Calibration link, signal transmission link, integrated circuit, electromagnetic wave device, and apparatus
Through the calibration link integrated in the integrated circuit, the main signal transmission path is calibrated in real time, which solves the problem that traditional calibration methods cannot calibrate RF devices in real time, and improves the signal processing performance and the accuracy of calibration information.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- PCT/CN2024/099420
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2023-12-31
- Filing Date
- 2024-06-14
- Publication Date
- 2025-03-27
AI Technical Summary
Traditional calibration methods cannot calibrate RF devices in real time, and the RF device parameter indicators will change with the environment, making it difficult to achieve accurate calibration of the main signal transmission path.
A calibration link integrated in an integrated circuit is designed, which is connected between the signal transmission main path and the antenna, and can calibrate the signal transmission main path in real time and provide calibration information for real-time compensation.
It realizes real-time calibration of the main signal transmission path without peripherals, improves signal processing performance, and ensures the accuracy of calibration information.
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Figure CN2024099420_27032025_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
Calibration links, signal transmission links, integrated circuits, electromagnetic wave devices and equipment
[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the Patent Office of China on June 14, 2023, with application number 202310702586.5, and invention name “Signal transmission, calibration, compensation and transceiver link, IQ mixer, integrated circuit, sensor and equipment”, and the Chinese patent application filed with the Patent Office of China on December 31, 2023, with application number 202311873028.1, and invention name “A calibration link, signal receiving link, electromagnetic wave device and integrated circuit”, the contents of which should be understood as incorporated into this application by reference. Technical Field
[0002] The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to, but are not limited to, the field of electromagnetic wave device technology, and in particular to a calibration link, a signal transmission link, an integrated circuit, an electromagnetic wave device, and equipment. Background Art
[0003] In frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar, the frequency difference between the transmitted signal and the echo signal is used to calculate the target's distance. The farther the target, the higher the frequency of the corresponding intermediate frequency signal; the closer the target, the lower the frequency of the corresponding difference frequency signal. After receiving multiple consecutive pulse signals, Fourier transforms are performed in both fast and slow time dimensions to obtain the target's range and radial velocity information. Furthermore, multi-antenna technology can be used to measure the direction of arrival (DOA) of the echo signal reflected from the target.
[0004] To improve the performance of parameter estimation (such as range, radial velocity, and DoA) in FMCW radar systems, the transceiver link needs to be calibrated and compensated. However, traditional calibration methods cannot calibrate RF components in real time because they require the use of a large number of peripherals, and RF component parameters will change with environmental changes.
[0005] Summary of the Invention
[0006] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a calibration link, a signal transmission link, an integrated circuit, an electromagnetic wave device, and an apparatus.
[0007] A calibration link for a main signal transmission path, wherein the main signal transmission path is used to transmit electromagnetic wave signals. The calibration link is integrated into an integrated circuit including the main signal transmission path and is connected at least between the main signal transmission path and an antenna corresponding to the main signal transmission path. The calibration link can be configured to calibrate the main signal transmission path to obtain calibration information. The main signal transmission path can be configured to perform a calibration operation based on the calibration information obtained by the calibration link, wherein the calibrated main signal transmission path transmits electromagnetic wave signals. In other words, by integrating the calibration link with the main path, real-time calibration is achieved without the need for external equipment.
[0008] Exemplarily, the calibration link calibrates the main signal transmission path before the integrated circuit leaves the factory and in at least one gap between the integrated circuit sending / receiving signals, and performs real-time compensation on the transmitted information based on the calibration information obtained from the last calibration of the calibration link.
[0009] Exemplarily, at least two main signal transmission paths are provided in the integrated circuit; wherein any one of the calibration links can be configured to calibrate the at least two main signal transmission paths.
[0010] Exemplarily, the signal transmitted by the calibration link is a single-tone signal.
[0011] Exemplarily, the electromagnetic wave signal is a radar signal; the main signal transmission path includes a main receiving path for echo signals and / or a main transmitting path for radio frequency signals, the calibration link includes an auxiliary transmitting link corresponding to the main receiving path and / or an auxiliary receiving link corresponding to the main transmitting path, and the antenna includes a receiving antenna corresponding to the main receiving path and / or a transmitting antenna corresponding to the main transmitting path; the auxiliary receiving link is connected between the main transmitting path and the corresponding transmitting antenna, and can be configured to calibrate the radio frequency signal transmitted by the main transmitting path; and the main receiving path includes The radio frequency unit and the intermediate frequency unit are sequentially connected to the receiving antenna, and correspondingly, the auxiliary transmission link includes at least one of an intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link corresponding to the intermediate frequency unit and a radio frequency auxiliary transmission link corresponding to the radio frequency unit, wherein the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link is connected to the intermediate frequency signal output end of the main receiving path, and can be configured to calibrate the intermediate frequency signal obtained after down-converting the echo signal received by the main receiving path; the radio frequency auxiliary transmission link is connected between the main receiving path and the corresponding receiving antenna, and can be configured to calibrate the echo signal received by the main receiving path.
[0012] Exemplarily, the auxiliary receiving chain includes: a first mixer, which can be configured to mix the received signal using the local oscillator signal used in the receiving operation; a first power amplifier, which can be configured to amplify the signal output by the first mixer; a first filtering unit, which can be configured to filter the received signal to obtain a filtered signal; and a first real-to-analog converter, which can be configured to convert the digital filtered signal into an analog filtered signal.
[0013] Exemplarily, the auxiliary receiving chain may further include: a first adder connected to the first real digital-to-analog converter, and configurable to compensate the signal output by the first real digital-to-analog converter based on a leakage signal of the local oscillator signal used by the first mixer.
[0014] Exemplarily, the calibration link may further include a calibration transmission link corresponding to the auxiliary receiving link; wherein the calibration transmission link may be configured to perform a calibration operation on the auxiliary receiving link; correspondingly, the auxiliary transmitting link performs a calibration operation based on the calibration information obtained from the calibration receiving link, wherein the calibrated auxiliary receiving link performs a calibration operation on the main transmitting path.
[0015] Exemplarily, the calibration transmission chain may include: a first signal generator, which can be configured to output a digital original signal; a second real-number digital-to-analog converter, which can be configured to convert the digital original signal into an analog original signal; a second filtering unit, which can be configured to filter the original signal to obtain a filtered signal; a second power amplifier, which can be configured to amplify the filtered signal to obtain an amplified signal; and a second mixer, which can be configured to mix the amplified signal using the local oscillator signal used in the transmission operation.
[0016] Exemplarily, the calibration transmission chain may also include at least one of a second adder and a bandpass filter, wherein: the second adder is connected between the first signal generator and the second real-number digital-to-analog converter, and can be configured to compensate for the signal output by the first signal generator based on the leakage signal of the local oscillator signal used by the second mixer; the bandpass filter is connected to the second mixer, and can be configured to filter the signal output by the second mixer and send the filtered signal to the calibration unit.
[0017] Exemplarily, the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link may include: the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link includes a first signal source and a third real digital-to-analog converter; wherein the first signal source can be configured to output a digital intermediate frequency calibration signal; the third real digital-to-analog converter can be configured to convert the digital intermediate frequency calibration signal into an analog intermediate frequency calibration signal; or, the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link includes a fourth real digital-to-analog converter, a third mixer and a first squarer; wherein the fourth real digital-to-analog converter can be configured to convert a preset digital signal into an analog signal; the third mixer can be configured to mix the signal output by the fourth real digital-to-analog converter and the local oscillator signal to obtain a mixed signal; the first squarer can be configured to square the mixed signal to obtain the intermediate frequency calibration signal.
[0018] Exemplarily, the first signal source includes a second signal generator and a digital phase shift module; wherein the second signal generator is configured to generate an initial signal; and the digital phase shift module is configured to perform frequency shifting and / or phase shifting on the initial signal using digital orthogonal modulation.
[0019] Exemplarily, the RF auxiliary transmission link can also be connected to the input end of the intermediate frequency unit; wherein: after the intermediate frequency unit completes the calibration operation, the calibrated intermediate frequency unit is used to calibrate the RF auxiliary transmission link; and the calibrated RF auxiliary transmission link is used to calibrate the RF unit.
[0020] Exemplarily, the RF auxiliary transmission link may include: a second signal source, which can be configured to output the original signal; a third filtering unit, which can be configured to filter the original signal to obtain a filtered signal; a third power amplifier, which can be configured to amplify the filtered signal to obtain an amplified signal; and a fourth mixer, which can be configured to mix the amplified signal using a local oscillator signal to obtain a desired signal.
[0021] Exemplarily, the RF auxiliary transmission chain includes at least one of an orthogonal compensation unit, a second squarer and a third adder, wherein: the orthogonal compensation unit is connected to the second signal source at one end and to the third filtering unit at the other end, and can be configured to compensate for the orthogonal imbalance of the received initial signal when the initial signal output by the second signal source is an orthogonal signal; the second squarer is connected to the signal input end of the intermediate frequency unit and can be configured to process the signal output by the fourth mixer and output it to the calibrated intermediate frequency unit; the third adder is connected to the second signal source at one end and to the third filtering unit at the other end, and can be configured to compensate for the signal output by the second signal source based on the leakage signal of the local oscillator signal used by the fourth mixer.
[0022] A signal transmission link may include: a main signal transmission path, which can be configured to transmit electromagnetic wave signals; and a calibration link, which is integrated into a device including the main signal transmission path and is used to calibrate the main signal transmission path; wherein the main signal transmission path performs a calibration operation based on calibration information obtained by the calibration link, and wherein the calibrated main signal transmission path performs a transmission operation of electromagnetic wave signals.
[0023] Exemplarily, the calibration link may be the calibration link described above. Exemplarily, the main signal transmission path and the calibration link are integrated into the same chip or the same PCD board or the same PCB board.
[0024] An integrated circuit has at least two main signal transmission paths and the calibration link described above arranged between the two main transmission paths, wherein the calibration link is shared by the two main signal transmission paths.
[0025] An electromagnetic wave device may include: a carrier; the integrated circuit described above, disposed on the carrier; an antenna, disposed on the carrier, or the antenna and the integrated circuit are integrated into a single device and disposed on the carrier; the antenna includes a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna; wherein the integrated circuit is connected to the antenna for transmitting and / or receiving electromagnetic wave signals.
[0026] A user terminal device may include: a device body; and the electromagnetic wave device described above, which is arranged on the device body; wherein the electromagnetic wave device is used for target detection and / or wireless communication to provide reference information for the operation of the device body.
[0027] The calibration link, signal transmission link, integrated circuit, electromagnetic wave device and equipment of the embodiments of the present disclosure are such that, since the calibration link is integrated into the integrated circuit including the main signal transmission path, the calibration link can perform calibration operations on the main signal transmission path in real time, and the calibration operations of the calibration link can be unaffected by changes in the operating environment of the main signal transmission path, so that the main signal transmission path can obtain more accurate calibration information, thereby improving the signal processing performance of the main signal transmission path.
[0028] Summary of the Figures
[0029] FIG1A is a simplified schematic diagram of a signal transmission link of an analog phase shifter architecture;
[0030] FIG1B is a simplified schematic diagram of an analog phase shifter in the signal transmission link shown in FIG1A ;
[0031] FIG2 is a schematic structural diagram of a signal transmission link provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0032] FIG3 is a waveform diagram of an FMCW transmission signal and an echo signal using sawtooth wave modulation;
[0033] FIG4 is a schematic structural diagram of another signal transmission link provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0034] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a digital phase shifter architecture in a signal transmission link provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0035] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a signal transmission link including a compensation unit provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0036] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of calibrating a main transmission path using a calibration link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0037] FIG8 is a schematic structural diagram of a signal transceiver link provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0038] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of another signal transceiver link provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0039] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of another transceiver link provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0040] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a transceiver link including TX IQ Mod, RX IQ De-Mod, and LO Freq Diff provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0041] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of a transceiver link based on the structure shown in FIG11 in combination with BIST according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0042] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of a transceiver link including TX IQ Mod, BIST IQ Mod, and RX IQ De-Mod provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0043] FIG14 is a schematic diagram of a transceiver link including an auxiliary circuit and a BIST IQ Mod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0044] FIG15 is a schematic diagram of another transceiver link including an auxiliary circuit and a BIST IQ Mod according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0045] FIG16 is a schematic structural diagram of a mixer provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0046] FIG17 is a schematic structural diagram of a compensation unit in a transmitter provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0047] FIG18 is a schematic diagram of a digital pre-compensation HD3 architecture based on a cubic module provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0048] FIG19 is a schematic diagram of a digital pre-compensation HD3 architecture based on a frequency doubling waveform generator module provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0049] FIG20 is a schematic diagram of calibration compensation of a transmission link based on a digital phase shifter architecture provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0050] FIG21A is a schematic structural diagram of a calibration link of a main signal transmission path provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0051] FIG21B is a schematic diagram of the deployment of the calibration link shown in FIG21A ;
[0052] FIG22A is a schematic diagram illustrating the connection between a calibration link and a main transmission path according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0053] FIG22B is a schematic diagram of a first connection between a calibration link and a main receiving path according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0054] FIG22C is a schematic diagram of a second connection between the calibration link and the main receiving path according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0055] FIG23A is a schematic structural diagram of the auxiliary receiving link in FIG22A ;
[0056] FIG23B is another schematic diagram of the structure of the auxiliary receiving link in FIG23A;
[0057] FIG23C is a schematic diagram of the structure of the calibration transmission link in FIG22A;
[0058] FIG23D is another schematic diagram of the structure of the calibration transmission link in FIG23C;
[0059] FIG24 is a schematic diagram of an application of a calibration link corresponding to a main transmission path according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0060] FIG25A is a schematic diagram of a first structure of the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link in FIG22A ;
[0061] FIG25B is a schematic diagram of a second structure of the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link in FIG22A;
[0062] FIG25C is a schematic diagram of the structure of the radio frequency auxiliary transmission link in FIG22A;
[0063] FIG25D is another schematic diagram of the structure of the radio frequency auxiliary transmission link shown in FIG25C;
[0064] FIG26 is a schematic diagram of an application of a calibration link corresponding to a receiving main path provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0065] FIG27A is a schematic diagram of a first application of an intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0066] FIG27B is a second application diagram of the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0067] Details
[0068] Radar is an electronic device that uses electromagnetic waves to detect targets. A radar chip transmits a beam through a signal transmission link. When the transmitted beam encounters an obstacle, the reflected echo is received by a receiving antenna and transmitted to the radar chip. The radar chip then determines the target's position, distance, speed, and other information relative to the electromagnetic wave's transmission point. With the advancement of microelectronics and other technologies, radar has gradually gained widespread application, especially millimeter-wave radar (such as automotive radar). Due to its compact antenna, millimeter-wave radar has been widely used in autonomous driving, smart home devices, and industrial automation devices. Currently, the miniaturization and integration of radar are becoming the current development trends.
[0069] FIG1A is a simplified schematic diagram of a signal transmission link of an analog phase shifter architecture, and FIG1B is a simplified schematic diagram of an analog phase shifter in the signal transmission link shown in FIG1A . As shown in FIG1A , for a transmission link, when the sensor transmits a signal, a signal generator 11 such as a phase-locked loop (PLL) is used to generate a local oscillator (LO) signal (such as a swept frequency signal in the 77 GHz band), which can be, for example, an FMCW signal; the analog phase shifter (Analog PS) 12 performs a phase shift operation on the received LO signal, and then radiates it to a predetermined spatial area through a transmitting antenna 13 to perform operations such as target detection and measurement. Optionally, in the transmission link structure shown in FIG1A , the corresponding analog phase shifter architecture can be as shown in FIG1B , and its specific phase shift principle can be shown as follows:
[0070] in
[0071] Specifically, the received LO signal (LOIN) is phase-shifted by 0° and 90°, respectively, to generate two signals (LOI and LOQ). These signals are then amplified by a power amplifier (PA) and fitted into an output signal (LOOUT). This output signal (LOOUT) is phase-shifted by an amount θ relative to the LOIN input signal. The phase shift θ is determined by the amplitudes A and B of the two signals (LOI and LOQ).
