Flexible Multi-Subband Receiver Using Square-Wave Frequency Mixing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional receivers designed for multi-subband signals require a large number of channels, lack flexibility, and incur high hardware overheads, making them inflexible and costly to maintain or upgrade when frequency bands change or increase.
Innovation Solution
A receiver design that uses square wave signals for frequency mixing, filtering, and analog-to-digital conversion, allowing for flexible configuration and reduced hardware requirements by generating square wave signals based on carrier frequency estimation, enabling efficient processing of multiple narrowband signals with fewer channels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional analog devices are used for frequency mixing with fixed parameters, then the receiver can process signals at predetermined frequencies, but the receiver lacks flexibility when frequency bands change or increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces fixed-parameter analog frequency mixing devices with dynamically adjustable digital signal processing. The receiver uses digital frequency mixing where mixing frequencies can be programmatically changed to match different carrier frequencies, allowing the system to adapt to varying frequency bands without hardware reconfiguration. This dynamic approach resolves the contradiction by enabling frequency flexibility while maintaining a consistent hardware architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the fundamental parameter of frequency mixing from fixed analog values to adjustable digital parameters. By implementing frequency mixing through digital signal processing with programmable mixing frequencies, the system can modify operating parameters software-defined rather than hardware-fixed. This parameter change enables the receiver to handle different frequency bands and signal configurations without physical hardware changes, resolving the adaptability-complexity contradiction.
2Productivity
If the receiver is designed with 2k channels to handle a maximum of k narrowband signals, then all signals can be received simultaneously, but hardware overheads increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple frequency mixing operations into a single digital signal processing channel. Instead of requiring separate analog frequency mixing hardware for each narrowband signal, the system uses digital frequency mixing to process multiple carrier frequencies through shared hardware resources. This consolidation reduces the number of required channels from 2k to a manageable number while maintaining the capability to process k narrowband signals simultaneously, resolving the productivity-hardware overhead contradiction.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention implements universal frequency mixing capability where a single set of frequency mixing and signal processing hardware can handle multiple different carrier frequencies and signal configurations. The digital signal processing architecture allows the same hardware channel to be reconfigured for different frequency bands and signal types, making the hardware multi-functional. This universality reduces hardware quantity while maintaining high signal processing capacity, resolving the contradiction between processing capability and hardware resources.
3Reliability
If separate hardware sets are prepared for each carrier frequency, then each signal can be processed independently, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the signal processing function at the digital level while maintaining shared analog hardware. Each narrowband signal is processed independently through digital signal processing operations that can be performed sequentially or in parallel on the same hardware channel. This segmentation of processing logic from hardware architecture allows independent signal handling without requiring separate physical hardware sets for each carrier frequency, resolving the reliability-complexity contradiction.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces digital signal processing as an intermediary layer between the analog frequency mixing stage and the final signal output. This digital intermediary enables independent processing of multiple signals through software-defined operations while sharing the underlying hardware resources. The digital layer acts as a mediator that provides signal independence and flexibility without requiring proportional increases in hardware complexity, resolving the contradiction between processing independence and hardware quantity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a flexible and cost-effective receiver that can adapt to varying frequency bands without the need for extensive hardware changes, reducing hardware overheads and improving receiving performance by using fewer channels to process multiple narrowband signals.
Implementation Method 1
a first frequency mixer, configured to perform frequency mixing on a first received signal by using a first square wave signal to obtain a first frequency-mixed signal
Implementation Method 2
a first low-pass filter, configured to: receive the first frequency-mixed signal from the first frequency mixer and perform low-pass filtering on the first frequency-mixed signal to obtain a first filtered signal
Implementation Method 3
a first analog-to-digital converter, configured to: receive the first filtered signal from the first low-pass filter and perform analog-to-digital conversion on the first filtered signal to obtain a first sampled signal
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a receiver and a signal processing method. The receiver includes: a first frequency mixer, performing frequency mixing on a received signal by using a square wave signal to obtain a first frequency-mixed signal; a first low-pass filter, filtering the first frequency-mixed signal to obtain a first filtered signal; a first analog-to-digital converter, performing analog-to-digital conversion on the first filtered signal to obtain a first sampled signal; and a signal processing unit, estimating, according to the first sampled signal, an information symbol transmitted by a transmit end, where the square wave signal is generated according to a carrier frequency estimation value of the received signal. The receiver according to embodiments of the present disclosure provides better flexibility.