Time-Interleaved RF ADC Architecture for Wideband Low-Power Sampling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional analog-to-digital conversion processes in digital communications are complex, time-consuming, and power-intensive, often introducing errors or distortion, especially when handling very wideband signals.
Innovation Solution
A multi-layer time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter (ADC) system that samples and digitizes RF signals using multiple smaller sub-ADCs with reduced sampling frequencies, allowing for parallel interleaved paths and synchronized clocking to reduce errors and power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional analog-to-digital conversion is used, then signal conversion is achieved, but the process is complex, time-consuming, and power-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the analog-to-digital conversion process into multiple parallel sub-converters, each handling a portion of the input signal spectrum. This segmentation reduces the complexity of each individual converter while maintaining overall conversion capability through parallel processing of interleaved signal segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a time-interleaving dimension by using multiple sub-ADCs that operate in parallel with different timing offsets. This adds a temporal dimension to the conversion process, allowing the system to achieve high sampling rates without requiring a single complex high-speed converter.
2Reliability
If conventional analog-to-digital conversion is used, then signal conversion is achieved, but it is time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The conversion process is segmented into multiple parallel paths, each handling a portion of the signal. This allows simultaneous processing of different signal segments, reducing the overall conversion time while maintaining accuracy through coordinated combination of results.
Solution Approach 2:
The time-interleaved architecture enables continuous conversion by having multiple sub-ADCs operate in parallel with overlapping time windows. This eliminates idle time between conversions and maintains continuous signal processing, reducing effective conversion time.
3Reliability
If conventional analog-to-digital conversion is used, then signal conversion is achieved, but it requires considerable power
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the high-power conversion task into multiple lower-power sub-converters operating in parallel. Each sub-ADC consumes less power individually, and the combined power consumption is reduced due to the ability to use lower-resolution converters rather than a single high-precision high-power converter.
Solution Approach 2:
Each sub-ADC performs partial conversion of the input signal spectrum rather than full conversion. This partial action approach allows using simpler, lower-power converters that only need to handle a portion of the total signal bandwidth, reducing overall power consumption.
4Productivity
If conventional analog-to-digital conversion is used, then signal conversion is achieved, but it introduces errors or distortion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates calibration and correction mechanisms that use feedback from known signal characteristics to compensate for errors introduced by the time-interleaved structure. This feedback approach corrects timing skew and gain mismatches between sub-ADCs, maintaining signal fidelity while enabling high bandwidth processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the outputs of multiple sub-ADCs through a combination network that properly aligns and integrates the parallel conversion results. This merging process reconstructs the full-bandwidth signal with high fidelity by combining the partial conversions from each sub-ADC in the correct temporal and spectral relationships.
Data Source
AI summary
A radio frequency (RF) receiver may comprise a first sampling module that is operable to sample in a first level at a particular main sampling rate; a plurality of second-level sampling modules, wherein each of the plurality of second-level sampling modules is operable to sample in a second level, an output of the first level, at a second sampling rate that is reduced compared to the main sampling rate; and a plurality of third-level modules, each comprising a plurality of third-stage sampling sub-modules that are operable to sample at a third sampling rate that is reduced compared to the second sampling rate, and a plurality of corresponding analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) sub-modules.