[0072] In addition, the above analog phase shifter architecture can also be implemented using a delay line unit. That is, by using the narrow-band assumption of the signal, phase shifting is performed through time delay. The principle is shown in the following equation:
[0073] Where τ is the delay time of the delay line.
[0074] Because the aforementioned analog phase shifters have low resolution and accuracy, they cannot meet the requirements of current sensors. While calibration can improve resolution and accuracy, this requires offline calibration of analog phase shifters, significantly increasing the difficulty and complexity of engineering implementation and mass production. Furthermore, analog phase shifters also present significant challenges, such as large area, high loss, stability, and channel coupling.
[0075] Since the signal transmission link adopts the analog phase shifter architecture, it has problems such as low phase modulation precision and accuracy. Therefore, it cannot meet the high performance requirements of the vehicle radar system.
[0076] As shown in FIG2 , the embodiment of the present disclosure provides a signal transmission link, which can be applied to a radar system. The signal transmission link may include: a baseband digital module 201 at the transmitting end, an IQ digital-to-analog converter (DTA), and a baseband digital module 202. The baseband digital module 201 may be configured to generate two orthogonal transmit digital baseband signals and send the two orthogonal transmit digital baseband signals to the I and Q paths of the IQ digital-to-analog conversion module 202, respectively. That is, the digital-to-analog conversion module 202 may be configured to convert the two orthogonal transmit digital baseband signals into two transmit analog baseband signals. The transmit local oscillator 203 may be configured to provide a transmit local oscillator signal TX_LO. The transmit quadrature modulator 204 may be configured to perform frequency shifting and phase shifting on the transmit local oscillator signal TX_LO based on the two transmit analog baseband signals to form a predetermined phase-shifted FMCW RF transmit signal.
[0077] In the disclosed embodiment, the transmitting digital baseband signal provided by the transmitting baseband digital module 201 may include preset phase information; the digital-to-analog conversion module 202 may convert the received transmitting digital baseband signal into a transmitting analog baseband signal by performing digital-to-analog conversion on the transmitted digital baseband signal (e.g., converting the digital signal into an analog signal without changing the phase information); the transmitting orthogonal modulator 204 may mix the received transmitting analog baseband signal with the transmitting local oscillator signal TX_LO generated by the transmitting local oscillator 203 to achieve frequency shifting of the transmitting local oscillator signal based on the transmitting analog baseband signal while performing a preset phase shift operation to form an FMCW RF transmission signal after a predetermined phase shift.
[0078] The signal transmission link of the disclosed embodiment utilizes a transmitting baseband digital module 201, a digital-to-analog conversion module 202, and a transmitting quadrature modulator 204 to form a digital phase shifter architecture. Because the baseband signal of this architecture is generated in the digital domain, it has better orthogonality and lower sidelobes. Therefore, its phase shift can be generated very accurately, resulting in higher phase modulation accuracy. This implements a vehicle-mounted radar system with a high-precision digital phase shifting function, reduces the isolation requirements between antennas, and has the advantages of low link loss, low cost, and no need for offline calibration. It can also support more flexible transmission schemes, such as high-performance Doppler multiplexing and frequency division multiplexing, and can support frequency response compensation in the digital domain.
[0079] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, since the transmitting baseband digital module 201 provides a digital signal, in order to further adapt the signal characteristics, the transmitting modulator is set as an orthogonal modulator (IQ Modulator) and the digital-to-analog conversion module 202 is set as an orthogonal digital-to-analog converter (IQ DAC).
[0080] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the transmitting local oscillator 203 may include a phase-locked loop (PLL) structure, and may provide electromagnetic wave (eg, laser, microwave, etc.) signals.
[0081] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal transmission link further includes a power amplifier (PA) 205 , wherein the power amplifier 205 is configured to amplify the power of the phase-shifted RF signal and output the amplified signal to the transmitting antenna.
[0082] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal transmission link further includes a transmitting antenna 206 , wherein the transmitting antenna 206 is configured to radiate the amplified signal to a preset spatial region.
[0083] In the disclosed embodiment, the signal amplified by the power amplifier 205 can be radiated into a predetermined spatial region via a transmitting antenna 206, which may be packaged integrally or externally. Specifically, the transmitting local oscillator 203, digital phase shifter, and transmitting antenna 206 can be integrated into a single device or can be separate components. For example, the transmitting local oscillator 203 and digital phase shifter can be integrated into a package, such as a SoC chip, while the transmitting antenna 206 can be connected via a peripheral port of the chip and formed on a carrier, such as a PCB. Furthermore, in some optional embodiments, the transmitting antenna 206 can be integrated into the chip's package to form an AiP (Antenna in Package) or AoP (Antenna on Package), resulting in a chip-on-package antenna structure.
[0084] In some exemplary embodiments, the bandwidth of the frequency sweep signal is above 2 GHz. For example, for radar, the electromagnetic wave of the transmission signal emitted by the transmitting antenna of the frequency modulated continuous wave radar system is a high-frequency frequency modulated continuous wave, and the echo signal received by the receiving antenna of the frequency modulated continuous wave radar system is the electromagnetic wave reflected / scattered back by the target object. Figure 3 shows a waveform diagram of an exemplary FMCW transmission signal and an echo signal. As shown in Figure 3, the frequencies of the transmission signal and the echo signal change regularly over time. The frequency modulated continuous wave is generally sawtooth-shaped, triangular, etc. The present disclosure uses the sawtooth shape as an example for explanation. The electromagnetic wave within each frequency modulation period T is called a chirp, and the frequency of the signal of each chirp increases linearly with time. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the bandwidth range B of a chirp is greater than or equal to 2 GHz.
[0085] In some exemplary embodiments, the digital baseband signal at the transmitting end is a single-tone signal, and the local oscillator signal at the transmitting end is a swept-frequency signal.
[0086] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the transmitting end local oscillator 203 can be configured to provide an FMCW signal in the centimeter wave band or millimeter wave band (such as 3.1 GHz, 24 GHz, 60 GHz, 77 GHz, etc.) in the microwave, and the transmitting end baseband digital module 201 can be configured to provide a MHz (for example, 3 MHz to 5 MHz, such as 3 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, etc.) level single-tone transmitting end digital baseband signal, that is, the digital-to-analog conversion module 202 performs digital-to-analog conversion on the MHz level single-tone transmitting end digital baseband signal to obtain a single-tone transmitting end analog baseband signal in the corresponding frequency range, and the transmitting end orthogonal modulator 204 can be configured to perform up-mixing or down-mixing operations on the received millimeter wave frequency band FMCW signal based on the received single-tone transmitting end analog baseband signal to achieve a preset phase shift operation on the FMCW signal.
[0087] For example, the FMCW signal in the 3.1 GHz frequency band may include a swept frequency signal between 3.1 GHz and 10.6 GHz, such as 7.163-8.812 GHz; the FMCW signal in the 77 GHz frequency band may include a swept frequency signal between 76 GHz and 81 GHz, or swept frequency signals such as 76 GHz to 77 GHz, 77 GHz to 79 GHz, or 79 GHz to 81 GHz.
[0088] In other exemplary embodiments, the digital baseband signal at the transmitting end is a swept frequency signal, and the local oscillator signal at the transmitting end is a single-tone signal.
[0089] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the transmitting local oscillator 203 can be configured to provide a single-tone transmitting local oscillator signal in a centimeter-wave frequency band or a millimeter-wave frequency band (such as 3.1 GHz, 24 GHz, 60 GHz, 77 GHz, etc.) in microwaves, and the transmitting baseband digital module 201 can be configured to provide a MHz (for example, 3 MHz to 5 MHz, such as 3 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, etc.) level transmitting digital baseband FMCW signal, that is, the digital-to-analog conversion module 202 performs digital-to-analog conversion on the MHz-level transmitting digital baseband FMCW signal to obtain a transmitting analog baseband FMCW signal in a corresponding frequency range, and the transmitting orthogonal modulator 204 can be configured to perform up-mixing or down-mixing operations on the received single-tone transmitting local oscillator signal in the centimeter-wave frequency band or the millimeter-wave frequency band based on the received transmitting analog baseband FMCW signal, so as to realize preset phase shifting and frequency sweeping operations on the single-tone transmitting local oscillator signal.
[0090] For example, the single-tone transmitting local oscillator signal in the 3.1 GHz frequency band can be a single-tone analog signal in a fixed frequency band such as 3.1 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, 8 GHz, or 10.6 GHz; the single-tone transmitting local oscillator signal in the 77 GHz frequency band can be a single-tone analog signal in a fixed frequency band such as 76 GHz, 77 GHz, 78 GHz, 79 GHz, 80 GHz, or 81 GHz.
[0091] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal transmission link further includes: a low-pass filter (LPF) 207, which is disposed between the digital-to-analog conversion module 202 and the transmitting-end quadrature modulator 204 and is configured to perform low-pass filtering on the transmitting-end analog baseband signal output by the digital-to-analog conversion module 202 and output the signal to the transmitting-end quadrature modulator 204.
[0092] As shown in Figure 2, the transmitting baseband digital module 201 generates two orthogonal digital baseband signals, namely, an I-channel digital baseband signal and a Q-channel digital baseband signal. These digital baseband signals are then fed into the digital-to-analog conversion module 202 (which includes two identical DACs, namely, IQ DACs), generating two analog baseband signals. These analog baseband signals are then fed into a low-pass filter 207 to remove out-of-band noise. The signals are then orthogonally modulated by the transmitting quadrature modulator 204 to generate modulated RF signals. These modulated RF signals are then radiated through a power amplifier 205 and a transmitting antenna 206.
[0093] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal transmission link may further include a direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDFS) (not shown in FIG2 ), which is disposed between the transmitting baseband digital module 201 and the digital-to-analog conversion module 202. The direct digital frequency synthesizer may be configured to implement at least one of a variety of signal waveforms and transmission modes, such as CDM (Code-Division Multiplexing), DDM (Doppler Division Multiplexing), TDM (Time-Division Multiplexing), SDM (Space Division Multiplexing), CSD (Circuit Switch Data), and Digital IF (Digital Intermediate Frequency), based on the received source signal, so as to achieve flexible configuration of the signal transmission form and the transmission waveform.
[0094] As shown in Figure 4, an embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a signal transmission link, which is applied to an electromagnetic wave transmitting device. The signal transmission link includes a first signal source 41 and a digital phase shift module 42; wherein the first signal source 41 is configured to generate a first analog signal; and the digital phase shift module 42 is configured to use digital orthogonal modulation to frequency shift and / or phase shift the first analog signal to form an FMCW RF transmission signal.
[0095] The signal transmission link provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a first signal source 41 and a digital phase shift module 42. The first signal source 41 can be configured to provide a first analog signal, and the digital phase shift module 42 can be configured to generate a phase-shifted signal in the digital domain. The digital phase shift module 42 can also phase-shift the first analog signal based on the generated phase-shifted signal to perform a preset phase shift operation on the first analog signal.
[0096] In some exemplary embodiments, the first signal source 41 may be a transmitting local oscillator, and the first analog signal may be a transmitting LO signal.
[0097] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal transmission chain further includes a power amplifier (not shown in the figure) configured to amplify the FMCW RF transmission signal.
[0098] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal transmission link further includes a transmitting antenna 43 configured to radiate the power-amplified FMCW radio frequency transmission signal to a predetermined area.
[0099] As shown in FIG4 , in some optional embodiments, the signal transmission chain may include a first signal source 41, a digital phase shift module (Digital PS) 42, and a transmitting antenna 43. Specifically, the first signal source 41 may be configured to provide an LO signal, and the digital phase shift module 42 may be configured to perform a predetermined phase shift on the received LO signal, so that the phase-shifted LO signal is radiated into a predetermined spatial region via the transmitting antenna 43. The first signal source 41 may also include a phase-locked loop (PLL) architecture that can provide electromagnetic wave (e.g., laser, microwave, etc.) signals. The first signal source 41, digital phase shift module 42, and transmitting antenna 43 may be integrated into a single device or may be separate components. For example, the first signal source 41 and digital phase shift module 42 may be integrated into a package such as a SoC chip, while the transmitting antenna 43 may be connected via a peripheral port of the chip and formed on a substrate such as a PCB. At the same time, in some optional embodiments, the transmitting antenna 43 can also be integrated on the chip package to form AiP or AoP, with a chip structure having a packaged antenna.
[0100] In some exemplary embodiments, the digital phase shift module 42 includes a second signal source 423, a digital-to-analog conversion module 422, and a mixer 421 connected in sequence; wherein the second signal source 423 is configured to generate a first digital signal; the digital-to-analog conversion module 422 is configured to convert the first digital signal into a second analog signal; and the mixer 421 is configured to perform frequency shifting and / or phase shifting on the first analog signal based on the second analog signal to form an FMCW RF transmission signal.
[0101] As shown in FIG4 , the digital phase shift module 42 in the embodiment of the present disclosure may include a mixer 421, a digital-to-analog conversion module (i.e., DAC) 422, and a second signal source (e.g., a digital baseband signal source) 423. Specifically, the second signal source 423 may be configured to provide a first digital signal; the digital-to-analog conversion module 422 may be configured to perform digital-to-analog conversion on the received first digital signal to convert the first digital signal into a second analog signal; and the mixer 421 may be configured to mix the received second analog signal with the first analog signal received from the first signal source 41 to achieve a phase shift operation that sets the first analog signal using the first digital signal. Optionally, when the signal transmission link provides a swept frequency signal, such as an FMCW laser signal or an FMCW microwave signal, the swept frequency transmission signal may be provided based on the first signal source 41, and / or the swept frequency first digital signal may be provided based on the second signal source 423, so that after mixing by the mixer 421, a swept frequency continuous wave signal is output.
[0102] In some optional embodiments, based on the structure shown in Figure 4, the first signal source 41 can be configured to provide an FMCW signal (i.e., a first analog signal) in a centimeter wave band or a millimeter wave band (such as 3.1 GHz, 24 GHz, 60 GHz, 77 GHz, etc.) in microwaves, and the second signal source 423 can be configured to provide a first digital signal at the MHz level (e.g., 3 MHz to 5 MHz, such as 3 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, etc.), that is, the digital-to-analog conversion module 422 performs digital-to-analog conversion on the first digital signal at the MHz level to obtain a second analog signal in the corresponding frequency range, and the mixer 421 can be configured to perform up-mixing or down-mixing operations on the received FMCW signal in the millimeter wave band based on the received second analog signal of the fixed frequency band, so as to realize a preset phase shift operation on the FMCW signal.
[0103] In some optional embodiments, the centimeter wave signal in the 3.1GHz frequency band may include 3.1GHz to 10.6GHz, such as 3.1GHz, 5GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz, 8GHz, 10.6GHz, etc.; the millimeter wave signal in the 77GHz frequency band may include 76GHz to 81GHz signals, such as 76GHz to 77GHz, 77GHz to 79GHz, 79GHz to 81GHz and other swept frequency signals, or 76GHz, 77GHz, 78GHz, 79GHz, 80GHz, 81GHz and other fixed frequency band signals.
[0104] In some exemplary embodiments, the first digital signal includes two orthogonal transmitting digital baseband signals; the second signal source 423 is a transmitting baseband digital module, and the digital-to-analog conversion module 422 includes two identical digital-to-analog converters; the transmitting baseband digital module is configured to generate two orthogonal transmitting digital baseband signals and send the two orthogonal transmitting digital baseband signals to a digital-to-analog converter respectively; the digital-to-analog conversion module 422 is configured to convert the two orthogonal transmitting digital baseband signals into two transmitting analog baseband signals.
