Six-tone signal generation circuit system

Abstract

The invention discloses a six-tone signal generation circuit system, which relates to the technical field of circuit design and comprises an orthogonal frequency mixing module, a local oscillator driving module, a frequency mixing module, a signal synthesis module and a power amplification module. The orthogonal frequency mixing module is used for converting the input first and second differential orthogonal signals into first and sixth output signal frequencies; a signal which is output by the orthogonal frequency mixing module and contains the first output signal frequency and the sixth output signal frequency is used as the input of the signal synthesis module and is also used as a local oscillation signal of the frequency mixing module; the local oscillator driving module is used for amplifying a signal which is used as a local oscillator of the frequency mixing module and comprises first and sixth output signal frequencies; the frequency mixing module is used for converting the input differential signal into second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies; the signal synthesis module is used for synthesizing the six-tone signals; the power amplification module is used for amplifying the output six-tone signal in a broadband mode and improving the output power. The circuit system effectively solves the technical problem of multi-tone signal generation in the quantum conditioning circuit.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of circuit design, and in particular to a six-tone signal generating circuit system. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of quantum technology, the application scenarios of quantum sensing systems are becoming increasingly complex. For example, the application requirements of quantum magnetometers for magnetic field detection are showing a development trend of high sensitivity and wide range. High sensitivity means that the sensitive element is extremely sensitive to the spurious signals of the conditioning signal. Therefore, to ensure that the quantum sensing system can accurately detect the magnetic field, the signal generation circuit used to condition the sensitive element needs to have high spurious suppression characteristics. A wide range means that the signal generation circuit needs to be able to generate and process broadband signals from low to high frequencies, and therefore the signal generation circuit needs to have broadband characteristics. Broadband, high spurious suppression signal generation circuits are indispensable in quantum sensing systems. They not only improve measurement accuracy and efficiency, but also meet the needs of complex application scenarios. They are a key supporting technology for the application of quantum technology. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In order to solve the deficiencies mentioned in the above background technology, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a six-tone signal generating circuit system.

[0004] In a first aspect, the purpose of the present invention can be achieved by the following technical solution: a six-tone signal generating circuit system, comprising:

[0005] Orthogonal mixing module, local oscillator driving module, mixing module, signal synthesis module and power amplifier module;

[0006] The orthogonal mixing module is used to convert the input first and second differential orthogonal signals into the first and sixth output signal frequencies, and send the signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies to the mixing module and the signal synthesis module;

[0007] The local oscillator driving module is used to drive and amplify part of the signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies to obtain amplified signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies, which are used as local oscillator signals of the mixing module;

[0008] The mixing module is used to perform frequency conversion on the input differential signal and the amplified signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies to obtain signals of the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies, and send the signals of the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies to the signal synthesis module;

[0009] The signal synthesis module is used to synthesize the signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies with the signals of the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies to obtain a six-tone signal; and send the six-tone signal to the power amplification module;

[0010] The power amplifier module is used to perform broadband amplification on the six-tone signal.

[0011] In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the orthogonal mixing module includes: a local oscillator input single-ended signal conversion differential signal circuit, an orthogonal signal generation circuit, a sideband switching circuit, an I-channel mixer and a Q-channel mixer, and a local oscillator leakage calibration circuit, wherein the I-channel mixer and the Q-channel mixer have exactly the same circuit structure and circuit parameters;

[0012] Among them, the external input local oscillator signal is connected to the input of the single-ended differential circuit and the orthogonal signal generating circuit, the orthogonal signal generating circuit is connected to the sideband switching circuit, and is used to generate an orthogonal local oscillator signal. The sideband switching circuit is used to switch the output sideband so as to configurably change the first and sixth output signal frequencies. The output of the sideband switching circuit is connected to the local oscillator ports of the I-channel mixer and the Q-channel mixer. The input differential orthogonal signals of the I-channel mixer and the Q-channel mixer are input from the outside. When the six-tone signal is output, the frequencies of the first local oscillator signal and the second local oscillator signal are different, and can be swept into frequency separately; the orthogonal mixing architecture is used to suppress the mirror signal; the local oscillator leakage calibration circuit is added, and the output calibration current is used to improve the local oscillator leakage.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the input signals of the I-channel mixer and the Q-channel mixer are A and BB cos(ω BB t) and A BB sin(ω BB t), the local oscillator signals of I and Q are A LO cos(ω LO t) and A LO sin(ω LO t), the output signal V out (t) is expressed as:

[0014]

[0015] Among them, the signal output by the orthogonal mixer is only the frequency (ω LO +ω BB ) / (ω LO -ω BB ) output signal, relative to the local oscillator signal ω LO The image frequency (ω LO -ω BB ) / (ω LO +ω BB ) There is no output of any signal.

