Multi-channel numerical control radio frequency switch chip and application method thereof
By integrating digital control modules, storage modules and RF switch phase shift modules in multi-channel CNC RF switch chips, the problem of high power consumption and high complexity of reconstructible intelligent metasurface switches is solved, and high integration and low power consumption of RF switches are achieved, improving the performance and application capabilities of the antenna.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202411913078.2
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-12-24
- Publication Date
- 2025-05-23
AI Technical Summary
The reconstructible intelligent metasurface uses pin tubes as switches, which consumes high power. Multiple independent switches are used in large-scale reconstructible antennas, which is too complex and has too large quantization loss.
It provides a multi-channel CNC RF switch chip, including a digital control module, a storage module and a RF switch phase shift module, which controls the working state of the RF switch through digital signals to achieve high integration and low power consumption.
It reduces the complexity and power consumption of antenna design, improves the gain and pattern performance of metasurface antennas, and realizes beam scanning, reducing anti-interference between secondary lobes and main lobes.
Smart Images
Figure CN120029107A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present application relates to the field of chip technology, and in particular to a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip and an application method thereof. Background Art
[0002] As a new type of phased array antenna, reconfigurable smart metasurface is composed of antenna units arranged and combined. By applying control signals to the switch devices integrated on the antenna units, the working mode of these electromagnetic units can be dynamically controlled. However, due to the quantization error introduced after 1-bit and 2-bit quantization of the phase, the performance of the metasurface antenna, such as gain, directional pattern sidelobes and bandwidth, is deteriorated, and the existing control methods are based on the quantization freedom achieved by switching hardware in the spatial dimension. Summary of the invention
[0003] The present application provides a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip and an application method thereof, so as to solve the problems that the reconfigurable intelligent metasurface uses pin tubes as switches, which results in high power consumption, and the large-scale reconfigurable antenna uses multiple independent switches, which results in high complexity and excessive quantization loss.
[0004] An embodiment of the present application provides a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip, comprising: a digital control module, a storage module and a radio frequency switch phase shift module, wherein a first end of the digital control module is connected to a digital signal input port, and a second end of the digital control module is connected to a first end of the storage module, and is used to read first code table information from the storage module or write second code table information according to a digital signal input from the digital signal input port; the storage module is used to store the first code table information and the second code table information; the radio frequency switch phase shift module comprises a plurality of radio frequency output ports, and the radio frequency switch phase shift module is connected to a third end of the digital control module and a second end of the storage module, and is used to control the working state of radio frequency devices connected to the plurality of radio frequency output ports according to the first code table information or the second code table information.
[0005] Optionally, the digital signal includes at least one of a data signal, a clock signal, a reset signal and an enable signal.
[0006] Optionally, the waveform of the digital signal includes a frame header, an instruction code, a storage module address bit, a data bit and a frame tail.
[0007] Optionally, the working state includes reflection amplitude and phase of the radio frequency signal.
[0008] Optionally, the digital control module, the storage module and the radio frequency switch phase shift module are integrated.
[0009] Optionally, the radio frequency switch phase shift module is manufactured by complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process.
[0010] The embodiment of the present application further provides an application method of a multi-channel digitally controlled RF switch chip, comprising the following steps: constructing a phased array antenna based on the multi-channel digitally controlled RF switch chip, and controlling the phased array antenna to radiate according to multiple code table information corresponding to the same direction beam in multiple consecutive equally spaced time periods, wherein the phased array antenna is a 1-bit phased array; controlling the antenna units in the phased array antenna to switch between a first phase shift state and a second phase shift state in multiple consecutive equally spaced time periods according to the multiple code table information to form multiple directional patterns; and merging the multiple directional patterns into an equivalent multi-bit directional pattern based on a time averaging processing method.
[0011] Optionally, the multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip is at least one of a microwave frequency band chip, a millimeter wave frequency band chip and a terahertz frequency band chip.
[0012] Optionally, the first phase shift state is a phase shift state of 0°.
[0013] Optionally, the second phase shift state is a phase shift state of 180°
[0014] In the above implementation, the digital control module is used to read the first code table information or write the second code table information from the storage module according to the digital signal input from the digital signal input port, and the working state of the RF device connected to the multiple RF output ports is controlled by the RF switch phase shift module according to the first code table information or the second code table information. Thus, the problem that the reconfigurable intelligent metasurface uses a pin tube as a switch, which has high power consumption, and that multiple independent switches are used in large-scale reconfigurable antennas, which has high complexity and excessive quantization loss is solved. The integration of antenna design can be further improved, and it can be applied to the design of new phased array antennas. The phased array antenna can perform beam scanning, reduce side lobes, and main lobe anti-interference operations based on space-time digital signals, thereby improving the gain and pattern performance of the metasurface antenna.