[0105] Based on the structure shown in Figure 4, since the second signal source 423 provides the first digital signal, to further adapt the signal characteristics, the mixer 421 can be configured as an IQ mixer, and the digital-to-analog conversion module 422 as an IQ DAC. Furthermore, the second signal source 423 can be configured to provide a digital baseband signal source (DDFS) for phase shifting and / or to act as a waveform controller (Waveform Control) to provide the corresponding source signal. The DDFS is a phase-adjustable digital baseband signal source that generates a digital baseband signal.
[0106] As shown in FIG5 , the signal transmission link (TX digital phase shifter architecture) of the digital phase shifter architecture may include a digital baseband signal source (Baseband), a direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDFS), an IQ digital to analog converter (DAC), a low-pass filter (LPF), an IQ modulator (IQ modulator / IQ mixer), a power amplifier (PA), etc., that is, the baseband signal source is configured to provide a digital phase-shifted source signal (i.e., the aforementioned first digital signal), and the direct digital frequency synthesizer may be configured to implement CDM (Code-Division Multiplexing), DDM (Doppler Division Multiplexing), TDM (Time-Division Multiplexing), SDM (Space Division Multiplexing), CSD (Circuit Switch Data), Digital Intermediate IF (Digital Intermediate IF) based on the received source signal. Frequency (DIF), digital intermediate frequency (DIF), and other signal waveforms and transmission modes to achieve flexible configuration of signal transmission form and transmission waveform. The signal amplified by the power amplifier can be radiated to a predetermined spatial area via an integrated or external transmitting antenna.
[0107] Regarding the signal transmission link of the digital phase shifter architecture in the embodiment of the present disclosure, since the digital phase shifter architecture is configured to generate a baseband signal sequence in the digital domain, and can generate an analog baseband signal (i.e., a second analog signal) through a DAC, and then modulate the transmission signal to a high frequency through an orthogonal mixer, that is, because the baseband signal of the architecture is generated in the digital domain, it has better orthogonality and lower sidelobes, so its phase shift phase can be generated very accurately, resulting in higher phase modulation accuracy.
[0108] In some optional embodiments, when using RF LO frequency sweeping to achieve an FMCW signal transmission link, a compensation unit can be added to the signal transmission link to address issues such as TX IQ imbalance, signal leakage (e.g., TX LO leakage), and harmonic distortion (HD) caused by IQ mismatch. As shown in Figure 5, a TX compensation unit can be provided between the TX DDFS and the IQ DAC to perform calibration and compensation operations on the signal transmission link of the digital phase shifter architecture, thereby addressing at least one of the aforementioned issues. The HD caused by baseband third-order nonlinearity can be referred to as HD3.
[0109] In some optional embodiments, as shown in FIG6 , the TX compensation unit may include at least one of a TX LO leakage compensation unit, a TX IQ imbalance compensation unit, and a TX HD3 compensation unit. The TX LO leakage compensation unit may be configured to compensate for signal leakage, the TX IQ imbalance compensation unit may be configured to compensate for IQ imbalance, and the TX HD3 compensation unit may be configured to compensate for the aforementioned HD3. The TX IQ imbalance compensation unit may be configured to compensate for at least one of an IQ modulator imbalance and an IQ channel imbalance. In addition, when the compensation unit includes at least two of the TX LO leakage compensation unit, the TX IQ imbalance compensation unit, and the TX HD3 compensation unit, compensation can be performed simultaneously (e.g., in parallel) or sequentially (e.g., in series) based on actual needs and signal characteristics. As shown in FIG6 , IQ compensation can be performed first, followed by LO compensation, and finally HD3 compensation.
[0110] In some optional embodiments, the signal transmission link of the digital phase shifter architecture may also include an error correction module for the DAC (TX DAC Board Error Correction) and an AWGN (additive white gaussian noise) module for Gaussian white noise, etc., which are not shown in the figure and can be added or deleted according to actual needs. Among them, the IQ mentioned in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be represented by the abbreviation of In-Phase (i.e., in phase), Q can be represented by the abbreviation of Quadrature (i.e., orthogonal), and RF can be represented by the abbreviation of Radio Frequency (i.e., radio frequency).
[0111] In an optional embodiment, IQ Imbalance compensation can be achieved by compensating the conjugate signal of the BB (baseband) signal to counteract the image component, and this compensation method is unaffected by the IQ Imbalance calibration method. LO Leakage compensation can be achieved by adjusting the DC component (i.e., DC offset) of both the IQ and Q channels. Similarly, this LO Leakage calibration method has no impact on the compensation scheme. Regarding HD3, since the third-order harmonic distortion of the quadrature mixer V / I converter is the primary source of HD3, and harmonic distortion is affected by DC offset, when both LO Leakage and HD3 in the transmit chain require calibration, LO Leakage calibration should be performed before HD3 calibration to ensure accurate HD3 calibration. When LO Leakage, IQ Imbalance, and HD3 in the transmit chain require calibration, LO Leakage calibration should be performed first, followed by IQ Imbalance calibration, and finally by HD3 calibration to ensure accurate performance.
[0112] In addition, the compensation methods of HD3 based on the digital pre-compensation architecture of the digital cubic module and the digital pre-compensation architecture based on the frequency multiplication waveform generator module will directly affect the subsequent calibration scheme and subsequent compensation process.
[0113] In an optional embodiment, for a digital pre-compensation architecture based on a digital cubic module, LO leakage can be calibrated and compensated first. Then, under a stable DC bias, IQ imbalance can be calibrated and compensated. Then, based on the IQ imbalance pre-compensation results, the root cause of the HD3 problem, i.e., the HD3 compensation coefficient, can be calibrated for both IQ and Q channels to compensate for the third harmonic distortion.
[0114] In an optional embodiment, for a digital pre-compensation architecture based on a frequency-doubling waveform generator module, after calibrating and compensating for LO leakage, the HD3 compensation coefficient can be calibrated to obtain the HD3 compensation coefficient, and the IQ imbalance can be calibrated and compensated under a stable DC bias. Subsequently, based on the compensation results, the actual waveforms of the IQ signals and the HD3 compensation coefficient are calculated, and the waveform information of the 3x and 5x frequencies that require pre-compensation is calculated in reverse.
[0115] In another optional embodiment, for a digital pre-compensation architecture based on a frequency-doubling waveform generator module, LO leakage can be calibrated and compensated first. Multiple (e.g., three) observations are then performed to calibrate the IQ Imbalance compensation coefficient. The compensation coefficient at the HD3 mirror position is then calibrated again (e.g., two more observations). Finally, the 3x and 5x coefficients requiring pre-compensation are calculated using the compensation coefficients at the HD3 and HD3 mirror positions. It should be noted that the observations in this disclosed embodiment represent operations such as testing and comparative analysis of different test results.
[0116] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for calibrating a main transmission path using a calibration link, as provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 7, the calibration link is used to calibrate the main transmission path, which is used to transmit radio frequency signals. The main transmission path includes a transmitting unit connected to a transmitting antenna, and the calibration link is integrated into an integrated circuit that includes the main transmission path. Because the calibration link is integrated into the integrated circuit that includes the main transmission path, the main transmission path can be calibrated in real time, eliminating the need for external equipment to calibrate the main transmission path.
[0117] The calibration link includes a calibration unit, which is connected between the transmitting unit and the transmitting antenna and can be configured to calibrate the radio frequency signal output by the transmitting unit; the transmitting unit can be configured to complete the calibration operation based on the calibration information obtained by the calibration link, wherein the radio frequency signal output by the calibrated transmitting unit is radiated to a predetermined area through the transmitting antenna.
[0118] The main transmission path (Transmitter) may include a phase shifter module PS, a power amplifier PA, a power detector PD, and the like. For example, the transmission path may employ a signal transmission link using a digital phase shifter architecture as described in any embodiment of the present disclosure. For details, please refer to the relevant figures and text descriptions, which will not be elaborated here. Because the transmission path employs a digital phase shifter architecture, while achieving more precise phase shifting operations, the transmission channel can simultaneously support multiple modes such as DDM and FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing) for multiple antennas. It also eliminates the need for RF phase shifter calibration, reduces isolation and coupling in the phase shifting system, and reduces link loss and manufacturing costs. Furthermore, to address potential TX IQ mismatch and LO leakage issues, the transmission path using the digital phase shifter architecture can also support RF frequency response compensation, IQ imbalance, and LO leakage calibration in the digital domain.
[0119] To address issues such as TX IQ mismatch, LO leakage, and frequency response in the transmit path, a calibration link can be set up to perform relevant calibration operations.
[0120] Since the calibration link is integrated into the integrated circuit including the main transmission path, the calibration unit can calibrate the transmission unit in real time. In addition, the operating environment of the calibration unit is the same as that of the transmission unit. Therefore, the calibration operation of the calibration unit can be unaffected by changes in the operating environment of the transmission unit, so that the calibration unit can obtain more accurate calibration information, thereby improving the signal processing performance of the transmission unit.
[0121] The calibration link provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure is integrated into an integrated circuit including the main transmit path. This allows the calibration link to perform real-time calibration operations on the main transmit path. Furthermore, the calibration operations of the calibration link are independent of changes in the operating environment of the main transmit path. This allows the main transmit path to obtain more accurate calibration information, thereby improving the signal processing performance of the main transmit path.
[0122] The embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a signal transceiver link, including a signal transmission link and a signal reception link, as shown in Figure 8 or Figure 9. The signal transmission link may include: a transmitting baseband digital module 201, a digital-to-analog conversion module 202, a transmitting local oscillator 203 and a transmitting orthogonal modulator 204, wherein: the transmitting baseband digital module 201 is configured to generate two orthogonal transmitting digital baseband signals and send the generated transmitting digital baseband signals to the digital-to-analog conversion module 202; the digital-to-analog conversion module 202 is configured to convert the transmitting digital baseband signal into a transmitting analog baseband signal; the transmitting local oscillator 203 is configured to provide a transmitting local oscillator signal TX_LO; and the transmitting orthogonal modulator 204 is configured to perform a phase shift operation on the transmitting local oscillator signal TX_LO based on the transmitting analog baseband signal to obtain a phase-shifted RF signal.
[0123] The signal receiving link may include a receiving end local oscillator 302, a receiving end mixer 303, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 304, and a receiving end baseband digital module 305; wherein the receiving end local oscillator 302 is configured to provide a receiving end local oscillator signal; the receiving end mixer 303 is configured to perform a mixing operation on the received echo signal based on the receiving end local oscillator signal to obtain a receiving end analog baseband signal; the analog-to-digital converter 304 is configured to convert the receiving end analog baseband signal into a receiving end digital baseband signal; and the receiving end baseband digital module 305 is configured to process the receiving end digital baseband signal to achieve target detection and / or wireless communication, for example, to obtain parameter information of the target such as distance, speed, angle, altitude, and micro-motion characteristics.
[0124] In the disclosed embodiment, the two ideal I-channel digital baseband signals and Q-channel digital baseband signals generated by the transmitting baseband digital module 201 can be converted into highly ideal complex signals after passing through the digital-to-analog conversion module 202. The phase of the complex signals can be precisely controlled by the transmitting baseband digital module 201. The receiver structure in the signal transceiver link shown in FIG8 or FIG9 can effectively obtain the phase information of the radio frequency signal in the signal transmission link, thereby realizing phase modulation of multiple antennas.
[0125] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal transmission link may further include a power amplifier 205 , wherein the power amplifier 205 is configured to amplify the power of the phase-shifted radio frequency signal and output the amplified signal to the transmitting antenna.
[0126] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal transmission link may further include a transmitting antenna 206 , wherein the transmitting antenna 206 is configured to radiate the amplified signal to a preset spatial region.
[0127] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal receiving link may further include a receiving antenna 301, wherein the receiving antenna 301 is configured to receive an echo signal, which is a signal formed when the signal transmitted by the signal transmitting link is reflected and / or scattered by a target object.
[0128] In some exemplary embodiments, the local oscillator signal at the receiving end may be a frequency sweep signal, or the local oscillator signal at the receiving end may be a single-tone signal.
[0129] In the disclosed embodiment of the signal transceiver link, the TX-LO signal received by the transmitting-end quadrature modulator 204 in the signal transmission link and the RX-LO signal received by the receiving-end mixer 303 in the signal reception link can have the same frequency. For example, assuming that the signal output by the transmitting-end baseband digital module 201 is a sine wave of x MHz, the TX-LO signal and the RX-LO signal can both be sine waves of z GHz, where x and z are both positive numbers, generally ranging from 0 to 1000.
[0130] The principles of the present disclosure are described below using the signal transceiver link shown in Figure 8. As previously mentioned, for FMCW radar systems, the signal transmission link can have two wave transmission schemes: 1) the transmitting end local oscillator signal is swept frequency, and the transmitting end digital baseband signal is a single tone; 2) the transmitting end local oscillator signal is a single tone, and the transmitting end digital baseband signal is swept frequency. Assuming that the transmitting end local oscillator signal TX_LO, the transmitting end digital baseband signal, and the modulated transmit signal are represented by TLO(t), BB(t), and TX(t), respectively, and the subscripts I and q are used to represent the I-path signal and the Q-path signal, and the superscript a is used to represent their complex signal form, then under the two wave transmission schemes, the signals at each stage of the signal transmission link can be represented as follows:
[0131] 1) The local oscillator signal at the transmitting end is swept, and the digital baseband signal at the transmitting end is a single tone:
[0132] 2) Single tone local oscillator signal at the transmitting end, frequency sweep of digital baseband signal at the transmitting end:
[0133] in, is the sweep slope of the FMCW signal, f bb is the starting frequency of the transmitting digital baseband signal, f tlo is the starting frequency of the transmitting local oscillator signal, is the initial phase of the transmitting digital baseband signal, is the initial phase of the local oscillator signal at the transmitting end.
[0134] Assume that the receiving end local oscillator signal RX_LO in the signal receiving link shown in FIG8 is represented by RLO(t). In this embodiment, assuming that the receiving end local oscillator signal RX_LO is a swept frequency signal, RLO(t) can be expressed as:
[0135] Among them, f rlo is the starting frequency of the local oscillator signal at the receiving end, and Φ0 is the initial phase of the local oscillator signal at the receiving end. Then, the RF signal transmitted by the signal transmission link generates an echo signal after being reflected / scattered by the target. After passing through the receiving antenna 301, the receiving mixer 303, and the receiving low-pass filter 307, the following is obtained:
[0136] Where τ represents the time delay of the RF signal transmitted by the signal transmission link and then returned to the signal receiving link after being reflected / scattered by the target.
[0137] The above formula shows that both of the above two frequency sweeping methods can be used to control the initial phase of the digital baseband signal at the transmitting end. To perform precise phase modulation, thereby achieving high-precision and high-accuracy phase shifting, avoiding direct phase shifting at high frequencies.
[0138] In some optional embodiments, the receiving antenna 301 can be connected via a peripheral port of the chip and formed on a carrier such as a PCB. Meanwhile, in other optional embodiments, the receiving antenna can also be integrated into the chip package to form an AiP or AoP, that is, a chip structure with a packaged antenna.
[0139] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal receiving link may further include a low noise amplifier (LNA) 306 , which is disposed between the receiving antenna 301 and the receiving mixer 303 , and performs low noise amplification on the echo signal received by the receiving antenna 301 before sending the signal to the receiving mixer 303 .
[0140] In some exemplary embodiments, the signal receiving link may further include a low-pass filter (LPF) 307 and a high-pass filter (HPF) 308 connected in series, disposed between the receiving mixer 303 and the analog-to-digital converter 304. The low-pass filter 307 and the high-pass filter 308 constitute a bandpass filter for filtering out-of-band noise.
[0141] In some exemplary embodiments, as shown in FIG8 , in the signal receiving link, the receiving mixer 303 may be a real mixer, and the analog-to-digital converter 304 may be a real analog-to-digital converter.