[0016] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: when the I-channel mixer and the Q-channel mixer are implemented based on field effect transistors, the calibration current introduced is I cal , g m is the transconductance of the transconductance stage transistor, R L is the load resistance, A BB is the input signal amplitude, V OS is the transistor mismatch voltage, ω BB and ω LO are the input signal frequency and the local oscillator frequency respectively. Then, after the calibration current is introduced, the signal expression of the mixer output is:

[0017]

[0018] As shown in the above formula, is the leakage of the local oscillator signal caused by the transistor mismatch voltage at the output. When g m V OS -I cal =0, the signal leaked from the local oscillator frequency at the output end is completely cancelled.

[0019] In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the local oscillator driving module including a two-stage cascaded amplifier and a low-pass filter. The two-stage cascaded amplifier is configured to amplify an input signal including the first and sixth output signal frequencies, and the low-pass filter is configured to filter out spurious signals.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the mixing module includes two mixing circuits, which are used to convert the input differential signal with the signals containing the first and sixth output signal frequencies, respectively, to obtain output signals containing the second, third, fourth, and fifth output signal frequencies, respectively.

[0021] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the input signal of the mixing circuit is A BB cos(ω BB t), the local oscillator signals are A LO cos(ω LO t), the output signal V out (t) is expressed as:

[0022]

[0023] As shown in the above formula, the signal output by the mixer circuit has a frequency of ω LO +ω BB The output signal has a frequency of ω LO -ω BB output signal.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the power amplification module broadband amplifies the six-tone signal to obtain a broadband, high spurious suppression six-tone signal output with sufficient power.

[0025] Beneficial effects of the present invention:

[0026] Through the design of the circuit system architecture and scheme, the present invention achieves the advantages of broadband and high spurious suppression, effectively solving the technical problem of multi-tone signal generation in quantum sensing conditioning circuits. Furthermore, by multiplexing the existing signal frequency resources in the circuit, the six-tone signal can be output without the need for an additional local oscillator signal, effectively utilizing frequency resources and saving chip area and power consumption. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, those skilled in the art can derive other drawings based on these drawings without inventive effort.

[0028] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the structure of the six-tone signal generating circuit system of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the circuit structure of the orthogonal mixing module;

[0030] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the circuit structure of the local oscillator drive module;

[0031] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the circuit structure of the mixing module;

[0032] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of the frequency distribution of the six-tone signal generation circuit system.

[0033] Figure 6 The following is a diagram showing the actual effect of the six-tone signal output based on this six-tone signal generating circuit system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making any creative efforts shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0035] Example 1:

[0036] like Figure 1 As shown, a six-tone signal generating circuit system includes:

[0037] Orthogonal mixing module, local oscillator driving module, mixing module, signal synthesis module and power amplifier module;

[0038] The orthogonal mixing module is used to convert the input first and second differential orthogonal signals into the first and sixth output signal frequencies, and send the signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies to the mixing module and the signal synthesis module;

[0039] like Figure 2 As shown, the first local oscillator signal is converted into a differential signal by a single-ended signal-to-differential signal circuit, and then passes through an orthogonal signal generation circuit to obtain orthogonal differential local oscillator signals. These are respectively input into the sideband switching circuit. The output of the sideband switching circuit is connected to the local oscillator ports of the I and Q mixers. The first differential orthogonal input signal undergoes frequency conversion through the mixer and the local oscillator signal. The output of the orthogonal mixer circuit combines the I and Q channels to obtain the generated first output signal. The generated sixth output signal follows the same principle as above, and is obtained by frequency conversion of the second local oscillator signal and the second differential orthogonal input signal.

