Multi-Band Receiver Front End with Shared LNA and Combiner
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cellular base stations face increased costs, energy consumption, and physical size issues due to the need for multiple hardware components to handle multiple frequency bands for cellular communication.
Innovation Solution
A receiver front end arrangement that uses a common input signal for analog processing, including a filter bank, low-noise amplifiers, and a combiner structure to combine signals across multiple bands, reducing the hardware requirements and noise interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a separate front end device is used for each band, then all bands can be handled simultaneously, but the amount of hardware increases leading to increased cost, energy consumption and physical size
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple band-specific front end devices into a single shared front end arrangement. The antenna arrangement, LNA, and filter bank are shared across multiple bands, with only the mixer and subsequent processing stages being band-specific. This merging reduces the overall hardware quantity while maintaining the capability to handle multiple bands simultaneously through time-division or frequency-division multiplexing of the shared components.
Solution Approach 2:
The front end arrangement is designed with universal components that can handle multiple bands. The antenna arrangement receives signals across multiple frequency bands, the filter bank can be configured to filter different bands, and the LNA amplifies signals from all bands. This multi-functional design allows a single front end device to replace multiple band-specific devices, reducing hardware complexity while maintaining versatility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a separate front end device is used for each band, then all bands can be handled simultaneously, but the physical size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple band-specific front end devices into a single compact arrangement by sharing common components (antenna, LNA, filter bank) across multiple bands. This consolidation significantly reduces the physical footprint compared to having separate devices for each band, while still maintaining the capability to handle all bands simultaneously through proper signal routing and processing.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a separate front end device is used for each band, then all bands can be handled simultaneously, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple band-specific front end devices into a single shared arrangement, reducing the total number of active components. The shared LNA, filter bank, and other analog front end components are activated only when needed for specific bands, rather than continuously operating multiple separate devices. This reduces overall energy consumption while maintaining the capability to handle multiple bands.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple low-noise amplifiers are used with combined outputs, then signals from multiple bands can be processed, but noise interference increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the signal processing path by using separate LNAs for different bands rather than combining outputs of a single LNA. Each LNA processes signals from its designated band independently, preventing noise from one band from interfering with signals from other bands. The filter bank further segments the frequency spectrum, ensuring that signals from different bands are processed in isolation until the mixing stage.
Data Source
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AI summary
A receiver front end arrangement comprises a radio frequency signal input suitable to be connected to an antenna arrangement, a filter bank of non-overlapping band filters associated with respective band for the multi-band reception, a signal conditioning arrangement connected to the filter bank, and a low-noise amplifier arrangement connected to the signal conditioning arrangement. The low-noise amplifier arrangement comprises a path for each band of bands of the multi-band reception. For each path associated with a band for the multi-band reception the low-noise amplifier arrangement comprises a low-noise amplifier. The respective low-noise amplifier has band pass characteristics, or has a band filter connected where the band filter output has a direct connection to the input of the low-noise amplifier, corresponding to a band of the multi-band reception, respectively. The receiver front end arrangement further comprises a combiner structure arranged to combine the outputs of the respective low- noise amplifier of the paths of the low-noise amplifier arrangement. The signals at the output of the combiner structure have the same frequencies as the corresponding signals at the radio signal input. The signal conditioning arrangement is arranged to condition signals for respective path of the low-noise amplifier arrangement. A multi-band receiver comprising the receiver front end arrangement, and a base station comprising the multi-band receiver are also disclosed.