[0142] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, although the signal transmission link adopts a digital phase-shifting architecture, the signal receiving link may include a receiver with an orthogonal receiving architecture or a non-orthogonal receiving architecture. Therefore, it can effectively be compatible with sensors of receiving links of various architectures, effectively reducing the development cost of the entire transceiver link system.
[0143] In some other exemplary embodiments, as shown in FIG9 , in the signal receiving link, the receiving mixer 303 may be an orthogonal mixer, and the analog-to-digital converter 304 may be an orthogonal analog-to-digital converter.
[0144] To match the signal transmission link of the digital phase shifter architecture, the embodiment of the present disclosure adjusts the receiving mixer 303 in the signal receiving link to an IQ demodulator (IQ Demodulator) and simultaneously adjusts the analog-to-digital converter 304 to an IQ ADC. The echo signal received by the receiving antenna is sequentially processed by the aforementioned low-noise amplifier 306, receiving mixer 303, low-pass filter 307, high-pass filter 308, and analog-to-digital converter 304 before being converted into an IQ digital baseband signal. The subsequent receiving baseband digital module 305 processes this IQ digital baseband signal to obtain target parameter information such as range, speed, angle, altitude, and micro-motion characteristics (i.e., micro-Doppler).
[0145] When the receiving-end mixer 303 is an orthogonal mixer and the receiving-end local oscillator signal is a swept-frequency signal, the receiving-end local oscillator signal RX_LO can be expressed as:
[0146] In other exemplary embodiments, the local oscillator signal at the receiving end of the signal receiving link may be a single tone signal as shown in formula (12) or formula (13) in addition to being a frequency sweep signal as shown in formula (9) or formula (11).
[0147] The receiving mixer 303 is a real mixer: RLO(t)=cos(2πf rlo t+Φ0) (12).
[0148] The receiving mixer 303 is an orthogonal mixer:
[0149] When the local oscillator signal at the receiving end is a single-tone signal, it is only necessary to add a digital domain signal processing flow (including a digital domain mixing operation) to the receiving end baseband digital module 305 to obtain the required digital baseband signal.
[0150] In summary, the embodiments of the present disclosure can expand various system-level technical solutions according to different combinations of transmission schemes and receiving schemes (for example, whether the transmitting end uses a digital baseband signal single tone, a local oscillator signal sweep frequency or a digital baseband signal sweep frequency, a local oscillator signal single tone; whether the receiving end uses a real mixer, a real analog-to-digital converter or an orthogonal mixer, an orthogonal analog-to-digital converter; whether the receiving end uses a single-tone local oscillator signal or a swept frequency local oscillator signal).
[0151] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of another transceiver link provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of a transceiver link including TX IQ Mod, RX IQ De-Mod and LO Freq Diff provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a transceiver link based on the structure shown in Figure 11 combined with BIST provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, and Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of a transceiver link including TX IQ Mod, BIST IQ Mod and RX IQ De-Mod provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0152] The following describes the transmit and receive links formed by the transmit link structure described in the embodiments of the present disclosure:
[0153] As shown in Figure 10, a transceiver link may include a transmitting link and a receiving link. The transmitting link (i.e., the transmitter) may include a digital baseband signal source (Baseband), a direct digital frequency synthesizer (TXDDFS), an IQ digital-to-analog converter (IQ DAC), a low-pass filter (LPF), an IQ modulator (IQ Modulator), a power amplifier (PA), etc., which are connected in sequence. At the same time, the signal amplified by the power amplifier is radiated to a predetermined spatial area through the transmitting antenna. The receiving chain may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a real mixer, a trans-impedance amplifier (TIA), a low-pass filter (LPF), a high-pass filter (HPF), and a real digital-to-analog converter (ADC), all connected in sequence. Specifically, the echo signal received by the receiving antenna is processed by the LNA, real mixer, TIA, LPF, HPF, and real ADC before being converted into a real digital baseband signal. Subsequent digital signal processing by the digital signal processing module can obtain target parameter information such as range, speed, angle, altitude, and micro-motion characteristics.
[0154] In the aforementioned transceiver chain, the TX-LO signal received by the IQ modulator in the transmit chain and the RX-LO signal received by the real mixer in the receive chain can have the same frequency. For example, as shown in Figure 10, if the baseband output signal is a sine wave of x MHz, then the TX-LO signal and RX-LO signal can both be sine waves of z GHz.
[0155] In the embodiment shown in FIG10 , the transmitting link adopts a digital phase-shifting architecture, while the receiving link can adopt analog architecture components, i.e., IQ components are not required. Therefore, it can effectively be compatible with sensors of the receiving link of the analog architecture, effectively reducing the development cost of the entire transceiver link system.
[0156] Optionally, in embodiments of the present application, the receiving link may include a receiving antenna, i.e., the receiving antenna may be connected via a peripheral port of the chip and formed on a carrier such as a PCB. Furthermore, in some optional embodiments, the receiving antenna may also be integrated into the chip package to form an AiP or AoP, i.e., a chip structure with a packaged antenna.
[0157] In some optional embodiments, in order to match the transmitting chain of the digital phase shifter architecture, corresponding adjustments may be made to the receiving chain. For example, the transceiver chain shown in FIG11 may include a transmitting chain architecture and a receiving chain similar to that in FIG10 (to avoid redundancy, the same parts will not be described in detail here). The Real Mixer in the receiving chain in FIG10 is adjusted to an IQ demodulator (IQ Demodulator), and the Real ADC is adjusted to an IQ ADC. That is, the receiving chain may include a low noise amplifier (LNA), an IQ demodulator (IQ Demodulator), a transimpedance amplifier (TIA), a low-pass filter (LPF), a high-pass filter (HPF), an IQ digital-to-analog converter (IQADC), etc. connected in sequence. That is, the echo signal received by the receiving antenna is sequentially passed through the above-mentioned LNA, IQ Demodulator, TIA, LPF, HPF and IQ After ADC processing, it is converted into an IQ digital baseband signal. The subsequent digital signal processing module processes the IQ digital baseband signal to obtain parameter information such as distance, speed, angle, height and micro-motion characteristics (i.e. micro-Doppler) of the target.
[0158] At the same time, when performing self-calibration based on the transceiver link shown in Figure 11, as long as the signal output port of the transmitting link is directly connected to the signal input port of the receiving link via a transmission line, that is, the transmitting link directly sends the transmitting signal to the receiving link via the transmission line, so as to achieve self-calibration of the receiving and / or transmitting link without passing through the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna. In this case, there is a certain frequency offset between the TX-LO signal received by the IQ modulator in the transmitting link and the RX-LO signal received by the IQ Demodulator in the receiving link. For example, as shown in Figure 11, if the baseband output signal is a sine wave of x MHz, the TX-LO signal can be a sine wave of z GHz. At this time, the RX-LO signal is converted into a digital signal after being processed by the down-mixer (i.e., the IQ Demodulator in the receiving link), low-pass filtering, and high-pass filtering, so as to perform TX IQ imbalance calibration.
[0159] In some optional embodiments, as shown in FIG11 , the transmitting link (the Transmitter, TX shown in the figure) can be calibrated by adding a receiving link (the Receiver, RX shown in the figure), and the TXIQ imbalance compensation unit in the transmitting link performs compensation based on the calibrated data. At the same time, the transmitting link (the Transmitter, TX shown in the figure) can also be calibrated by multiplexing the receiving link (the Receiver, RX shown in the figure) actually used for signal transmission and reception, and the TX IQ imbalance compensation unit in the transmitting link and / or receiving link performs compensation based on the calibrated data. FIG11 is a signal link for TX IQ imbalance. Since the working principle of the signal link for the TX harmonic signal problem is similar to that of the signal link for TX IQ imbalance, the TX IQ imbalance compensation unit in FIG11 can be replaced with a TX HD3 compensation unit to solve the TX HD3 problem. Similar implementations can also be performed in other embodiments. For the sake of simplicity, they will not be described in detail later.
[0160] In some optional embodiments, based on the structure shown in FIG11 , to achieve precise calibration of the transceiver link, a built-in self-test (BIST) module is provided at the RX-LO port of the IQ Demodulator of the receive link shown in FIG11 . Specifically, as shown in FIG12 , based on the transceiver link structure shown in FIG11 , an IQ BIST architecture is provided at the RX-LO port of the IQ Demodulator of the receive link to input an LO signal with a preset frequency offset to the RX-LO port of the IQ Demodulator of the receive link. For example, the IQ BIST, which is composed of a phase angle converter and an IQ modulator, utilizes a received TX-LO signal, such as a TX-LO signal, to pass through the phase angle converter and the IQ modulator, and then generates a frequency-shifted signal based on the frequency offset signal of another input signal, the BIST-LO, of the IQ modulator, and inputs the signal to the RX-LO port of the IQ Demodulator. For example, if the TX-LO signal is a zGHz sine wave and the BIST-LO signal is a yMHz sine wave, the frequency-shifted signal input to the RX-LO port of the IQ Demodulator is (zGHz-yMHz). It should be noted that x, y, and z are illustrative values in different embodiments and their specific values may be the same or different.
[0161] In some optional embodiments, based on the IQ BIST architecture of the transceiver link structure shown in FIG12 , the transmit link of the digital phase shifter architecture can also be calibrated by multiplexing the receive link in the transceiver link; wherein, in other embodiments, the calibration operation of the transmit link using the receive link, and the calibration operation of the receive link using the transmit link, can be implemented by multiplexing the corresponding receive link or transmit link in the link that actually performs signal transmission and reception, and can also be implemented by adding a corresponding calibration receive link or calibration transmit link to implement the calibration operation of the corresponding transmit link or receive link in the link that actually performs signal transmission and reception.
[0162] Optionally, the IQBIST may include a phase angle converter and an IQ modulator. The phase angle converter is used to implement separate calibration of the I and Q paths in the digital architecture's transmit link, while the other input signal BIST-LO of the IQ modulator may be a y MHz sine wave, which is used to simulate the characteristics of the echo signal formed by the transmit signal being reflected by the target. In Figure 12, x, y, and z are all positive numbers, and x≠y≠z, and can generally be between 0 and 1000.
[0163] Optionally, in the transceiver link shown in FIG12 , a TX IQ imbalance compensation unit (TX IQ Imbalance Compensation) may be provided in the transmitting link (e.g., between the TXDDFS and the IQ DAC), and / or a TX IQ imbalance compensation unit (TX IQ Imbalance Compensation) may be provided in the receiving link (e.g., after the Real ADC). This may be to supplement the transmitted and / or received signals based on the calibration parameters (or coefficients) obtained by the self-calibration operation to resolve issues such as IQ imbalance.
[0164] In some optional embodiments, based on the structure shown in FIG12 , as shown in FIG13 , the above-mentioned IQ BIST module may be disposed between the signal output port of the transmitting link and the signal input port of the receiving link. That is, the transmitting link directly sends the transmitting signal to the receiving link through the IQ BIST module, thereby achieving self-calibration operations of the receiving link and / or the transmitting link without passing through the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna.
[0165] It should be noted that the transmit chain structures shown in Figures 11 to 13 only illustrate the TX IQ imbalance compensation unit. In actual applications, based on actual needs, an LO compensation unit (TX LO leakage compensation) and an HD3 compensation unit (TX HD3 compensation) may be added to the transmit chain to form a compensation unit (TX compensation) that includes the LO compensation unit (TX LO leakage compensation), the IQ imbalance compensation unit (TX IQ imbalance compensation), and / or the HD3 compensation unit (TX HD3 compensation).
[0166] FIG14 is a schematic diagram of a transceiver link including an auxiliary circuit and a BIST IQ Mod provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG15 is a schematic diagram of another transceiver link including an auxiliary circuit and a BIST IQ Mod provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0167] As shown in FIG14, a transceiver link, combined with the structures and related descriptions shown in FIG9 and FIG13, may include a transmitting link, a receiving link, and a calibration link. The transmitting link may include a TX digital baseband signal source (TX Baseband), a direct digital frequency synthesizer (TX DDFS), a compensation unit (Compensation), an IQ digital-to-analog converter (IQDAC), a low-pass filter (LPF), an IQ modulator (IQ Modulator), and a power amplifier (PA), etc., which are connected in sequence. At the same time, the signal amplified by the power amplifier is radiated to a preset spatial area through a transmitting antenna. The receiving chain may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a real mixer, a trans-impedance amplifier (TIA), a high-pass filter (HPF), a variable gain amplifier (VGA), a real digital-to-analog converter (RealADC), and an RX baseband for TXRF calibration, all connected in sequence. Specifically, the echo signal received by the receiving antenna is processed by the aforementioned LNA, real mixer, TIA, HPF, VGA, and real ADC before being converted into a real digital baseband signal. Subsequent digital signal processing by the digital signal processing module can obtain target parameter information such as range, speed, angle, altitude, and micro-motion characteristics.
[0168] For the transmit chain, the TX compensation unit (TX compensation) located between the TX DDFS and the IQ DAC can include LO leakage compensation, IQ IQ imbalance compensation, and HD3 compensation. These units implement corresponding compensation operations for LO leakage, IQ imbalance, and HD3 in the transmit chain of the digital phase shifter architecture.
[0169] In some optional embodiments, a calibration module may be provided between the transmit and receive links. This calibration and compensation unit may be configured to multiplex the receive link to perform operations such as calibration on the transmit link of the aforementioned digital phase shifter architecture. Simultaneously, the compensation unit may utilize the parameters or coefficients obtained through the calibration of the calibration module to compensate for the transmitted signal at the transmit link end. In other embodiments, a corresponding receive compensation unit may also be provided simultaneously or separately in the receive link. In this case, the receive compensation unit may utilize the parameters or coefficients obtained through the calibration to compensate for the echo signal at the receive link end.
[0170] As shown in FIG14 , the calibration module may include a BIST unit and an auxiliary circuit unit. Specifically, the output port of the transmit link is connected to any node between the real mixer and the real ADC in the receive link via the BIST unit and the auxiliary circuit unit. For example, the IQ Modulator in the transmit link generates a radio frequency signal of (z GHz ± x MHz) based on an x MHz digital phase-shifted baseband signal and a z GHz LO signal. The signal is then output to the BIST unit via the output port. The BIST unit performs a frequency offset operation of y MHz on the received radio frequency signal to obtain an analog echo signal of (z GHz ± x MHz ± y MHz). The signal is then down-converted using the IQ De-Modulator in the auxiliary unit to obtain a preset intermediate frequency signal (z GHz ± x MHz ± y MHz - z GHz = ±x MHz ± y MHz). This intermediate frequency signal is then input to a preset node in the receive link to implement calibration operations in the transmit link.
[0171] Optionally, the auxiliary circuit unit can be a quadrature demodulator circuit, and the output of the auxiliary circuit unit can be connected to any of the nodes between the TIA and HPF, between the HPF and VGA, or between the VGA and the real ADC in the receive chain. Furthermore, to maximize the reuse of the receive chain structure, after the output port of a transmit chain passes through the BIST unit and the auxiliary circuit unit, the I and Q branches can be connected to different transmit chains, respectively. This is shown in Figure 14 , calibrating one transmit chain by multiplexing two receive chains. After calibration of the transmit chain, compensation units such as the TX LO leakage compensation unit, the TX IQ imbalance compensation unit, and / or the TX HD3 compensation unit in the aforementioned compensation module (TX compensation) can be used to compensate for LO leakage, IQ imbalance, and HD3 issues in the transmit chain of the digital phase shifter architecture based on the parameters obtained from the calibration.