[0040] The quadrature mixer module has a high spurious suppression characteristic. In the quadrature mixer module, the main sources of spurious signals are image signals and local oscillator leakage signals. Ideally, the I and Q input signals and the local oscillator signal have no amplitude and phase errors. This architecture has the characteristic of natural broadband image suppression. Assume that the I and Q input signals are A BB cos(ω BB t) and A BB sin(ω BB t), the local oscillator signals of I and Q are A LO cos(ω LO t) and A LO sin(ω LO t), the output signal V out (t) is expressed as:

[0041]

[0042] As shown in the above equation, the output signal of the quadrature mixer has only the frequency (ω LO +ω BB ) / (ω LO -ω BB ) output signal, which is relative to the local oscillator signal ω LO The image frequency (ω LO -ω BB ) / (ω LO +ω BB) There is no signal output, that is, the orthogonal mixing module outputs only single-sideband signal, and the image signal is completely suppressed.

[0043] Another important source of spurious signals in the quadrature mixer module is the leakage of the local oscillator signal. Due to non-ideal factors in the actual circuit, such as transistor mismatch, the local oscillator signal does not have ideal high isolation from the RF port, resulting in the presence of local oscillator frequency signals at the output. To address this issue, local oscillator leakage calibration technology is introduced to inject calibration current into the mixer to compensate for the differential DC current error caused by transistor mismatch. Figure 2 As an example, assuming that the I and Q mixers are implemented based on field-effect transistors, the calibration current introduced is I cal , g m is the transconductance of the transconductance stage transistor, R L is the load resistance, A BB is the input signal amplitude, V OS is the transistor mismatch voltage, ω BB and ω LO are the input signal frequency and the local oscillator frequency respectively. Then, after the calibration current is introduced, the signal expression of the mixer output is:

[0044]

[0045] As shown in the above formula, the second term is the leakage of the local oscillator signal caused by the transistor mismatch voltage at the output. Ideally, when g is satisfied, m V OS -I cal = 0, the signal leaking from the local oscillator frequency at the output is completely canceled. Based on the above-mentioned orthogonal mixing architecture and local oscillator leakage calibration circuit, high spurious suppression performance of the orthogonal mixing module can be achieved.

[0046] The output signal including the first and sixth output signal frequencies obtained by the orthogonal mixing module is directly connected to the input of the signal synthesis module and directly connected to the input of the signal synthesis module. Figure 3 The input of the local oscillator driver module is connected.

[0047] The local oscillator driving module is used to drive and amplify part of the signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies to obtain amplified signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies, which are used as local oscillator signals of the mixing module;

[0048] like Figure 3 As shown, the signal containing the first and sixth output signal frequencies used as the local oscillator signal of the mixing module is amplified by the two-stage cascade amplifier of the local oscillator driving module and connected to the low-pass filter. The output of the low-pass filter is connected to the local oscillator signal input of the mixing module, driving the mixing circuit of the mixing module to work normally.

[0049] The mixing module is used to perform frequency conversion on the input differential signal and the amplified signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies to obtain signals of the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies, and send the signals of the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies to the signal synthesis module;

[0050] like Figure 4 As shown in the figure, the mixing module consists of two mixing circuits. The positive and negative terminals of the external differential signal are connected to the signal input terminals of the two mixers at the same time. After the frequency conversion by the mixing module, the signals containing the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies are obtained respectively. The local oscillator port of the mixing module is connected to the output signal of the local oscillator drive module, which is the local oscillator signal of the mixing module. The output port of the mixing module is connected to the input of the signal synthesis module. Assume that the input signal of the mixing circuit is A BB cos(ω BB t), the local oscillator signals are A LO cos(ω LO t), the output signal V out (t) is expressed as:

[0051]

[0052] As shown in the above formula, the signal output by the mixer circuit has a frequency of ω LO +ω BB The output signal has a frequency of ω LO -ω BB Therefore, the frequency mixing module can convert the external input differential signal and the first and sixth output signals into frequencies and output signals containing the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies, thereby obtaining the generated six-tone signal.

[0053] The signal synthesis module is used to synthesize the signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies with the signals of the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies to obtain a six-tone signal; and send the six-tone signal to the power amplification module;

[0054] The generated six-tone signal passes through the signal synthesis module, synthesizing the six-tone signal. The output signal now includes the generated six-tone signal with high spurious suppression characteristics. The six-tone signal output from the signal synthesis module is connected to the input of the power amplification module, which amplifies the six-tone signal output from the signal synthesis module to achieve a broadband, high-spurious suppression six-tone signal output with sufficient power.

