A Highly Integrated Multi-parameters RF Transceiver Module for Microwave Semiconductor Chip Testing

The RF amplifier for broadband front end module of 4G or 5G terminals should be capable of handling transmission rate over 100Mbps to over 1Gbps with low BER and low non-linearity spectrum products. This paper reports broadband verification of a front-end RF amplifier designed for broadband 4G and 5G transmission. The RF amplifier employs an Infineon SiGe Bipolar transistor matched to 50Ω load and source impedance through 3-section and 2-section L-C network, respectively. Broadband S-parameter characteristic was verified showing encircling S 21 behavior around S 21 =7 over hundreds of MHz centering at 2.4GHz. The S 11 and S 22 show encircling curves centering the origin with relatively small radius. The broadband performance of LTE FDD 64QAM signal transmission thru the RF Amplifier was verified on the signal spectrum and modulation quality by utilizing Keysight M9381A Vector Signal Generator (VSG), M9391A Vector Signal Analyzer (VSA) and VSA 89600. Broadband signal of LTE FDD 64QAM was generated by Keysight M9381A Vector Signal Generator (VSG) by setting 64QAM modulation and LTE signaling parameters resulting broadband LTE FDD signal with bandwidth of 20MHz at frequency of 1.8GHz and 2.4GHz. The LTE FDD 64QAM signal spectrum and modulation constellation measured at the output of front-end RF Amplifier by Keysight M9391A VSA and VSA 89600 subsequently. Broadband modulation constellation, spectrum as well as EVM summary of the LTE FDD signal were observed by VSA 89600 at frequency 1.8 and 2.4GHz. Out-of band noise spectrum and non-linearity products of the 20MHz LTE FDD 64QAM signal increase at the output of front-end RF amplifier at frequency 1.8GHz, though less visible at 2.4GHz. The 64QAM vector-point constellation of the LTE FDD 64QAM signal in 2.4GHz is relatively still intact, eventhough the EVM slightly degrades to 11.478 % from 10.772% after amplified by front-end RF amplifier.

Vector signal generator (VSG) and vector signal analyzer (VSA) are instruments widely used for the measurement of digital communication systems. In this project a virtual VSG and a virtual VSA have been developed by using the graphical programming language LabVIEW. The analogue electrical interface of the instruments is implemented by using National Instrument Data Acquisition Unit (DAQ). The virtual VSG can generate modulated vector signals based on various digital modulation formats, change the signal bandwidth to pre-allocated spectrum, and transmit the modulated signal through analog channel. The generated vector signals can be analyzed by the VSA, which integrates the functions of digital demodulator, oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, constellation diagram analyzer, and bit error rate tester (BERT). It can measure the data from analog channel, recover the original message signal from modulated signal, display the constellation diagram, calculate the bit error rate, etc. Finally, a general analysis of bit error probability is present via statistical simulation.

To generate high-frequency radio frequency (RF) vector signals, a vector signal generation method by optical frequency sextupling using a dual-parallel modulator is proposed. The method modulates vector signal on +3rd order optical sideband and local oscillator (LO) signal on -3rd order sideband using the intermodulation process in the DPMZM. After suppressing of the optical carrier and other sidebands through proper adjustment for modulator biases and modulation index, a frequency sextupled millimeter-wave vector signal can be generated after photodetection. The frequency sextupling will lower the bandwidth of the modulator, the local oscillator and the driving circuits. In addition, the phase of generated signal is not distorted after detection, and the power fading after fiber transmission can be avoided. In the simulation, a 500-MSym/s QPSK signal at 60 GHz is generated by 10-GHz drive signal. After travelling over fiber with length of 20/30/40-km, receiver power penalty keeps below 2.5 dB.

In this paper, we proposed a practical approach to accurately characterize a 3G wideband wireless transceiver, which will exhibit strong memory effects. The memory effects can be easily identified by accurate evaluation and alignment of the time delay between the input and output of the transceiver. Using the extracted transceiver characteristic data, a memory polynomial model is constructed to mimic the dynamic properties of the transceiver. The experimental validation results, which are obtained with a transceiver prototype based on an L-band 60- Watt GaAs FET push-pull amplifier, a vector signal generator, a spectrum analyzer and a vector signal analyzer, demonstrate the effectiveness of the transceiver characterization approach and the accuracy of the dynamic nonlinear models discussed.