[0172] In some optional embodiments, the BIST unit may include a phase angle converter and an IQ modulator (IQ Modulator) connected in sequence, and the auxiliary circuit unit may include an LNA, an IQ De-Modulator, and a TIA connected in sequence. Specifically, the phase angle converter receives the RF signal output from the transmit link, and one input of the IQ Modulator is connected to the output of the phase angle converter, while the other input receives a y MHz BIST-LO signal to generate a preset echo signal. The LNA amplifies the received echo signal and sends it to one input of the IQ De-Modulator. The other input of the IQ De-Modulator is used to receive a z GHz RX-LO signal. The two output branches of the IQ De-Modulator (i.e., the I branch and the Q branch) are connected to corresponding nodes in their respective receive links after passing through the TIA, thereby outputting the generated preset intermediate frequency signal to the two receive links, thereby achieving a more efficient multiplexing of the receive link design while implementing calibration operations.
[0173] It should be noted that for the calibration operation provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, if the transmit link transmits a swept frequency signal, during the actual calibration operation, the TX LO signal can be used as a single-tone signal for point-by-point calibration. At the same time, the TX LO signal can also be used as a swept frequency signal for large-bandwidth calibration operations, and even swept frequency bandwidth calibration can be used to implement calibration operations for swept frequency signals of the entire frequency band in one go.
[0174] Based on the structure shown in Figure 14, in order to further suppress the preset levels of HD3, LO leakage, IQ imbalance, and other defects in the transmit link of the digital phase shifter architecture, this can be achieved by cascading at least two BIST units. As shown in Figure 15, by using two BIST units in series, the noise caused by these defects can be suppressed to a level of -50dB, thereby effectively reducing the difficulty of developing and designing related link analog components.
[0175] In some optional embodiments, based on the transmission link of the digital phase shifter architecture described in the embodiments of the present application, when calibrating and compensating for IQ Imbalance, the IQ Imbalance compensation coefficient can be obtained in the time domain (Time-Domain) based on spectrum analysis, and the IQ Imbalance compensation coefficient can also be obtained in the frequency domain (Frequency-Domain) based on the spectrum peak ratio.
[0176] In some optional embodiments, in order to further improve the accuracy of the IQ Imbalance compensation coefficient, the ideal compensation coefficient can be approximated by iterative calibration and compensation, or the ideal compensation coefficient can be obtained by multi-observation calibration and compensation.
[0177] For example, for the iterative calibration and compensation method, it can be determined whether to stop the iterative operation based on the size relationship between the compensation coefficients of the two calibration compensations, or whether the difference between the compensation coefficients of the two calibration compensations meets the preset iterative conditions, and the compensation coefficient obtained when the iterative operation is stopped is used as the final compensation coefficient in the current scene for subsequent operations. For the multi-observation calibration and compensation method, after multiple (for example, three) calibration and compensation operations, the measurement data obtained from each operation can be subjected to FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and the corresponding amplitude and phase information can be obtained. The measurement can be subtracted and normalized to obtain relevant data, and an observation matrix can be constructed; subsequently, the corresponding compensation coefficient can be reversely solved based on the data obtained by inverting the observation matrix.
[0178] In some optional embodiments, based on a similar concept to the above-mentioned IQ Imbalance compensation coefficient, the LO leakage and / or HD3 compensation coefficients may be obtained by adopting an iterative calibration and compensation method or a multiple observation calibration and compensation method.
[0179] The above examples of transmitters with compensation units mentioned the problem of solving harmonic distortion in transmitters. Research has found that some harmonic distortion may be caused by components with nonlinear characteristics, such as mixers in the transmitter.
[0180] Taking Figure 16 as an example, Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the mixer 421 provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 16, the mixer 421 includes a voltage-current converter (V / I Converter), a current switch (Current Switch), and a current-voltage converter (I / V Converter). The voltage-current converter converts the received voltage signal into a current signal; the current switch is connected to the voltage-current converter and the second signal generator, and is used to process the current signal output by the voltage-current converter using the local oscillator signal; the current-voltage converter is connected to the current switch, and is used to convert the current signal output by the current switch into a voltage signal.
[0181] In the above structure, because the voltage-to-current converter is equipped with a transistor amplifier, due to the nonlinear characteristics of the transistor amplifier and the low frequency of the baseband signal, the current signal output by the voltage-to-current converter contains harmonic signals corresponding to the baseband signal. For example, the HD caused by the third-order nonlinearity of the baseband can be simply referred to as HD3. Similarly, the harmonic caused by the fifth-order nonlinearity is called HD5. When the current switch processes the current signal output by the voltage-to-current converter, the frequency of the harmonic is up-converted to the radio frequency band. Due to the high complexity of suppressing harmonic signals in the radio frequency band, the hardware cost is high. If the harmonic signals in the radio frequency band are not removed, the signal quality of the radar transmission and reception will be affected, and thus the accuracy of the radar measurement.
[0182] The compensation unit is used to input the generated cancellation signal into the signal transmission link to cancel the harmonic signal in the radio frequency signal. The compensation unit is independent of the first signal generator.
[0183] To this end, the compensation unit may include a cancellation signal generator. The cancellation signal output by the compensation unit can suppress harmonic signals in the radio frequency signal, reduce the harmonic components in the radio frequency signal, and thus improve the signal quality of the radio frequency signal output by the transmitter.
[0184] In embodiments of the present disclosure, a compensation unit generates a cancellation signal for harmonic signals in a signal transmission link, using feedback or based on the characteristics of the transmitted wave, and inputs it into the signal transmission link to cancel the harmonic signals in the RF signal output by the signal transmission link. This cancellation signal has characteristics such as an opposite phase and similar amplitude to the harmonic signal transmitted by the RF transmission circuit, thereby achieving the purpose of suppressing the harmonic signal.
[0185] In some examples, the compensation unit generates a compensation signal including a cancellation effect based on parameters such as the phase, frequency, or amplitude of the baseband signal generated by the first signal generator, or even the path length of the baseband signal combined with the LO signal.
[0186] For example, Figure 5 illustrates a transmitter that incorporates a compensation unit into a signal transmission link. In the structure shown in Figure 5, the compensation unit is a TX compensation unit. The TX compensation unit includes a generator (not shown) that generates a cancellation signal based on the characteristics of the transmitted wave. An example of this cancellation signal generator is the TX HD3 compensation unit shown in Figure 6.
[0187] Among them, the baseband processor (abbreviated as the baseband frame in Figure 5) controls the orthogonal digital baseband signal generated by the TX DDFS, and the TX compensation unit generates an orthogonal compensation signal based on the parameters of the orthogonal digital signal, merges the orthogonal compensation signal and the orthogonal digital signal and sends it to the IQ DAC to be converted into an analog baseband signal. After LPF filtering, it is mixed by the mixer (i.e., the IQ modulator in Figure 5) to obtain a radio frequency signal based on the mixing of the TX LO signal and the analog baseband signal. The PA amplifies the mixed signal and outputs it through the transmitting antenna. Among them, the compensation signal cancels out at least part of the harmonic signals in the radio frequency transmission circuit, such as the HD3 harmonic signal. Therefore, the interference in the transmitted radio frequency signal will be greatly reduced. The radio frequency signal can be an FMCW signal.
[0188] In other examples, the compensation unit generates a compensation signal based on harmonic information fed back from the RF transmission circuit. See Figure 17, which is a schematic diagram of the compensation unit in the transmitter shown in Figure 5. As shown in Figure 17, the compensation unit includes an acquisition circuit and a cancellation signal generator.
[0189] The acquisition circuit is coupled to the RF transmission circuit and is configured to acquire signals from the RF transmission circuit to obtain an acquisition signal. The acquisition signal (or sampling signal) can reflect waveform information (also known as harmonic parameters) in the harmonic signal, such as the phase of the main frequency signal, the phase of the harmonic signal, the frequency of the harmonic signal, the power of the harmonic signal, and the power of the main frequency signal.
[0190] It should be noted that the harmonic parameters reflected in the acquisition signal are related to the information carried by the signal that can be acquired by the acquisition circuit. For example, if the acquisition circuit is a power acquisition circuit, the corresponding acquisition signal includes the power of the main frequency. In another example, if the acquisition circuit utilizes at least part of the circuitry of a receiver, the acquisition signal reflects the phase of the main frequency signal, the phase of the harmonic signal, the frequency of the harmonic signal, the frequency of the main frequency signal, the power of the harmonic signal, the power of the main frequency signal, etc.
[0191] At least one of the aforementioned harmonic parameters can be extracted using analog circuits. For example, a coupler and power detector can be used to output the power of the main frequency signal. Alternatively, the digital circuitry within the radar chip can be leveraged to perform frequency domain calculations to extract harmonic parameters. For example, by coupling with the RF transmitter circuit, a signal identical to the signal transmitted at the coupling point is obtained as an acquisition signal. This acquisition signal contains both the main frequency signal and harmonic signals. The acquisition signal is converted to a digital signal using an ADC and then passed to the digital circuit for frequency domain calculations to obtain more harmonic parameters.
[0192] In one implementation, the input of the acquisition circuit is connected to the output or signal detection terminal of the mixer. This approach can detect harmonic signals generated by the voltage-to-current converter and provides a simplified acquisition circuit. For example, in one connection configuration shown in Figures 18 and 19 , the input of the acquisition circuit is connected to the detection terminal between the voltage-to-current converter and the current switch, and is coupled to the ADC.
[0193] In another embodiment, the input of the acquisition circuit is connected to the RF output or RF detection terminal of the RF transmission circuit. The RF output terminal is, for example, the output terminal of the RF transmission circuit. The RF detection terminal is, for example, the input or output terminal of at least one PA stage in the RF transmission circuit. This embodiment can acquire more accurate harmonic parameters from the RF transmission circuit, but has a more complex circuit structure.
[0194] In some chips that include a BIST module, the acquisition circuit can acquire the acquired signal using some or all of the circuitry within the BIST module. For example, as shown in Figure 19 , the acquisition circuit's input is coupled to the RF output, which in turn includes a downconverter, a filter, and other components. This circuit is then connected to an IQ ADC to output the digital acquired signal. The downconverter, filter, and other components can be reused within the BIST module or receiver.
[0195] The collected signal is input to a cancellation signal generator. The cancellation signal generator is at least one circuit in the compensation unit. The cancellation signal generator is connected to the first signal generator so that the signal received by the RF transmission circuit includes both the baseband signal and the cancellation signal.
[0196] For example, the cancellation signal generator includes the aforementioned cancellation signal generator and a digital circuit for extracting harmonic information, wherein the digital circuit for extracting harmonic information can be configured independently or at least partially shared with the digital circuit in the radar chip.
[0197] The digital circuit for extracting harmonic information utilizes, for example, the digital circuit in the radar chip used to process the difference frequency baseband signal to extract harmonic information such as harmonic frequency, main frequency, and main frequency power, and provides this information to the cancellation signal generator. The cancellation signal generator generates a cancellation signal based on the received parameters.
[0198] For example, the digital circuit for extracting harmonic information extracts the amplitude of the main frequency in the acquired signal and calculates the harmonic amplitude based on the difference between the preset main frequency amplitude and the harmonic amplitude. The cancellation signal generator generates a harmonic signal compensation signal based on the calculated harmonic amplitude and other preconfigured harmonic parameters. These preconfigured harmonic parameters can be calculated based on the sweep frequency range and phase of the main frequency signal to be transmitted by the radar chip.
[0199] The cancellation signal generator in the cancellation signal generator can be configured independently of the first signal generator, or at least partially shared with it. For example, the cancellation signal generated by the cancellation signal generator is input into the first signal generator, so that the baseband signal output by the first signal generator includes the cancellation signal. The cancellation signal generator can include a third harmonic generator and a fifth harmonic generator.
[0200] For another example, the compensation unit further includes an adder coupled to the cancellation signal generator and the first signal generator to combine the baseband signal generated by the first signal generator with the cancellation signal generated by the cancellation signal generator. In this embodiment, the cancellation signals include a cancellation signal Signal_HD3 generated by the third harmonic generator to cancel the third harmonic, and a cancellation signal Signal_HD5 generated by the fifth harmonic generator to cancel the fifth harmonic. Cancellation signals Signal_HD3 and Signal_HD5, along with the baseband signal generated by the first signal generator, are combined by the adder and output to the RF transmission circuit.
[0201] In summary, the transmitter circuit examples provided in this application that pre-input a cancellation signal into the RF transmitting circuit in a feedback manner can ensure that the RF signal transmitted by the chip contains sufficiently low harmonic signals under different environments.
[0202] In order to effectively suppress harmonic signals according to the actual operating environment of the chip during use, for example, considering the impact of ambient temperature on semiconductor devices, the present application also provides a method for canceling harmonic signals in the above-mentioned transmitter using a feedback mechanism, including:
[0203] Step 10: performing a collection operation on the signal in the signal transmission link to obtain a collection signal; wherein the signal transmission link is used to generate a radio frequency signal for radar detection, wherein the radio frequency signal includes a harmonic signal.
[0204] Step 20: Detect the collected signal, generate a cancellation signal for canceling the harmonic signal, and output the cancellation signal to the signal transmission link.
[0205] The method provided in the embodiment of the present application performs an acquisition operation on the signal in the signal transmission link to obtain an acquisition signal, and uses the acquisition signal to generate a cancellation signal, and outputs it to the signal transmission link, thereby using the cancellation signal to suppress the harmonic signal in the radio frequency signal and reduce the harmonic component in the radio frequency signal, thereby improving the signal quality of the radio frequency signal output by the transmitter, and further improving the reception performance of the receiver for the radio frequency signal.
[0206] The following is an example of a transmitter and its working process with reference to Figures 11 to 20:
[0207] For example, Figure 11 illustrates an example of using a feedback mechanism to extract harmonic information from a transmitter, enabling the compensation unit to generate a corresponding cancellation signal. In the structure shown in Figure 11, the compensation unit includes a TX HD3 compensation unit. The TX HD3 compensation unit generates a compensation signal based on the waveform characteristics of the received signal. This feedback mechanism can be implemented in the radar chip's calibration mode to prevent weakening of the radar chip's signal transmission power during normal detection.
[0208] The baseband processor in the transmitter (such as the baseband block in Figure 11) controls the orthogonal digital baseband signals generated by the TX DDFS. These are combined with the orthogonal digital cancellation signals generated by the TX compensation unit and sent to the IQ DAC for conversion into an analog baseband signal. This analog baseband signal is mixed with an analog cancellation signal used to cancel harmonic signals in the transmit chain. This analog baseband signal is filtered through the LPF and then enters the first mixer (i.e., the IQ modulator in Figure 11). The first mixer mixes the received filtered signal using the TX LO to obtain an RF signal. This RF signal is coupled through the receiver and output to the TX HD3 calibration circuit in the compensation unit (the TX HD3 calibration block in Figure 11). The TX HD3 calibration circuit can be considered a digital circuit that extracts harmonic information.
[0209] In the receiver, the LNA amplifies the transmitter's output signal and then outputs it to the second mixer (i.e., the IQ demodulator in Figure 11) to generate a demodulated signal. This demodulated signal is then sent to a transimpedance amplifier for amplification. After passing through an LPF and a HPF, it undergoes analog-to-digital conversion via an IQ ADC before being sent to the TX HD3 calibration circuit. The TX HD3 calibration circuit extracts harmonic information from the transmitter's feedback signal and, through a higher-level controller, converts it into the parameters required to generate a cancellation signal. This information is then provided to the TX HD3 compensation unit. Examples of harmonic information obtained by the TX HD3 calibration circuit include one or more of the following parameters: the initial phase, starting frequency, cutoff frequency, frequency variation duration, and center frequency of the harmonic signal (or main frequency signal). Based on this harmonic information, the TX HD3 calibration unit or the higher-level controller determines the parameters used by the compensation unit to generate the cancellation signal, such as the initial phase, frequency, and delay of the cancellation signal.
[0210] It should be noted that the cancellation operations of harmonics such as the third harmonic and / or the fifth harmonic in the above examples may be determined according to the requirements of the transmitter.