[0055] The power amplifier module is used to perform broadband amplification on the six-tone signal.

[0056] The frequency distribution of the six-tone signal generating circuit system of the present invention is shown as follows: Figure 5It should be noted that the scale and frequency interval shown in the figure are not actual scales, and are only used to schematically illustrate the working process of the six-tone signal generating circuit system of the present invention from the perspective of frequency distribution.

[0057] like Figure 5 As shown in the figure, the horizontal axis is frequency and the vertical axis is amplitude. The first and second differential quadrature input signals are mixed with the first and second local oscillator signals respectively to obtain the first and sixth output signals. The first and sixth output signals are then used as local oscillator signals mixed with the differential input signals to obtain the second, third, fourth, and fifth output signals respectively. In actual operation, the first and sixth output signals can realize the switching of upper and lower sidebands through the sideband switching circuit. Figure 5 The lower sideband of the first output signal is used as an example, and the upper sideband of the sixth output signal is used as an example. The frequency interval between the first local oscillator signal and the first output signal is the first differential orthogonal input signal frequency, the frequency interval between the second local oscillator signal and the sixth output signal is the second differential orthogonal input signal frequency, the frequency interval between the first output signal and the second and third output signals is the differential input signal frequency, and the frequency interval between the sixth output signal and the fourth and fifth output signals is the differential input signal frequency. By scanning the frequency of the first local oscillator signal, the first, second, and third output signals can be output as a whole through frequency sweeping. By scanning the frequency of the second local oscillator signal, the fourth, fifth, and sixth output signals can be output as a whole through frequency sweeping, and have broadband characteristics. Through the design of the circuit system architecture and solution, the power of the generated first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth output signals is significantly higher than the power of the spurious signal, and has the characteristic of high spurious suppression.

[0058] The present invention multiplexes signals containing the first and sixth output signal frequencies as the local oscillator signals for the frequency mixing module, enabling the output of six-tone signals without requiring additional local oscillator signals. This effectively utilizes frequency resources, saving chip area and power consumption. This six-tone signal generation circuit system also offers advantages such as broadband and high spurious suppression, effectively solving the technical problem of multi-tone signal generation in the conditioning circuit of a quantum sensing system.

[0059] The actual effect of the six-tone signal output based on the six-tone signal generating circuit system is as follows: Figure 6As shown in the figure, in the actual verification case, the first and second differential orthogonal signals with an input power of -10dBm and a frequency of 300MHz and the differential signal with a power of -10dBm and a frequency of 350MHz, the first local oscillator signal frequency is 2.4GHz, the second local oscillator signal frequency is 3.4GHz, the output sideband of the first local oscillator signal is set to the lower sideband, and the output sideband of the second local oscillator signal is set to the upper sideband, and the second, first, third, fourth, sixth, and fifth output signals with output frequencies of 1.75GHz, 2.1GHz, 2.45GHz, 3.35GHz, 3.7GHz, and 4.05GHz are obtained in sequence, and the output power exceeds 10dBm; the output spectrum also contains a variety of spurious signals. Figure 6 The dominant 2.4GHz and 3.4GHz local oscillator leakage signals and intermodulation spurious signals are shown as an example. The spurious signal power is below -20dBm, and the spurious suppression exceeds 30dBc. This demonstrates that the six-tone signal generation circuit system has broadband and high spurious suppression characteristics.

[0060] Based on the same inventive concept, the present invention also provides a discrete circuit system comprising one or more discrete circuit modules and components for implementing the functions of the six-tone signal generation circuit system. The discrete circuit modules include, but are not limited to, discrete mixers, power combiners, power amplifiers, single-ended to differential signal circuits, and quadrature signal generation circuits. The discrete components include, but are not limited to, discrete resistors, inductors, and capacitors, which are key circuit modules and components of the six-tone signal generation circuit system. Any suitable combination of the aforementioned components can be used to implement the aforementioned method.