[0015] Additional aspects and advantages of the present application will be given in part in the description below, and in part will become apparent from the description below, or will be learned through the practice of the present application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] The above and / or additional aspects and advantages of the present application will become apparent and easily understood from the following description of the embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
[0017] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip provided according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0018] Figure 2 A waveform diagram of storing a code table into a memory according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0019] Figure 3 A waveform diagram of reading a code table from a memory according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0020] Figure 4 This is an example diagram of an application method of a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0021] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a 1-bit switch equivalent to a 3-bit phase shift according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0022] Figure 6 This is a directional diagram result of reducing side lobes according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0023] Embodiments of the present application are described in detail below, and examples of the embodiments are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals throughout represent the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary and are intended to be used to explain the present application, and should not be construed as limiting the present application.
[0024] The following describes the multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip and its application method of the embodiment of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings. In view of the problem that the reconfigurable intelligent super surface mentioned in the above background technology uses a pin tube as a switch, the power consumption is high, multiple independent switches are used in a large-scale reconfigurable antenna, the complexity is too high, and the quantization loss is too large, the present application provides a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip, which uses a digital control module to read the first code table information or write the second code table information from the storage module according to the digital signal input from the digital signal input port, and controls the working state of the radio frequency device connected to the multiple radio frequency output ports according to the first code table information or the second code table information through the radio frequency switch phase shift module. Thus, the problem that the reconfigurable intelligent super surface uses a pin tube as a switch, the power consumption is high, multiple independent switches are used in a large-scale reconfigurable antenna, the complexity is too high, and the quantization loss is too large is solved, and the integration of the antenna design can be further improved, and it is applied to the design of a new phased array antenna, and the phased array antenna can perform beam scanning, reduce side lobes, and main lobe anti-interference operations based on time-space digital signals, thereby improving the gain and directional performance of the super surface antenna.
[0025] The problems to be solved by the embodiments of the present application are: (1) PIN tubes are commonly used as switches in the design of reconfigurable intelligent metasurfaces, resulting in high power consumption and being unfavorable for practical applications; (2) If multiple independent switches are used in the design of large-scale reconfigurable antennas, the complexity will be too high; (3) Due to the characteristics of currently commonly used switches, the 2-bit design of the reconfigurable antenna requires multiple switches, while the 1-bit design has the problem of excessive quantization loss. There is an urgent need for a switch that can be highly integrated while reducing power consumption and quantization loss.
[0026] Specifically, Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip provided in an embodiment of the present application.
[0027] like Figure 1 As shown, the multi-channel digitally controlled RF switch chip 100 includes: a digital control module 111, a storage module 101 and a RF switch phase shift module 110, wherein the multi-channel digitally controlled RF switch chip 100 is applied to the design scenario of phased array antennas.
[0028] The first end of the digital control module 111 is connected to the digital signal input port, and the second end of the digital control module 111 is connected to the first end of the storage module 101, and is used to read the first code table information from the storage module 101 or write the second code table information according to the digital signal input port; the storage module 101 is used to store the first code table information and the second code table information; the RF switch phase shift module 110 includes multiple RF output ports, and the RF switch phase shift module 110 is connected to the third end of the digital control module 111 and the second end of the storage module 101, and is used to control the working state of the RF device connected to the multiple RF output ports according to the first code table information or the second code table information.
[0029] Optionally, in some embodiments, the digital signal includes at least one of a data signal, a clock signal, a reset signal and an enable signal.
[0030] Optionally, in some embodiments, the waveform of the digital signal includes a frame header, an instruction code, an address bit of the storage module 101, a data bit and a frame tail.
[0031] Optionally, in some embodiments, the operating status includes the reflection amplitude and phase of the radio frequency signal.
[0032] Optionally, in some embodiments, the digital control module 111, the storage module 101 and the RF switch phase shift module 110 are integrated.
[0033] Optionally, in some embodiments, the RF switch phase shift module 110 is manufactured by a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process.
[0034] Specifically, Figure 1 As shown, the first end of the digital control module 111 is connected to the digital signal input port, the second end of the digital control module 111 is connected to the first end of the storage module 101, the RF switch phase shift module 110 is connected to the third end of the digital control module 111 and the second end of the storage module 101, the digital control module 111 is connected to an input signal bus, including a data signal Data, a clock signal Clk, a reset signal Reset, an enable signal Enable, etc., the RF switch phase shift module 110 is connected to N RF output ports, N is an integer greater than 1, and 4 is taken for the convenience of displaying the embodiment of the present application. When the multi-channel digital control RF switch chip 100 reads or writes to the storage module 101, the waveforms of the input clock signal clk and the data signal data are as shown in FIG. Figure 2 , Figure 3 A complete data waveform includes a frame header, an instruction code (e.g., 001 for writing, 010 for reading), a storage module 101 address bit (the address of the read / write target storage), a data bit (code table data when writing, all 0s when reading), and a frame tail. When writing or reading from the storage module 101, the state change of the storage unit corresponding to the storage module 101 is similar to the data waveform as shown in FIG. Figure 2 , Figure 3 As shown, after identifying the frame header to the frame tail, the digital control module 111 writes to the corresponding address of the storage module 101 according to the decoding information, so that the storage module 101 stores the second code table information in the data waveform; or the digital control module 111 reads from the corresponding address of the storage module 101 according to the decoding information, thereby outputting the corresponding first code table information, and the RF switch phase shift module 110 controls the working state of the RF device connected to the multiple RF output ports according to the first code table information or the second code table information.