We propose a novel scheme for quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) modulated vector signal generation based on photonic heterodyne beating, phase precoding, and optical carrier suppression (OCS). Different from our previous OCS-based vector signal generation schemes, in our proposed scheme, the precoded vector signal at the radio-frequency (RF) band, which is used for the drive of the intensity modulator operating at its OCS point, is generated by photonic heterodyning beating rather than a single digital-to-analog converter (DAC). Photonic heterodyne beating accomplishes the upconversion of the precoded vector signal from the baseband to the RF band, and thus, the DAC in our proposed scheme is used to generate the precoded vector signal at the baseband rather than that at the RF band, which significantly reduces the DAC bandwidth requirement. We experimentally demonstrate 17.6-GHz QPSK modulated vector signal generation based on our proposed scheme. The generated 17.6-GHz vector signal can carry up to 3-GBd QPSK data with a bit error ratio (BER) less than the hard-decision forward-error-correction (HD-FEC) threshold of $3.8\times 10^{-3}$ .

Implantable medical devices (IMDs) are opening up new opportunities for holistic healthcare by enabling continuous monitoring and treatment of various medical conditions, leading to an ever-improving quality of life for patients. Integration of radio frequency (RF) modules in IMDs has provided wireless connectivity and facilitated access to on-device data and post-deployment tuning of essential therapy. However, this has also made IMDs susceptible to various security attacks. Several lightweight encryption mechanisms have been developed to prevent well-known attacks, e.g., integrity attacks that send malicious commands to the device, on IMDs. However, lack of a secure key exchange protocol (that enables the exchange of the encryption key while maintaining its confidentiality) and the immaturity of already-in-use wakeup protocols (that are used to turn on the RF module before an authorized data transmission) are two fundamental challenges that must be addressed to ensure the security of wireless-enabled IMDs. In this paper, we introduce OpSecure, an optical secure communication channel between an IMD and an external device, e.g., a smartphone. OpSecure enables an intrinsically user-perceptible unidirectional data transmission, suitable for physically-secure communication with minimal size and energy overheads. Based on OpSecure, we design and implement two protocols: (i) a low-power wakeup protocol that is resilient against remote battery-draining attacks, and (ii) a secure key exchange protocol to share the encryption key between the IMD and the external device. We evaluate the two protocols using a human body model.

We propose a novel method to generate photonic quadrature-phase-shift-keying (QPSK) vector signal by using only one Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM). Because of the 'square-law' by the photo-detector, the amplitudes and the phase of the driving radio-frequency (RF) signal changed after detection. So the amplitude and the phase of the driving radio-frequency (RF) signal should be pre-coded before used to drive the MZM. Turbo equalization is investigated in vector signal system to improve the system transmission performance. We experimentally demonstrate and investigate the transmission performance with rates of 1-Gbaud over 40-km single-mode fiber (SMF) transmission. Our experimental results shows that this concept of the generation of QPSK vector signal can be employed in our transmission system architecture based on Turbo equalization. The received sensitivity of QPSK vector signal with code rate 1/2 and 2/3 Turbo equalization at the bit error rate (BER) of 10−4 after 40km SMF transmission are 4dB and 3dB better than the original QPSK signal, respectively. The experimental results show that the QPSK signal with Turbo equalization has better dispersion compensation and error-correcting ability.

In this paper, a method is described that provides vector network analyzer (VNA) functionality without the introduction of a VNA to the test system. In many cases, the amount of testing that requires a VNA is very limited, and most of the testing requires other instruments. In some cases, the required measurements have been performed with a setup consisting of a signal generator, directional couplers and a power meter. This method usually results in extremely poor accuracy. We have to have a signal source that can provide the required modulated signals for testing, and we have to have a vector signal analyzer (VSA) that can perform spectral measurements as well as vector error measurements etc. By utilizing the capabilities of these instruments we can achieve the wanted VNA functionality, with good enough accuracy for several of our applications.

Radio frequency (RF) spectrum analysis is an essential technique for monitoring signal quality in ultrahigh-speed optical transmission, broad bandwidth photonic RF arbitrary waveform generation, and for characterization of high repetition rate optical pulse sources. Whereas the intrinsic bandwidth of electronics limits its use for RF spectrum measurement of high-speed signals, a photonic approach based on ultrafast Kerr nonlinear effects can readily measure the RF spectrum of optical signals having a bandwidth beyond 1 THz. The majority of fiber-based or integrated photonic RF spectrum analyzers reported to date can monitor only one channel at a time. We demonstrate how to harness mode-selective excitation of nonlinear optical effects to perform simultaneous multichannel RF spectrum analysis using a single integrated silicon photonic device. This approach, which can be scaled to a higher number of channels, opens up a new degree of freedom for realizing multichannel signal characterization using a single integrated photonic device.