[0211] In some optional embodiments, based on the transmission chain of the digital phase shifter architecture described in the embodiments of the present application, when calibrating and compensating for HD3, since the main source of HD3 generation in the active mixer is the third harmonic in the nonlinearity of the V / I converter, it can be achieved through a compensation architecture based on a cubic module as shown in Figure 18, or a compensation structure based on a tripled frequency waveform generator as shown in Figure 19.
[0212] Figure 20 is a schematic diagram of a calibration and compensation scheme for a transmit chain based on a digital phase shifter architecture, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 20, the technical details of the calibration and compensation for IQ Imbalance, LO leakage, and HD3 provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure are as follows: IQ Imbalance compensation is achieved by compensating the conjugate signal of the BB (baseband) signal to inversely cancel the image component, and this compensation scheme is unaffected by the IQ Imbalance calibration scheme. LO Leakage compensation is achieved by adjusting the DC component (i.e., DC offset) of both the IQ and Q channels, and similarly, this LO Leakage calibration scheme is unaffected by the compensation scheme. Regarding HD3, since the third-order harmonic distortion of the quadrature mixer V / I converter is the primary source of HD3, and harmonic distortion is affected by DC offset, when both LO Leakage and HD3 calibration are required in the transmit chain, HD3 calibration should be performed after LO Leakage calibration to ensure accurate HD3 calibration.
[0213] In addition, the compensation methods of HD3 based on the digital pre-compensation architecture of the digital cubic module and the digital pre-compensation architecture based on the frequency multiplication waveform generator module will directly affect the subsequent calibration scheme and subsequent compensation process.
[0214] In an optional embodiment, for a digital pre-compensation architecture based on a digital cubic module, LO leakage can be calibrated and compensated first, and then the root cause of the HD3 problem, namely the HD3 compensation coefficient, can be calibrated under a stable DC bias. Subsequently, IQ imbalance is calibrated and further compensated for, and then the third harmonic distortion is compensated for both the IQ and Q channels based on the results of IQ imbalance pre-compensation.
[0215] In an optional embodiment, for a digital pre-compensation architecture based on a frequency doubling waveform generator module, after calibrating and compensating for LO leakage, the HD3 compensation coefficient can be calibrated, and the IQ imbalance can be calibrated and compensated under a stable DC bias. Subsequently, based on the compensation results, the third harmonic distortion is compensated for the IQ and Q paths respectively according to the results of the IQ imbalance pre-compensation.
[0216] In another optional embodiment, for a digital pre-compensation architecture based on a frequency-doubling waveform generator module, LO leakage can be calibrated and compensated to obtain the HD3 compensation coefficient, and IQ imbalance can be calibrated and compensated under a stable DC bias. Subsequently, based on the compensation results, the actual waveforms of the IQ signals and the HD3 compensation coefficient are calculated, and the waveform information of the 3x and 5x frequencies that require pre-compensation is calculated in reverse.
[0217] In another optional embodiment, for a digital pre-compensation architecture based on a frequency-multiplying waveform generator module, LO leakage can be calibrated and compensated first. Then, multiple (e.g., three) observations are performed to simultaneously calibrate the compensation coefficients for HD3 and IQ Imbalance. Then, the compensation coefficients at the HD3 mirror position are calibrated again (e.g., two more observations). Finally, the compensation coefficients for the 3rd and 5th frequencies required for pre-compensation are calculated from the compensation coefficients at the HD3 and HD3 mirror positions. It should be noted that the observations provided in the present disclosure are used to represent operations such as testing and comparative analysis of different test results.
[0218] Referring to the structure shown in Figure 20, it can be seen that the acquisition circuit has two acquisition branches, and the two acquisition branches can be switched dynamically; wherein, the input end of one acquisition branch is connected between the voltage-current converter and the current switch; the input end of the other acquisition branch is connected to the output end of the power amplifier, and the acquisition branch is provided with an IQ demodulator; in addition, in the structure shown in Figure 20, the acquisition circuit is also provided with a multiplexer, wherein the input end of the multiplexer is respectively connected to the output end of the two acquisition branches, and the output end is used to output the acquired signal.
[0219] In the structures shown in FIG. 18 to FIG. 20 , the acquisition signal may be an analog signal, that is, the output end of the acquisition circuit is connected to the IQ ADC; or, the acquisition signal may be a digital signal, and the acquisition circuit at least includes the IQ ADC.
[0220] It should be noted that when the RF signal sent by the signal transmission link is not an orthogonal signal, the acquisition circuits in Figures 18 to 20 can be implemented using non-orthogonal components. For example, a single-ended down-conversion mixer can be used instead of an IQ decoder, and a single-ended analog-to-digital converter can be used instead of an IQ ADC.
[0221] The following describes the calibration link provided in the embodiment of the present application:
[0222] In the calibration link shown in FIG7 , the calibration link can calibrate a main transmission path including analog phase shifting (e.g., the signal transmission link shown in FIG1A ), or a main transmission path including a digital phase shifter (e.g., the signal transmission link shown in FIG4 ). In addition, embodiments of the present application can also calibrate the main reception path.
[0223] Based on the above description, it can be seen that the embodiment of the present disclosure provides a calibration link for a main signal transmission path, as specifically shown in FIG21A .
[0224] As can be seen from Figure 21A, the main signal transmission path is used to transmit electromagnetic wave signals, and the calibration link is integrated in the integrated circuit including the main signal transmission path. Since the calibration link is integrated in the integrated circuit including the main signal transmission path, the main signal transmission path can be calibrated in real time, and no external equipment is required to perform calibration operations on the main signal transmission path.
[0225] The calibration link is at least connected between the main signal transmission path and the antenna corresponding to the main signal transmission path, so that the calibration link and the main signal transmission path constitute a signal transmission operation, supporting the calibration operation of the main signal transmission path from the hardware structure.
[0226] Specifically, the calibration link may be configured to calibrate the main signal transmission path to obtain calibration information;
[0227] In the embodiment of the present application, the main signal transmission path may be a main transmission path for transmitting radio frequency signals, or a main reception path for receiving echo signals.
[0228] When the main signal transmission path is the transmitting main path, the calibration link at least obtains the signal output by the main signal transmission path, and obtains calibration information based on a receiving operation on the signal output by the transmitting main path; when the main signal transmission path is the receiving main path, the calibration link at least outputs a signal to the receiving main path, and obtains calibration information based on the processing result of the signal transmission main path on the signal output by the calibration link.
[0229] Correspondingly, the main signal transmission path can be configured to perform a calibration operation based on the calibration information obtained from the calibration link, wherein the calibrated main signal transmission path transmits electromagnetic wave signals.
[0230] Since the main signal transmission path performs calibration operations based on the calibration information, the signal transmission quality of the main signal transmission path can be effectively improved, thereby improving the signal quality of the electromagnetic wave signal transmitted by the calibrated main signal transmission path.
[0231] Furthermore, since the calibration link is integrated into the integrated circuit including the main signal transmission path, the calibration link can calibrate the main signal transmission path in real time as needed; in addition, since the operating environment of the calibration link and the main signal transmission path (such as temperature, humidity, and aging time) are highly similar, the calibration operation of the calibration link remains highly consistent with the operating environment of the main signal transmission path, so that the calibration link can obtain more accurate calibration information, thereby improving the signal processing performance of the main signal transmission path.
[0232] The calibration link performs a calibration operation on the main signal transmission path under at least one of the following conditions: before the main signal transmission path leaves the factory and after the main signal transmission path is officially put into use.
[0233] The integrated circuit may be subjected to mass production testing before leaving the factory or may be subjected to mass production testing after being integrated into a radio device.
[0234] During mass production testing, different operating environments of the main signal transmission path can be simulated, and calibration based on the above operating environments can be performed to obtain more general calibration information.
[0235] In some optional embodiments, the integrated circuit may be calibrated during mass production testing before leaving the factory or during mass production testing after being integrated into a radio device, and the calibration information obtained may be pre-stored in a storage medium. Subsequently, when the radio device is running, the calibration information may be directly called to calibrate the transmitted signal.
[0236] After the main signal transmission path is officially put into use as part of the radio equipment, the performance of the main signal transmission path will be affected to varying degrees due to differences in the usage time and operating environment of different radio equipment. Therefore, after the main signal transmission path is officially put into use, the calibration link can also be used to calibrate the main signal transmission path.
[0237] Specifically, the calibration link can perform calibration operations on the main signal transmission path during the intervals between signal transmissions on the main signal transmission path. When the main signal transmission path is a transmit path, the interval between signal transmissions can be the idle time between two consecutive RF signal transmissions; when the main signal transmission path is a receive path, the interval between signal transmissions can be the idle time between two consecutive echo signal receptions.
[0238] In some optional embodiments, when a preset condition for starting a calibration operation is met, the calibration link performs a calibration operation on the main signal transmission path.
[0239] Specifically, based on the impact of changes in the operating environment of the integrated circuit on its performance parameters, as well as adverse effects such as device aging, conditions for initiating calibration operations are set, such as a predetermined time interval (e.g., a preset time period of 1 minute, 1 hour, or 1 day, which can be set based on the application scenario. For example, if the impact of environmental changes is primarily considered, a shorter time interval (e.g., 30 seconds, or the interval between each frame of the signal) can be set. If device aging is considered, it can be set to 1 year, and non-uniform time intervals can also be set based on aging change parameters). Furthermore, calibration initiation conditions can also be set based on changes in external environments such as temperature, pressure, and humidity. For example, calibration can be initiated once the temperature rises by 5°C, or when the temperature reaches a preset value. Calibration initiation conditions can also be set for parameters such as pressure and humidity, either individually or in combination (e.g., when the temperature reaches 80°C or the humidity reaches 70%). Furthermore, the operating status of the current integrated circuit or electronic device can be predicted or evaluated based on historical calibration data. Once a preset threshold is reached, an alarm can be directly issued, safety features can be activated, and other operations can be performed.
[0240] For the main signal transmission path, after each calibration operation is completed on the calibration link, the latest calibration information is used for calibration and signal transmission. In other words, the calibration link performs real-time compensation on the transmitted information based on the calibration information obtained from the previous calibration of the calibration link.
[0241] Since the latest calibration information obtained after each calibration operation of the calibration link can accurately reflect the calibration information of the main signal transmission path in the current operating environment, using the latest calibration information for calibration operations can ensure the accuracy of the calibration information used in the main signal transmission path, thereby providing support for improving the signal transmission quality of the main signal transmission path.
[0242] In an exemplary embodiment, the signal transmitted by the calibration link is a single-tone signal. A single-tone signal, also called a single-frequency signal, is a signal having only a constant frequency and can be a sine signal or a cosine signal. The frequency of the single-tone signal can be set based on the circuit structure receiving the single-tone signal.
[0243] When performing a calibration operation on the main signal transmission path, using a single-tone signal as the calibration signal transmitted by the calibration link can reduce the complexity of signal processing in the calibration operation and improve calibration efficiency.
[0244] In addition, when the signal transmitted by the calibration link is an orthogonal signal, the components of the calibration link are orthogonal components.
[0245] Figure 21B is a schematic diagram illustrating the deployment of the calibration link shown in Figure 21A. As shown in Figure 21B , the integrated circuit is provided with at least two main signal transmission paths. These at least two main signal transmission paths typically have the same signal transmission function, for example, both are main transmission paths or both are main reception paths.
[0246] In an integrated circuit, main pathways with the same signal transmission function are usually integrated and deployed in the same area of a circuit board, with a gap between two adjacent main pathways.
[0247] To account for signal transmission interference and loss due to signal transmission distance, a calibration link can be set up between two adjacent main signal transmission paths with the same signal transmission function, such that the calibration link is connected to each of the two main signal transmission paths. Similarly, at least one calibration link can be set up in the integrated circuit. Any of the calibration links can be configured to calibrate at least two of the main signal transmission paths.
[0248] Furthermore, the electromagnetic wave signal may be a radar signal, and the main signal transmission path includes a main path for receiving echo signals and / or a main path for transmitting radio frequency signals.
[0249] Figure 22A is a schematic diagram illustrating the connection between a calibration link and a primary transmission path according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 22A , the calibration link includes an auxiliary receiving link corresponding to the primary transmission path. The auxiliary receiving link is connected between the primary transmission path and the corresponding transmitting antenna and can be configured to calibrate the RF signal transmitted by the primary transmission path.
[0250] In an exemplary embodiment, the main transmission path includes an intermediate frequency processing circuit and a radio frequency processing circuit, wherein the intermediate frequency processing circuit is used to process the baseband signal to obtain an intermediate frequency signal; the radio frequency processing circuit is used to process the intermediate frequency signal to obtain a radio frequency signal.
[0251] The auxiliary receiving link first calibrates the intermediate frequency processing circuit in the transmitting unit so that the intermediate frequency signal output by the intermediate frequency processing circuit after calibration is a calibrated signal, thereby improving the signal quality received by the radio frequency processing circuit and reducing the error caused by the input signal during the calibration process of the radio frequency processing circuit.
[0252] After completing the calibration of the IF processing circuit, the calibration unit is then used to calibrate the RF processing circuit in the transmitter unit. Since the output signal of the calibrated IF processing circuit is used as the input signal of the RF processing circuit, the impact of performance deviations of the IF processing circuit on the calibration of the RF processing circuit can be reduced, thereby improving the accuracy of the RF processing circuit calibration operation.
[0253] Furthermore, the calibration link also includes a calibration transmission link corresponding to the auxiliary receiving link; wherein the calibration transmission link can be configured to perform a calibration operation on the auxiliary receiving link; correspondingly, the auxiliary transmitting link performs a calibration operation based on the calibration information obtained by the calibration receiving link, wherein the calibrated auxiliary receiving link performs a calibration operation on the main transmission path.
[0254] Using the calibration transmission link to calibrate the auxiliary receiving link can improve the signal processing performance of the auxiliary receiving link. Using the auxiliary receiving link with improved signal performance to calibrate the main transmission path can improve the accuracy of the calibration operation of the main transmission path.
[0255] Figures 22B and 22C are schematic diagrams showing the connection between the calibration link and the main receiving path according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 22B, the calibration link includes an auxiliary transmission link corresponding to the main receiving path.
[0256] The main receiving path includes a radio frequency unit and an intermediate frequency unit sequentially connected to a receiving antenna; the intermediate frequency unit is configured to perform intermediate frequency processing on received signals and output them to the radio frequency unit; and the radio frequency unit is configured to perform radio frequency processing on signals output by the intermediate frequency unit and output them. The calibration link includes at least one of an auxiliary radio frequency transmission link and an auxiliary intermediate frequency transmission link.
[0257] Please refer to Figure 22B. The intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link is connected to the intermediate frequency signal output end of the main receiving path, and can be configured to calibrate the intermediate frequency signal obtained after down-converting the echo signal received by the main receiving path; wherein, the intermediate frequency unit can be configured to perform a calibration operation based on the calibration information obtained by the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link, wherein the calibrated intermediate frequency unit performs signal processing on the signal output by the radio frequency unit.
[0258] Referring to Figure 22B , the auxiliary RF transmission link, connected between the main receiving path and the corresponding receiving antenna, can be configured to calibrate the echo signal received by the main receiving path. The RF unit can be configured to perform calibration based on calibration information obtained by the auxiliary RF transmission link, and the calibrated RF unit performs signal processing on the echo signal received by the receiving antenna.
[0259] When the auxiliary transmission link includes an intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link and a radio frequency auxiliary transmission link, the main receiving path can be calibrated according to the following steps, which may include: using the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link to calibrate the intermediate frequency unit; using the calibrated intermediate frequency unit to calibrate the radio frequency auxiliary transmission link; and using the calibrated radio frequency auxiliary transmission link to calibrate the radio frequency unit.