[0035] Among them, multi-channel CNC RF switch chips can be widely used in phased array unit design or array control in microwave frequency band, millimeter wave band or terahertz frequency band.
[0036] In summary, the beneficial effects of implementing the embodiments of the present application are as follows:
[0037] (1) The use of CMOS technology inside the RF switch module can effectively reduce DC power consumption, and the voltage-controlled characteristics can simplify the DC bias circuit;
[0038] (2) By integrating multiple phase shifting units into the same chip through chip technology and combining digital control modules with storage modules, the system complexity can be effectively reduced;
[0039] (3) By integrating the storage module, high-speed switching can be achieved by using the input digital signal waveform to perform beam switching control.
[0040] According to the multi-channel digitally controlled RF switch chip proposed in the embodiment of the present application, the digital control module is used to read the first code table information or write the second code table information from the storage module according to the digital signal input from the digital signal input port, and the working state of the RF device connected to the multiple RF output ports is controlled by the RF switch phase shift module according to the first code table information or the second code table information. Thus, the problem that the reconfigurable intelligent metasurface uses a pin tube as a switch, which has high power consumption, and that multiple independent switches are used in large-scale reconfigurable antennas, which has high complexity and excessive quantization loss is solved. The integration of antenna design can be further improved, and it can be applied to the design of new phased array antennas. The phased array antenna can perform beam scanning, reduce side lobes, and main lobe anti-interference operations based on time-space digital signals, thereby improving the gain and directional performance of the metasurface antenna.
[0041] Next, the application method of the multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip proposed in the embodiment of the present application is described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0042] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of an application method of a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0043] like Figure 4 As shown, the application method of the multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip includes the following steps:
[0044] In step S401, a phased array antenna is constructed based on a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip, and in a plurality of consecutive equally spaced time periods, the phased array antenna is controlled to radiate according to a plurality of code table information corresponding to beams in the same direction, wherein the phased array antenna is a 1-bit phased array;
[0045] In step S402, the antenna units in the phased array antenna are controlled to switch between the first phase shift state and the second phase shift state in a plurality of consecutive equally spaced time periods according to the plurality of code table information to form a plurality of directional patterns;
[0046] In step S403, based on a time averaging processing method, multiple directional patterns are combined into an equivalent multi-bit directional pattern.
[0047] Optionally, the multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip is at least one of a microwave frequency band chip, a millimeter wave frequency band chip and a terahertz frequency band chip.
[0048] Optionally, in some embodiments, the first phase shift state is a phase shift state of 0°.
[0049] Optionally, in some embodiments, the second phase shift state is a phase shift state of 180°.
[0050] It should be understood that by introducing the degree of freedom of the time dimension, the RF switch chip can perform equivalent high-precision phase quantization phase shifting based on hardware low-precision phase quantization phase shifting in combination with the time dimension, thereby reducing system complexity, cost and power consumption.
[0051] Specifically, when controlling the radiation pattern of the phased array, equivalent multi-bit quantization can be achieved by introducing the degree of freedom of the time dimension. A phased array antenna is constructed based on a multi-channel digitally controlled RF switch chip. When used as a phased array antenna for transmission, Figure 5 As shown, in four consecutive equally spaced time periods, the 1-bit phased array is controlled to radiate according to four code tables of the same directional beam, namely, Δφ=0°, 45°, 90°, and 135°. In each time period, the unit operates in a phase shift state of 0° or 180° according to the code table. For example, unit 1 operates in a phase shift state of 0° in the first three time periods, and in a phase shift state of 180° in the fourth time period. After the receiving end receives these four directional patterns, an equivalent 3-bit directional pattern can be obtained through time averaging. The phase shift of unit 1 is equivalent to 22.5°, and so on. The phase shift of unit N is equivalent to 67.5°, thereby achieving the effect of reducing the side lobes of the directional pattern. The directional pattern that can be processed by the receiving end is as follows: Figure 6 As shown, the side lobes of the directional pattern after time averaging can be effectively reduced compared with the original directional pattern.
