Multi-Antenna Receiver Analog Signal Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing multi-antenna receivers have a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) when dealing with frequency selective fading, and existing solutions do not effectively improve this without increasing complexity.
Innovation Solution
A multi-antenna receiver architecture that splits RF signals into sub-signals using pre-filters, selects and combines the most suitable sub-signals in the analog domain, and converts them into the digital domain for recombination, allowing for early diversity gain without the need for high-resolution ADCs, using a combination of pre- and post-filters and analog-to-digital conversion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional multi-antenna receivers are used, then the system can receive RF signals, but the signal-to-noise ratio is too low when dealing with frequency selective fading
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the received RF signal into multiple frequency sub-bands using filter banks. Each sub-band signal is processed separately through selection and combining operations, allowing the system to handle frequency selective fading in different frequency regions independently. This segmentation enables improved SNR by selecting the best antenna for each sub-band while maintaining manageable system complexity through modular processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional time-domain signal processing to frequency-domain processing by applying filter banks. This dimensional change allows the system to exploit frequency diversity across multiple sub-bands, selecting optimal antenna signals in the frequency domain rather than treating all frequencies uniformly in the time domain, thereby improving SNR without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Reliability
If signal processing is performed in the digital domain for all antennas, then accurate signal combination is achieved, but power consumption increases and high-resolution ADCs are required for each antenna branch
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs signal selection and combining operations in the analog domain before the analog-to-digital conversion stage. By selecting the optimal antenna signal for each frequency sub-band in the analog domain and combining these selected signals, the system achieves accurate signal combination while reducing the burden on subsequent digital processing. This preliminary action eliminates the need for high-resolution ADCs on all antenna branches and reduces overall power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and processes only the most relevant signal components by selecting specific antenna signals for each frequency sub-band based on signal quality metrics. Instead of digitizing and processing all antenna signals equally, the system extracts the optimal signals in the analog domain, combining them before digital conversion. This extraction approach maintains signal combination accuracy while significantly reducing power consumption and ADC resolution requirements.
3Loss of information
If multiple antennas are processed independently through full digital conversion, then complete signal information is preserved, but the system complexity and ADC resolution requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the broad frequency band into multiple sub-bands using filter banks. Within each sub-band, the system identifies and selects the optimal antenna signal based on signal quality. This segmentation allows the system to preserve essential signal information by selecting the best antenna for each frequency region, while avoiding the need for high-resolution ADCs on all antennas simultaneously, thus reducing overall system complexity and ADC resolution requirements.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
A multi-antenna receiver comprises two or more antennas configured to receive RF signals, pre-filter circuitry configured to split, per antenna, the RF signal received by the respective antenna into two or more sub-signals in different signal bands, selection circuitry configured to select, per signal band, one or more sub-signals according to a selection criterion and to combine, per signal band, the selected sub-signals to obtain a combined signal per signal band, analog-to-digital conversion circuitry configured to convert, per signal band, the combined signals into the digital domain, and recombining circuitry configured to recombine the combined signals converted into the digital domain to obtain a reconstructed signal.