscillator signal from the down-conversion receiving module, thereby realizing the transmission of the W-band signal, meeting the application requirements in the field of millimeter-wave radar, and improving the communication quality and applicability of the communication system. Moreover, the design requirements of the W millimeter-wave radar can be met, and the components of each part of the module are small in size and easy to integrate into other wireless communication systems or radar systems. In addition, the RF components or radar design of the multi-channel solution can also be realized. Finally, the W frequency conversion chip in the multi-channel RF front-end module has a simple structure, low cost, and the yield rate of each channel can be independently controlled, which effectively reduces the cost of the W-band transceiver module.
[0066] The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various changes can be made within the knowledge scope of ordinary technicians in the technical field without departing from the purpose of the present invention.
Claims
1. A multi-channel radio frequency front-end module, characterized in that: include: Local oscillator module, used to generate local oscillator signal; An up-conversion transmission module, connected to the local oscillator module to receive the local oscillator signal; A down-conversion receiving module, connected to the local oscillator module to receive the local oscillator signal; A control system, connected to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module, respectively, for generating a first radio frequency signal and sending it to the up-conversion transmitting module, and receiving a second radio frequency signal from the down-conversion receiving module; The up-conversion transmitting module is used to mix the first RF signal and the local oscillator signal and then output a first W-band signal, and the down-conversion receiving module is used to mix the received second W-band signal and the local oscillator signal and then output the second RF signal to the control system; The local oscillator module includes a local oscillator chip and a microstrip balun connected to each other, the local oscillator chip is used to output two differential signals with a phase difference of 180° to the microstrip balun, and the microstrip balun is used to synthesize the two differential signals into one local oscillator signal and output it to the up-conversion transmitting module and the down-conversion receiving module respectively; The microstrip balun includes a balun design model, wherein the balun design model is provided with a first port, a second port and a third port, wherein the second port and the third port have a phase difference of 180°, and two differential signals are input through the second port and the third port respectively; The balun design model is used to synthesize a local oscillator signal based on two differential signals and output it from the first port.
2. The multi-channel RF front-end module according to claim 1, characterized in that: The up-conversion transmitting module includes a multi-channel up-conversion chip, the input end of the multi-channel up-conversion chip is provided with four up-conversion input channels for receiving the first radio frequency signal, the output end of the multi-channel up-conversion chip is provided with four up-conversion output channels, the multi-channel up-conversion chip includes a first amplifier, a first power divider, a first mixing module, and a power amplifier, the first amplifier, the first power divider, the first mixing module, and the power amplifier are connected in sequence, four first mixing modules are provided and are respectively provided on each of the up-conversion input channels, and four power amplifiers are provided and are respectively provided on each of the up-conversion output channels.
3. The multi-channel RF front-end module according to claim 2, characterized in that: Each of the up-conversion output channels is provided with a corresponding amplifier power module, and the amplifier power module is used to control the power supply state of the power amplifier corresponding to the up-conversion output channel.
4. The multi-channel RF front-end module according to claim 1, characterized in that: The down-conversion receiving module includes a multi-channel down-conversion chip, the input end of the multi-channel down-conversion chip is provided with four down-conversion input channels for receiving the second W-band signal, the output end of the multi-channel down-conversion chip is provided with four down-conversion output channels, the multi-channel down-conversion chip includes a third amplifier, a second power divider, a second mixing module, and a low-noise amplifier, the third amplifier, the second power divider, and the second mixing module are connected in sequence, the low-noise amplifier is connected to the second mixing module, four second mixing modules are provided and are respectively provided on each of the down-conversion output channels, and four low-noise amplifiers are provided and are respectively provided on each of the down-conversion input channels.
5. The multi-channel RF front-end module according to claim 4, characterized in that: Each of the down-conversion output channels is provided with a corresponding amplifier power module, and the amplifier power module is used to control the power supply state of the second mixing module corresponding to the down-conversion output channel.
6. The multi-channel RF front-end module according to claim 2, characterized in that: The up-conversion transmission module further includes a first ESD circuit, and the first ESD circuit is connected to the multi-channel up-conversion chip.
7. The multi-channel RF front-end module according to claim 4, characterized in that: The down-conversion receiving module further includes a second ESD circuit, and the second ESD circuit is connected to the multi-channel down-conversion chip.
8. A communication system, characterized in that: Comprising a multi-channel RF front-end module as described in any one of claims 1 to 7.
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