OFDM Receiver Error Compensation for Low-Resolution ADCs
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing demand for high sampling frequency in 5G communication systems due to wider bandwidth and more antennas leads to high power consumption and cost issues with high-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) in MIMO systems, making it impractical to implement them effectively in 5G receivers.
Innovation Solution
An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) receiver design that utilizes a low-resolution ADC with an error compensating and estimating module using turbo iterative updating techniques to generate an estimated error signal, and a signal estimating module that uses channel attenuation coefficients to produce an estimated transmission signal, reducing the need for high-resolution ADCs and minimizing power consumption and cost.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If high-resolution ADCs are used in MIMO systems to maintain signal quality, then measurement precision is improved, but power consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive, high-power high-resolution ADCs with low-resolution ADCs that consume significantly less power. The system accepts lower instantaneous precision but compensates through iterative error correction algorithms that recover signal quality over multiple processing cycles, effectively trading hardware precision for computational refinement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes the physical hardware solution (high-resolution ADC) with a computational approach (iterative error compensation algorithms). Instead of relying on analog/digital conversion precision, the system uses digital signal processing to estimate and correct quantization errors, replacing hardware precision requirements with software-based error recovery.
2Measurement precision
If high-resolution ADCs are used to handle increased bandwidth and sampling frequency, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs low-resolution ADCs that are simpler, cheaper, and more power-efficient than high-resolution alternatives. The system compensates for the lower conversion precision through iterative error compensation processing, effectively replacing complex high-precision hardware with simpler hardware plus computational correction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operating parameters of the ADC from high-resolution to low-resolution mode, fundamentally altering the conversion process. This parameter change reduces hardware complexity and power consumption while the iterative error compensation algorithm adjusts processing parameters to maintain overall system performance.
3Measurement precision
If the number of ADCs is increased to match the number of MIMO antennas, then measurement precision is improved, but cost increases proportionally
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes each low-resolution ADC multi-functional by using it for multiple antennas while applying iterative error compensation that works across all channels. The error compensation algorithm processes signals from multiple antennas through shared computational resources, allowing a single type of low-cost ADC to serve multiple functions that would traditionally require multiple specialized high-resolution converters.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the error compensation processing for multiple antennas into a unified computational framework. Instead of requiring separate high-resolution ADCs for each antenna, the system combines the low-resolution conversions from multiple antennas and applies joint error estimation and correction, reducing the total number of high-cost components while maintaining signal accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure is directed to an OFDM receiver with a low-resolution ADC and an electronic device thereof. According to one of the exemplary embodiments, the OFDM receiver may include not limited to: an ADC module which receives a transmission signal of a channel in an analog format and digitizes the transmission signal into a digital format to generate a quantized transmission signal; an error compensating and estimating module which is coupled to the ADC module, receives the quantized transmission signal and a feedback signal which is a first estimated time-domain transmission signal to generate an estimated error signal according to a turbo iterative updating technique; and a signal estimating module which is coupled to the error compensating and estimating module, receives the estimated error signal and a channel attenuation coefficient of the channel to generate an estimated transmission signal.