[0052] Similar to the above implementation, the spatiotemporal digital signal can enable the phased array to achieve multiple functions such as equivalent multi-bit, low side lobe and main lobe anti-interference by combining the degrees of freedom of the time dimension.
[0053] In summary, the beneficial effects of implementing the embodiments of the present application are as follows:
[0054] (1) Based on the 1-bit phase shift on the switch hardware, combined with the time modulation signal, the n-1-bit degree of freedom is introduced in the time domain, which can achieve an equivalent n-bit phase shift and reduce the quantization loss;
[0055] (2) The RF switch chip combines the time modulation signal to control the reconfigurable antenna array, which can achieve multifunctional applications such as low sidelobe, beam scanning and main lobe anti-interference.
[0056] According to the application method of the multi-channel digitally controlled RF switch chip proposed in the embodiment of the present application, a phased array antenna is constructed based on the multi-channel digitally controlled RF switch chip, and in multiple consecutive time periods with the same interval, the phased array antenna is controlled to radiate according to multiple code table information corresponding to the same direction beam, and the antenna units in the phased array antenna are controlled to switch between the first phase shift state and the second phase shift state in multiple consecutive time periods with the same interval according to the multiple code table information to form multiple directional patterns, and the multiple directional patterns are merged into an equivalent multi-bit directional pattern based on the time average processing method. Thus, the problem that the reconfigurable intelligent super surface uses pin tubes as switches, the power consumption is high, and the problem that multiple independent switches are used in large-scale reconfigurable antennas, the complexity is too high, and the quantization loss is too large is solved, and the integration of antenna design can be further improved. It is applied to the design of new phased array antennas, and the phased array antenna can perform beam scanning, reduce side lobes, and main lobe anti-interference operations based on time-space digital signals, thereby improving the gain and directional pattern performance of the super surface antenna.
[0057] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "example", "specific example", or "some examples" etc. means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present application. In this specification, the schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in any one or N embodiments or examples in a suitable manner. In addition, those skilled in the art may combine and combine the different embodiments or examples described in this specification and the features of the different embodiments or examples, without contradiction.
[0058] In addition, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the features. In the description of this application, "N" means at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise clearly and specifically defined.
[0059] Any process or method description in a flowchart or otherwise described herein may be understood to represent a module, fragment or portion of code comprising one or more executable instructions for implementing the steps of a custom logical function or process, and the scope of the preferred embodiments of the present application includes alternative implementations in which functions may not be performed in the order shown or discussed, including performing functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in reverse order depending on the functions involved, which should be understood by technicians in the technical field to which the embodiments of the present application belong.
Claims
1. A multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip, characterized in that: include: Digital control module, storage module and RF switch phase shift module, wherein: The first end of the digital control module is connected to the digital signal input port, and the second end of the digital control module is connected to the first end of the storage module, and is used to read the first code table information from the storage module or write the second code table information according to the digital signal input from the digital signal input port; The storage module is used to store the first code table information and the second code table information; The RF switch phase shift module comprises a plurality of RF output ports. The RF switch phase shift module is connected to the third end of the digital control module and the second end of the storage module, and is used to control the working state of the RF device connected to the plurality of RF output ports according to the first code table information or the second code table information.
2. The multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip according to claim 1, characterized in that: The digital signal includes at least one of a data signal, a clock signal, a reset signal, and an enable signal.
3. The multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip according to claim 1, characterized in that: The waveform of the digital signal includes a frame header, an instruction code, a storage module address bit, a data bit and a frame tail.
4. The multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip according to claim 1, characterized in that: The working state includes the reflection amplitude and phase of the radio frequency signal.
5. The multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip according to claim 1, characterized in that: The digital control module, the storage module and the radio frequency switch phase shift module are integrated.
6. The multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip according to claim 1, characterized in that: The radio frequency switch phase shift module is manufactured by complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process.
7. An application method of a multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: A phased array antenna is constructed based on the multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip, and in multiple consecutive time periods with the same interval, the phased array antenna is controlled to radiate according to multiple code table information corresponding to the same direction beam, wherein the phased array antenna is a 1-bit phased array; According to the plurality of code table information, the antenna units in the phased array antenna are controlled to switch between the first phase shift state and the second phase shift state in the plurality of consecutive equally spaced time periods to form a plurality of directional patterns; Based on a time averaging processing method, the multiple directional patterns are combined into an equivalent multi-bit directional pattern.
8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The multi-channel digitally controlled radio frequency switch chip is at least one of a microwave frequency band chip, a millimeter wave frequency band chip and a terahertz frequency band chip.
9. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that: The first phase shift state is a phase shift state of 0°.
10. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The second phase shift state is a phase shift state of 180°.