[0260] Since the calibrated intermediate frequency unit is used to calibrate the RF auxiliary transmission link, the signal processing performance of the RF auxiliary transmission link can be improved, and the RF auxiliary transmission link with improved signal performance is used to calibrate the RF unit, the accuracy of the calibration operation of the RF unit can be improved.
[0261] Optionally, in FIG. 22A , FIG. 22B and FIG. 22C , a power detector (PD) may be provided between the main signal transmission path and the antenna, wherein the PD may be used to detect power information of the main signal path.
[0262] In Figures 22A and 22C , the calibration link can be connected between the PD and the main signal transmission path to implement calibration operations on the main signal transmission path; alternatively, the calibration link can be connected between the PD and the antenna to implement calibration operations on the main signal transmission path and the PD.
[0263] The following describes each link in the calibration link separately:
[0264] Figures 23A, 23B, 23C, and 23D are schematic diagrams of the structures of the links in the calibration link corresponding to the main transmission path in the embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0265] Figure 23A is a schematic diagram of the auxiliary receiving link in Figure 22A. As shown in Figure 23A, the auxiliary receiving link includes: a first mixer, which can be configured to mix a received signal using a local oscillator signal used in a receiving operation; a first power amplifier, which can be configured to amplify the signal output by the first mixer; a first filtering unit, which can be configured to filter the received signal to obtain a filtered signal; and a first real-number digital-to-analog converter, which can be configured to convert the digital filtered signal into an analog filtered signal.
[0266] The circuit consisting of the first mixer and the first power amplifier simulates the RF processing function in the main echo signal reception path. The circuit consisting of the first filter unit and the first real-number digital-to-analog converter simulates the intermediate frequency processing function in the main echo signal reception path. As can be seen from the signal transmission function, the auxiliary reception chain can also be used to form the signal reception chain.
[0267] FIG23B is another schematic diagram of the auxiliary receiving chain shown in FIG23A. As shown in FIG23B , the auxiliary receiving chain further includes a first adder connected to the first real digital-to-analog converter and configured to compensate the signal output by the first real digital-to-analog converter based on a leakage signal of the local oscillator signal used by the first mixer.
[0268] The first adder can compensate for the signal output by the first real digital-to-analog converter to address the leakage problem of the local oscillator signal used by the first mixer in the auxiliary transmission link, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the signal transmitted in the auxiliary reception link.
[0269] Figure 23C is a schematic diagram of the calibration transmission chain shown in Figure 22A. As shown in Figure 23C, the calibration transmission chain includes: a first signal generator configured to output a digital original signal; a second real-number digital-to-analog converter configured to convert the digital original signal into an analog original signal; a second filtering unit configured to filter the original signal to obtain a filtered signal; a second power amplifier configured to amplify the filtered signal to obtain an amplified signal; and a second mixer configured to mix the amplified signal with the local oscillator signal used in the transmission operation.
[0270] The circuit consisting of the first signal generator and the second real-number digital-to-analog converter simulates the intermediate frequency processing function in the main transmission path of the RF signal. The circuit consisting of the second power amplifier and the second mixer simulates the RF processing function in the main transmission path of the RF signal. As can be seen from the signal transmission function, the auxiliary receive chain can also be used to form the signal transmit chain.
[0271] Figure 23D is another schematic diagram of the calibration transmission chain in Figure 23C. As shown in Figure 23D, the calibration transmission chain further includes at least one of a second adder and a bandpass filter (BPF), wherein the second adder is connected between the first signal generator and the second real digital-to-analog converter and can be configured to compensate the signal output by the first signal generator based on leakage of the local oscillator signal used by the second mixer; and the bandpass filter is connected to the second mixer and can be configured to filter the signal output by the second mixer and transmit the filtered signal to the calibration unit.
[0272] The first adder can compensate for the signal output by the first signal generator to solve the leakage problem of the local oscillator signal in the calibration transmission link, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the signal output by the calibration transmission link.
[0273] The BPF can be configured to filter out DC signals generated by LO leakage in the calibration transmit link. That is, the calibration auxiliary transmit unit can be configured to generate multiple stable single-tone signals of different frequencies to implement calibration operations on the auxiliary receive link.
[0274] The local oscillator signal used in the calibration transmit link and the local oscillator signal used in the auxiliary receive link use the same local oscillator signal generation circuit. Therefore, there is a frequency difference between the two local oscillator signals. For example, the following condition can be met: RF Tone GEN LO - calibration unit LO = 5 MHz or 10 MHz.
[0275] FIG24 is a schematic diagram illustrating the application of a calibration link corresponding to the main transmit path provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG24 , the auxiliary receive link may include a mixer, a TIA, an LPF, a HPF, an IQ ADC, an adder, and an RF calibration module (RF Calib) connected in sequence. Specifically, one input of the mixer receives a local oscillator signal, while the other input is connected to a node before the main transmit path PD, or to any node after the phase shifter (module) along the signal transmission direction (i.e., the direction of the arrow shown in the figure). For example, the calibration unit is connected to the output of the PA (synchronously calibrating the PA) or the input of the PA, so that the transmit path can be calibrated. The frequency of the local oscillator signal in the main transmit path and the frequency of the local oscillator signal in the auxiliary receive link have a set frequency difference, so that there is a frequency offset between the two signals, simulating a real transmit and receive signal loop.
[0276] In an optional embodiment, to further improve calibration accuracy, a corresponding calibration circuit (i.e., a calibration transmit chain unit) may be provided for the auxiliary receive chain. For example, the calibration transmit chain shown in FIG24 may include a TX DDFS, an adder, a real DAC, an LPF, an amplifier, a multiplier, and a bandpass filter (BPF) connected in sequence. The adder may be configured to calibrate and compensate for TX LO leakage, the multiplier may be configured to compensate for RF Tone Gen LO leakage, and the BPF may be configured to filter out DC signals generated by LO leakage from the calibration auxiliary unit. In other words, the calibration auxiliary unit may be configured to generate multiple stable single-tone signals of different frequencies to calibrate the calibration unit.
[0277] In some optional embodiments, as shown in FIG24 , the auxiliary transmission link can be calibrated first using the calibration transmission link, and then the calibrated auxiliary receiving link unit can be used to calibrate the main transmission channel (Transmitter) including the PA, for example, the PD at the PA output, the phase shifter in the main transmission channel, the total gain from the DAC to the PA output, and the frequency response and other devices and circuits.
[0278] Specifically, as shown in Figure 24, the auxiliary receiving link unit can be calibrated by first using a calibration transmission link to generate multiple stable single-tone signals of different frequencies, and then the IQ imbalance, local oscillator leakage, inconsistent frequency response and other problems of the main transmission path can be calibrated based on the calibrated auxiliary receiving link.
[0279] FIG25A, FIG25B, FIG25C and FIG25D are schematic diagrams of the structures of the links in the calibration link corresponding to the main receiving path in the embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0280] Figure 25A is a schematic diagram of the first structure of the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link in Figure 22A. As shown in Figure 25A, the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link includes: the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link includes a first signal source and a third real-number digital-to-analog converter; wherein the first signal source can be configured to output a digital intermediate frequency calibration signal; and the third real-number digital-to-analog converter can be configured to convert the digital intermediate frequency calibration signal into an analog intermediate frequency calibration signal. The frequency of the intermediate frequency calibration signal can be set according to the frequency of the signal received by the intermediate frequency unit.
[0281] The digital intermediate frequency calibration signal is generated by the first signal source, which can improve the efficiency of generating the intermediate frequency calibration signal. The signal is then converted by the third real-number digital-to-analog converter to obtain a signal supported by the intermediate frequency unit.
[0282] In an exemplary embodiment, the first signal source may perform frequency division processing on the received digital signal, wherein the frequency of the signal obtained by the frequency division processing is within a frequency range supported by the intermediate frequency unit.
[0283] In another exemplary embodiment, the signal can also be processed using a digital phase shifter, and the signal processed by the digital phase shifter can be used as the intermediate frequency calibration signal. For example, as shown in FIG25A , the first signal source includes a second signal generator and a digital phase shift module; the second signal generator is configured to generate an initial signal; and the digital phase shift module is configured to perform frequency shifting and / or phase shifting on the initial signal using digital quadrature modulation.
[0284] Figure 25B is a second structural diagram of the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission chain in Figure 22A. As shown in Figure 25B, the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission chain includes a fourth real digital-to-analog converter, a third mixer, and a first squarer; wherein the fourth real digital-to-analog converter can be configured to convert a preset digital signal into an analog signal; the third mixer can be configured to mix the signal output by the fourth real digital-to-analog converter with the local oscillator signal to obtain a mixed signal; and the first squarer can be configured to square the mixed signal to obtain the intermediate frequency calibration signal. The number of the fourth real digital-to-analog converters can be one or at least two.
[0285] The third mixer mixes the local oscillator signal with the signal output by the fourth real digital-to-analog converter to obtain a mixed signal that is approximately a single-tone signal. The mixed signal is then squared by the first squarer to obtain a single-tone signal as the intermediate frequency calibration signal.
[0286] Figure 25C is a schematic diagram of the structure of the RF-assisted transmission link in Figure 22A. As shown in Figure 25C, the RF-assisted transmission link includes: a second signal source, which can be configured to output an original signal; a third filtering unit, which can be configured to filter the original signal to obtain a filtered signal; a third power amplifier, which can be configured to amplify the filtered signal to obtain an amplified signal; and a fourth mixer, which can be configured to mix the amplified signal with a local oscillator signal to obtain a desired signal.
[0287] The circuit formed by the second signal source and the third filtering unit is used to process the intermediate frequency signal in the main transmission path of the analog signal; the circuit formed by the third power amplifier and the fourth mixer is used to process the radio frequency signal in the main transmission path of the signal. Based on the signal transmission function, it can be seen that this radio frequency auxiliary transmission link can be used as a signal transmission link.
[0288] In some exemplary embodiments, the second signal source may generate a digital signal using a direct digital frequency synthesizer, which may improve signal generation efficiency, and then convert the signal through a digital-to-analog converter to obtain the original signal.
[0289] FIG25D is another schematic diagram of the structure of the RF auxiliary transmission link shown in FIG25C. As shown in FIG25D, the RF auxiliary transmission link includes at least one of an orthogonal compensation unit, a second squarer, and a third adder, wherein:
[0290] The quadrature compensation unit is connected to the second signal source at one end and to the third filtering unit at the other end. It can be configured to compensate for quadrature imbalance in the received initial signal when the initial signal output by the second signal source is a quadrature signal. By compensating for quadrature imbalance before and after the quadrature signal output by the second signal source, further deterioration of the quadrature imbalance during subsequent signal processing can be effectively avoided, thereby effectively ensuring signal quality.
[0291] A second squarer, connected to the signal input of the intermediate frequency unit, can be configured to process the signal output by the fourth mixer and output it to the calibrated intermediate frequency unit. This second squarer effectively removes residual sidebands in the signal output by the fourth mixer caused by quadrature imbalance, ensuring signal output accuracy and supporting calibration of the RF auxiliary transmit link.
[0292] A third adder is connected at one end to the second signal source and at the other end to the third filtering unit. The adder can be configured to compensate for the signal output by the second signal source based on leakage of the local oscillator signal used by the fourth mixer. The third adder can compensate for leakage of the local oscillator signal in the calibration transmit link by compensating for the signal output by the second signal source, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the signal output by the RF auxiliary transmit link.
[0293] FIG26 is a schematic diagram illustrating an application of a calibration link corresponding to a main receive path according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG26 , the main receive path may include an LNA, a mixer, a TIA, an LPF, a HPF, a real ADC, an adder, and a baseband processing module (BB processor), which are sequentially connected to a receive antenna. Specifically:
[0294] The intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission chain may include a frequency divider and a real ADC connected in sequence, wherein the output end of the real ADC in the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission chain is connected to the signal input end of the TIA; the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission chain may include a TX DDFS, an IQ imbalance compensation module, an adder, an IQ DAC, an LPF, a TIA and a mixer connected in sequence, wherein the output end of the mixer can be switchably connected between the PD and the receiving antenna, or connected to the signal input end of the TIA.
[0295] In the structure shown in Figure 26, the IF auxiliary transmission chain can be used to output an IF calibration signal to calibrate the IF unit, at least completing the calibration of the baseband processing module and the real ADC in the main receive path. The RF auxiliary transmission chain can then be used to output a signal to the signal output of the TIA, and the baseband processing module uses the signal processing results to calibrate the RF auxiliary transmission chain, at least completing the calibration of the TX LO leakage and IQ imbalance. Finally, the RF auxiliary transmission chain outputs a signal to the signal input of the LNA in the main receive path to calibrate the RX LO leakage and RX frequency response in the main receive path. The RF auxiliary transmission chain can be configured to generate multiple stable single-tone signals of different frequencies to calibrate the RF unit in the main receive path. The output of the RF auxiliary transmission chain can be connected between the PD and the receive antenna, or to the signal input of the LNA, etc., to achieve auxiliary calibration of the PD at the LNA input, the total gain from the LNA to the real ADC, and the frequency response.
[0296] FIG27A and FIG27B are schematic diagrams of an application of an intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The difference between FIG27A and FIG27B is that the number of DACs used in FIG27A and FIG27B is different.
[0297] FIG27A uses one DAC. DAC1 is used as the signal source. The signal output by DAC1 is down-converted by a mixer using the local oscillator signal used by the main receiving path. The residual sideband of the signal output by the mixer is then removed by a squarer to obtain the required intermediate frequency calibration signal.
[0298] FIG27B uses two DACs, where the signal generated by DAC1 has a higher bit number than the signal generated by DAC2. For example, DAC1 is a 10-bit DAC and DAC2 is a 1-bit DAC. In addition, the processing methods of the signals output by the two DACs in FIG27B are also different. The signal output by DAC1 is processed by a mixer, while the signal output by DAC2 is processed by a divider. Therefore, the clock frequency of DAC1 is significantly lower than the clock frequency of DAC2. The clock frequency of DAC1 can be consistent with the clock frequency of the ADC in the main receiving path, such as 60 MHz, while the clock frequency of DAC2 is higher, such as 1.2 GHz.
[0299] The signal output by the frequency divider is processed by DAC2 to obtain an intermediate frequency calibration signal, wherein the intermediate frequency calibration signal can be switchably output to the signal input terminal of the TIA, the signal input terminal of the HPF, the signal input terminal of the VGA or the signal input terminal of the ADC, thereby completing the calibration of different components or component combinations in the intermediate frequency unit.
[0300] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a signal transmission link comprising: a main signal transmission path, which can be configured to transmit electromagnetic wave signals; and a calibration link, which is integrated into a device including the main signal transmission path and is used to calibrate the main signal transmission path; wherein the main signal transmission path performs a calibration operation based on calibration information obtained by the calibration link, and wherein the calibrated main signal transmission path performs a transmission operation of electromagnetic wave signals.
[0301] It should be noted that the calibration link described above may be any calibration link described in any embodiment of the present application, wherein the main signal transmission path and the calibration link are integrated into the same chip, PCD board, or PCB board to support real-time detection of the main signal transmission path.
[0302] In addition, when there is deployment space in the vicinity of the main signal transmission path, the calibration link can be preferentially deployed as close as possible to the main signal transmission path to reduce the impact of signal transmission loss and interference on the calibration results.
[0303] The signal transmission link provided in the embodiment of the present application has a calibration link integrated into an integrated circuit including the main signal transmission path. This enables the calibration link to perform calibration operations on the main signal transmission path in real time, and the calibration operations of the calibration link are not affected by changes in the operating environment of the main signal transmission path. This enables the main signal transmission path to obtain more accurate calibration information, thereby improving the signal processing performance of the main signal transmission path.
[0304] In addition, the integrated circuit provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure has two adjacent and spaced main signal transmission paths and any of the above-mentioned calibration links arranged between the two main signal transmission paths, wherein the calibration link is shared by the two main signal transmission paths.