[0061] Throughout this specification, references to terms such as "one embodiment," "example," or "specific example" indicate that a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in conjunction with that embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. In this specification, schematic representations of these terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

[0062] The above shows and describes the basic principles, main features and advantages of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art should understand that the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments. The above embodiments and descriptions are merely illustrative of the principles of the present disclosure. Various changes and improvements may be made to the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and such changes and improvements shall fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A six-tone signal generating circuit system, characterized in that: include: Orthogonal mixing module, local oscillator driving module, mixing module, signal synthesis module and power amplifier module; The orthogonal mixing module is used to convert the input first and second differential orthogonal signals into the first and sixth output signal frequencies, and send the signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies to the mixing module and the signal synthesis module; The local oscillator driving module is used to drive and amplify part of the signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies to obtain amplified signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies, which are used as local oscillator signals of the mixing module; The mixing module is used to perform frequency conversion on the input differential signal and the amplified signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies to obtain signals of the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies, and send the signals of the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies to the signal synthesis module; The signal synthesis module is used to synthesize the signals of the first and sixth output signal frequencies with the signals of the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies to obtain a six-tone signal; and send the six-tone signal to the power amplification module; The power amplifier module is used to perform broadband amplification on the six-tone signal.

2. A six-tone signal generating circuit system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The orthogonal mixing module includes: a local oscillator input single-ended signal conversion differential signal circuit, an orthogonal signal generation circuit, a sideband switching circuit, an I-channel mixer and a Q-channel mixer, and a local oscillator leakage calibration circuit, wherein the circuit structure and circuit parameters of the I-channel mixer and the Q-channel mixer are exactly the same; Among them, the external input local oscillator signal is connected to the input of the single-ended differential circuit and the orthogonal signal generating circuit, the orthogonal signal generating circuit is connected to the sideband switching circuit, and is used to generate an orthogonal local oscillator signal. The sideband switching circuit is used to switch the output sideband so as to configurably change the first and sixth output signal frequencies. The output of the sideband switching circuit is connected to the local oscillator ports of the I-channel mixer and the Q-channel mixer. The input differential orthogonal signals of the I-channel mixer and the Q-channel mixer are input from the outside. When the six-tone signal is output, the frequencies of the first local oscillator signal and the second local oscillator signal are different, and can be swept into frequency separately; the orthogonal mixing architecture is used to suppress the mirror signal; a local oscillator leakage calibration circuit is added, and the output calibration current is used to improve the local oscillator leakage.

3. A six-tone signal generating circuit system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The input signals of the I mixer and the Q mixer are A BB cos(ω BB t) and A BB sin(ω BB t), the local oscillator signals of I and Q are A LO cos(ω LO t) and A LO sin(ω LO t), the output signal V out (t) is expressed as: Among them, the signal output by the orthogonal mixer is only the frequency (ω LO +ω BB ) / (ω LO -ω BB ) output signal, relative to the local oscillator signal ω LO The image frequency (ω LO -ω BB ) / (ω LO +ω BB ) There is no output of any signal.

4. A six-tone signal generating circuit system according to claim 3, characterized in that: When the I-channel mixer and the Q-channel mixer are implemented based on field effect transistors, the calibration current introduced is I cal , g m is the transconductance of the transconductance stage transistor, R L is the load resistance, A BB is the input signal amplitude, V OS is the transistor mismatch voltage, ω BB and ω LO are the input signal frequency and the local oscillator frequency respectively. Then, after the calibration current is introduced, the signal expression of the mixer output is: As shown in the above formula, is the leakage of the local oscillator signal caused by the transistor mismatch voltage at the output. When g m V OS -I cal =0, the signal leaked from the local oscillator frequency at the output end is completely cancelled.

5. The six-tone signal generating circuit system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The local oscillator driving module includes: a two-stage cascaded amplifier for amplifying input signals containing the first and sixth output signal frequencies, and a low-pass filter for filtering out stray signals.

6. A six-tone signal generating circuit system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The mixing module includes two mixing circuits for performing frequency conversion on the input differential signal and the signals containing the first and sixth output signal frequencies respectively, to obtain output signals containing the second, third, fourth and fifth output signal frequencies respectively.

7. A six-tone signal generating circuit system according to claim 6, characterized in that: The input signal of the mixing circuit is A BB cos(ω BB t), the local oscillator signals are A LO cos(ω LO t), the output signal V out (t) is expressed as: As shown in the above formula, the signal output by the mixer circuit has a frequency of ω LO +ω BB The output signal has a frequency of ω LO -ω BB output signal.

8. The six-tone signal generating circuit system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The power amplifier module amplifies the six-tone signal with broadband to obtain a broadband, high spurious suppression six-tone signal output with sufficient power.

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