[0305] Furthermore, the integrated circuit may include any of the above-mentioned signal transceiver links. Optionally, the integrated circuit may be a millimeter-wave radar chip (chip or die). In some optional embodiments, the integrated circuit may have an AiP (Antenna-In-Package) chip structure, an AoP (Antenna-On-Package) chip structure, or an AoC (Antenna-On-Chip) chip structure.
[0306] According to other embodiments of the present disclosure, an electromagnetic wave device is also provided. The electromagnetic wave device may include an antenna and an integrated circuit as described above. The integrated circuit is electrically connected to the antenna for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals. For example, the electromagnetic wave device may include: a carrier, an integrated circuit as described in any of the above embodiments, and an antenna, etc. The integrated circuit may be disposed on the carrier; the antenna may be disposed on the carrier (i.e., in this case, the antenna may be an antenna disposed on a PCB board, or a RoP (Radiator on Package) antenna structure, i.e., a radiating structure radiator is disposed on the package, and a waveguide structure is formed around the radiator with a sphere. The RF signal is transferred from the radiating structure to the waveguide structure, and then from the waveguide structure to an external antenna), or the antenna may be integrated with the integrated circuit as a device disposed on the carrier (i.e., in this case, the antenna may be an antenna disposed in an AiP, AoP, or AoC structure); the integrated circuit is connected to the antenna (i.e., in this case, the sensor chip or integrated circuit does not have an integrated antenna, such as a conventional SoC), for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals. The carrier may be a printed circuit board (PCB).
[0307] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a device, which may include: a device body; and an electromagnetic wave device as described above, which is arranged on the device body; wherein the electromagnetic wave device is used for target detection and / or communication to provide reference information for the operation of the device body.
[0308] The present disclosure also provides an electronic device that can be expressed in the form of a general-purpose computing device. The components of the electronic device may include, but are not limited to, at least one processing unit, at least one storage unit, a bus connecting different system components (including a storage unit and a processing unit), a display unit, and the like. The storage unit stores program code, and the program code can be executed by the processing unit so that the processing unit executes the method described in this specification according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The storage unit may include a readable medium in the form of a volatile storage unit, such as a random access memory unit (RAM) and / or a cache memory unit, and may further include a read-only memory unit (ROM).
[0309] The storage unit may also include a program / utility having a set (at least one) of program modules, such program modules including but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which or some combination may include an implementation of a network environment.
[0310] The bus can represent one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory unit bus or memory unit controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.
[0311] The electronic device may also communicate with one or more external devices (e.g., keyboards, pointing devices, Bluetooth devices, etc.), one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device, and / or any device that enables the electronic device to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., routers, modems, etc.). Such communication may be performed via an input / output (I / O) interface. Furthermore, the electronic device may also communicate with one or more networks (e.g., local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and / or public networks, such as the Internet) via a network adapter. The network adapter may communicate with other modules of the electronic device via a bus. It should be understood that, although not shown in the figures, other hardware and / or software modules may be used in conjunction with the electronic device, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.
[0312] For example, the electronic device in the embodiment of the present disclosure may also include: a device body; and an electromagnetic wave device as described in any of the above embodiments, which is arranged on the device body; wherein the electromagnetic wave device can be used to realize functions such as target detection and / or wireless communication.
[0313] Specifically, based on the above embodiment, in an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the electromagnetic wave device can be disposed outside the device body or inside the device body, while in other optional embodiments of the present disclosure, the electromagnetic wave device can be disposed partially inside the device body and partially outside the device body. The present disclosure does not limit this, and the specific embodiment can be determined according to the circumstances.
[0314] In an optional embodiment, the above-mentioned device body can be a component and product used in fields such as smart cities, smart homes, transportation, smart homes, consumer electronics, security monitoring, industrial automation, cabin detection (such as smart cockpits), medical equipment and health care. For example, the device body can be intelligent transportation equipment (such as cars, bicycles, motorcycles, ships, subways, trains, etc.), security equipment (such as cameras), liquid level / flow rate detection equipment, smart wearable devices (such as bracelets, glasses, etc.), smart home devices (such as sweeping robots, door locks, televisions, air conditioners, smart lights, etc.), various communication devices (such as mobile phones, tablets, etc.), as well as gates, smart traffic lights, smart signs, traffic cameras and various industrial robotic arms (or robots), etc. It can also be various instruments for detecting life characteristic parameters and various devices equipped with the instruments, such as life characteristic detection in car cabins, indoor personnel monitoring, smart medical equipment, consumer electronic devices, etc.
[0315] The embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon. When the instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the signal transmission method as described above.
[0316] Through the description of the above embodiments, it is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that the example embodiments described here can be implemented by software or by combining software with necessary hardware. The technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, and includes several instructions to enable a computing device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the above method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0317] The software product can adopt any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium can be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium can be, for example, but not limited to, a system, device or component of electricity, magnetism, light, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor, or any combination thereof. More specific examples (non-exhaustive list) of readable storage media include: an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.
[0318] Computer-readable storage media may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, which carries readable program code. Such propagated data signals may take a variety of forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination thereof. The readable storage medium may also be any readable medium other than a readable storage medium, which may send, propagate, or transmit a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The program code contained on the readable storage medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired, optical cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination thereof.
[0319] The program code for performing the operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages such as Java, C++, and the like, as well as conventional procedural programming languages such as "C" or similar programming languages. The program code may be executed entirely on the user computing device, partially on the user device, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the user computing device and partially on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device or server. In cases involving a remote computing device, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device via any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider).
[0320] The computer-readable medium carries one or more programs. When the one or more programs are executed by the device, the computer-readable medium implements the aforementioned functions.
[0321] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the modules described above can be distributed in the device according to the description of the embodiment, or can be modified accordingly to be used in one or more devices that are different from the embodiment. The modules of the above embodiment can be combined into one module or further divided into multiple submodules.
[0322] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer program is proposed, including a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are executed by a processor, the method described above can be executed. In an optional embodiment, the above-mentioned integrated circuit can be a millimeter wave radar chip. The type of digital functional module in the integrated circuit can be determined according to actual needs. For example, in a millimeter wave radar chip, the receiving end baseband digital module can be used for functions such as range-dimensional Doppler transform, velocity-dimensional Doppler transform, constant false alarm detection, direction of arrival detection, point cloud processing, etc., to obtain information such as the distance, horizontal angle, pitch angle, speed, altitude, micro-Doppler motion characteristics, shape, size, surface roughness and dielectric properties of the target.
[0323] It should be noted that radio devices can achieve functions such as target detection and / or communication by transmitting and receiving radio signals to provide detection target information and / or communication information to the device body, thereby assisting or even controlling the operation of the device body.
[0324] For example, when the above-mentioned device body is applied to an advanced driver assistance system (i.e., ADAS), the radio device (such as millimeter-wave radar) as an on-board sensor can assist the ADAS system to realize application scenarios such as adaptive cruise control, automatic braking assistance (i.e., AEB), blind spot detection warning (i.e., BSD), assisted lane change warning (i.e., LCA), reversing assistance warning (i.e., RCTA), parking assistance, rear vehicle warning, collision avoidance, pedestrian detection, etc.
[0325] The technical features of the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. In order to make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-mentioned embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.
[0326] The embodiments described above only express the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and the technical principles used. The descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, but they cannot be understood as limiting the scope of the invention patent. It is obvious that a person skilled in the art can make various changes, readjustments and substitutions without departing from the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Therefore, although the present disclosure is described in more detail through the above embodiments, the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments. Without departing from the concept of the present disclosure, it can also include more other equivalent embodiments, and the scope of protection of the patent of the present disclosure is determined by the scope of the attached claims.
Claims
1. A calibration link of a main signal transmission path, wherein the main signal transmission path is used to transmit electromagnetic wave signals, the calibration link is integrated in an integrated circuit including the main signal transmission path, and the calibration link is at least connected between the main signal transmission path and an antenna corresponding to the main signal transmission path; wherein: The calibration link may be configured to calibrate the main signal transmission path to obtain calibration information; The main signal transmission path may be configured to perform a calibration operation based on the calibration information obtained from the calibration link, wherein the calibrated main signal transmission path transmits electromagnetic wave signals.
2. The calibration link according to claim 1, characterized in that: The calibration link calibrates the main signal transmission path before the integrated circuit leaves the factory and at least one time during the interval between the integrated circuit sending / receiving signals, and performs real-time compensation on the transmitted information based on the calibration information obtained from the last calibration of the calibration link.
3. The calibration link according to claim 1, wherein: At least two main signal transmission paths are provided in the integrated circuit; wherein any one of the calibration links can be configured to calibrate at least two main signal transmission paths.
4. The calibration link according to claim 1, wherein: The signal transmitted by the calibration link is a single-tone signal.
5. The calibration link according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The electromagnetic wave signal is a radar signal; The signal transmission main path includes a receiving main path for echo signals and / or a transmitting main path for radio frequency signals, the calibration link correspondingly includes an auxiliary transmitting link corresponding to the receiving main path and / or an auxiliary receiving link corresponding to the transmitting main path, and the antenna correspondingly includes a receiving antenna corresponding to the receiving main path and / or a transmitting antenna corresponding to the transmitting main path; The auxiliary receiving link is connected between the main transmitting path and the corresponding transmitting antenna, and can be configured to calibrate the radio frequency signal transmitted by the main transmitting path; as well as The main receiving path includes a radio frequency unit and an intermediate frequency unit connected to a receiving antenna in sequence, and correspondingly, the auxiliary transmission link includes at least one of an intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link corresponding to the intermediate frequency unit and a radio frequency auxiliary transmission link corresponding to the radio frequency unit, wherein the intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link is connected to the intermediate frequency signal output end of the main receiving path, and can be configured to calibrate the intermediate frequency signal obtained after down-converting the echo signal received by the main receiving path; the radio frequency auxiliary transmission link is connected between the main receiving path and the corresponding receiving antenna, and can be configured to calibrate the echo signal received by the main receiving path.
6. The calibration link according to claim 5, characterized in that The auxiliary receiving link comprises: A first mixer may be configured to perform mixing processing on a received signal using a local oscillator signal used in a receiving operation; A first power amplifier may be configured to amplify a signal output by the first mixer; A first filtering unit may be configured to filter the received signal to obtain a filtered signal; The first real digital-to-analog converter may be configured to convert the digital filtered signal into an analog filtered signal.
7. The calibration link according to claim 6, characterized in that The auxiliary receiving link also includes: The first adder is connected to the first real digital-to-analog converter and can be configured to compensate the signal output by the first real digital-to-analog converter according to a leakage signal of the local oscillator signal used by the first mixer.
8. The calibration link according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that: The calibration link also includes a calibration transmission link corresponding to the auxiliary receiving link; Wherein, the calibration transmission link can be configured to perform calibration operations on the auxiliary receiving link; correspondingly, the auxiliary transmission link performs calibration operations based on calibration information obtained by the calibration receiving link, wherein the calibrated auxiliary receiving link performs calibration operations on the main transmission path.
9. The calibration link according to claim 8, characterized in that The calibration transmission link comprises: A first signal generator, which can be configured to output a digital original signal; A second real digital-to-analog converter, configurable to convert a digital original signal into an analog original signal; The second filtering unit may be configured to filter the original signal to obtain a filtered signal; The second power amplifier may be configured to amplify the filtered signal to obtain an amplified signal; The second mixer may be configured to perform mixing processing on the amplified signal using a local oscillator signal used in a transmitting operation.
10. The calibration link according to claim 9, characterized in that The calibration transmission chain further comprises at least one of a second adder and a bandpass filter, wherein: The second adder is connected between the first signal generator and the second real digital-to-analog converter, and can be configured to compensate the signal output by the first signal generator according to the leakage signal of the local oscillator signal used by the second mixer; The bandpass filter is connected to the second mixer and can be configured to filter the signal output by the second mixer and send the filtered signal to the calibration unit.
11. The calibration link according to claim 5, wherein: The intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link includes: The intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission link includes a first signal source and a third real digital-to-analog converter; wherein the first signal source can be configured to output a digital intermediate frequency calibration signal; the third real digital-to-analog converter can be configured to convert the digital intermediate frequency calibration signal into an analog intermediate frequency calibration signal; or, The intermediate frequency auxiliary transmission chain includes a fourth real number digital-to-analog converter, a third mixer and a first squarer; wherein the fourth real number digital-to-analog converter can be configured to convert a preset digital signal into an analog signal; the third mixer can be configured to mix the signal output by the fourth real number digital-to-analog converter and the local oscillator signal to obtain a mixed signal; the first squarer can be configured to square the mixed signal to obtain the intermediate frequency calibration signal.
12. The calibration link according to claim 11, characterized in that: The first signal source includes a second signal generator and a digital phase shift module; wherein the second signal generator is configured to generate an initial signal; and the digital phase shift module is configured to perform frequency shift and / or phase shift processing on the initial signal using a digital orthogonal modulation method.
13. The calibration link according to claim 5, characterized in that: The radio frequency auxiliary transmission link is also connected to the input end of the intermediate frequency unit; wherein: After the intermediate frequency unit completes the calibration operation, the radio frequency auxiliary transmission link is calibrated using the calibrated intermediate frequency unit; and the radio frequency unit is calibrated using the calibrated radio frequency auxiliary transmission link.
14. The calibration link according to claim 5 or 13, characterized in that: The radio frequency auxiliary transmission link includes: A second signal source may be configured to output an original signal; A third filtering unit may be configured to filter the original signal to obtain a filtered signal; The third power amplifier may be configured to amplify the filtered signal to obtain an amplified signal; The fourth mixer may be configured to perform mixing processing on the amplified signal using a local oscillator signal to obtain a desired signal.
15. The calibration link according to claim 14, characterized in that The radio frequency auxiliary transmission link includes at least one of an orthogonal compensation unit, a second squarer and a third adder, wherein: The orthogonal compensation unit has one end connected to the second signal source and the other end connected to the third filtering unit, and can be configured to compensate for the orthogonal imbalance of the received initial signal when the initial signal output by the second signal source is an orthogonal signal; The second squarer is connected to the signal input terminal of the intermediate frequency unit and can be configured to process the signal output by the fourth mixer and output it to the calibrated intermediate frequency unit; The third adder has one end connected to the second signal source and the other end connected to the third filtering unit, and can be configured to compensate the signal output by the second signal source according to the leakage signal of the local oscillator signal used by the fourth mixer.
16. A signal transmission link, comprising: A main signal transmission path, which may be configured to transmit electromagnetic wave signals; as well as A calibration link, integrated in a device including the main signal transmission path, for calibrating the main signal transmission path; The main signal transmission path performs a calibration operation based on the calibration information obtained from the calibration link, and the calibrated main signal transmission path performs a transmission operation of electromagnetic wave signals.
17. The signal transmission link according to claim 16, characterized in that: The calibration link is the calibration link according to any one of claims 1 to 15.
18. The signal transmission link according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that: The main signal transmission path and the calibration link are integrated in the same chip or the same PCD board or the same PCB board.
19. An integrated circuit, the integrated circuit being provided with at least two main signal transmission paths and a calibration link as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 15 arranged between the two adjacent transmission main paths, wherein the calibration link is shared by the two main signal transmission paths.
20. An electromagnetic wave device, comprising: Carrier; The integrated circuit of claim 19, disposed on a carrier; An antenna is arranged on the carrier, or the antenna and the integrated circuit are integrated into a single device and arranged on the carrier; the antenna includes a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna; Wherein, the integrated circuit is connected to the antenna and is used for transmitting electromagnetic wave signals and / or receiving electromagnetic wave signals.
21. A user terminal device, comprising: Equipment body; as well as The electromagnetic wave device as claimed in claim 20 is disposed on the device body; Wherein, the electromagnetic wave device is used for target detection and / or wireless communication to provide reference information for the operation of the device body.