Many new and next generation wide bandwidth microwave radar, EW and surveillance applications require measurement and analysis of RF and microwave signals with wide bandwidth analog and digital modulation. This paper describes a new measurement technique featuring 100 MHz of information bandwidth signal analysis capability, including spectrum analysis and modulation analysis of RF and microwave signals with wide bandwidth complex modulation. Hewlett-Packard developed the new measurement technique for wide bandwidth applications in radar, EW, surveillance, digital microwave radio, and broadband satellite communications systems. The technique involves three standard, commercially available instruments, a wideband microwave spectrum analyzer, a high-speed digital oscilloscope, and a high performance vector signal analyzer. The wideband microwave spectrum analyzer provides microwave spectrum analysis of the signal at the carrier frequency, including out-of-band performance and interference, as well as acting as a wideband downconverter providing a wideband IF output. The signal baseband information in the wideband IF output is captured by the high-speed digital oscilloscope. The digital scope acts as a very high sample per second digitizer. The signal is now captured as digital data. The digital data is scaled, formatted and transferred to the vector signal analyzer for complex modulation analysis.

This paper presents the design concept and experimental results about small size radio frequency (RF) module for 5 GHz wireless local area network (WLAN). Functions of the RF module include from base band input/output to antenna switch. The size is 20 mm/spl times/15 mm/spl times/3 mm and that is minimum size in modules with same functions as far as the authors get to know. For the purpose of small size and low cost, generally known technologies are used. They are multi chip module on laminated-base dielectric substrate (MCM-L) technology, interconnection of each layer using build-up technology, flip chip technology and ball grid array (BGA) technology. Parts and ICs are on both sides of the RF module's substrate and are vertically connected in the substrate. In order to ensure electrical performance at 5 GHz frequency band in the high-density package, transmission line characteristics in the substrate and BGA characteristic are simulated by 3 dimensional (3D) electromagnetic (EM) software. The fabricated RF module is evaluated using the test set up for 5 GHz WLAN application and the result is shown.

Considering the problem of miss reference database for previous patient’s data and miss interconnection between the medical environment units includes the physician, pharmacy, laboratory, etc… This paper aims to provide an interconnection between the medical environment units and physiological data which describe the conditions of his/her health to provide an important monitoring for the patient veracity. The proposed system consists of two main parts: data entry and querying system and wireless monitoring and acquisition system. The first part is a desktop application with database in the server. The second part consists of two wireless units: patient unit and hospital unit. The patient unit using the wireless sensors which collect the physiological parameter which are (temperature, blood pressure, heartbeat, and oxygen saturation) and forward it to the hospital unit through the Radio Frequency (RF) module, The hospital unit receives the physiological data from the patient unit through the RF module and then the hospital server updates the database by the physiological data which is considered as connecting point between the system parts. The experiential tests of the system were applied to insure the accuracy and integrated linking between the medical environment and patient data. In addition, using this system will help the doctor continuously monitors the physiological signals of patients in real-time. The proposed system was developed simulated and successfully verified. The collected data, using such system, could be useful for further bio-statistical analysis.

In this paper, a 1.0-mm vector network analyzer (VNA) based testbed is presented for wideband modulated-signal measurement towards 76-94-GHz automotive radar applications. This testbed characterizes the frequency-domain magnitude and phase spectra through tone-by-tone sweeping measurements, so that calibrated waveforms of frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) test signals can be reconstructed for demodulation. In this way, traceable parameters of chirp deviation can be derived, as reference values for future calibration or verification of commercial instruments and systems. The proposed testbed and method are validated at typical automotive radar bands from 76 to 94 GHz, with a maximum modulation bandwidth up to 2 GHz, where a vector signal analyzer is used for performance comparison.

The error vector magnitude (EVM) is a comprehensive measure of the amplitude and phase distortion of digitally modulated signals and a potential tool for characterizing the performance of active beamforming arrays, especially at millimeter-wave frequencies, because of the high level of integration and limited spacing between the radiating elements. A review of the EVM measurement process and fundamental principles for time-domain demodulation with a vector signal analyzer (VSA) and spectral correlation with a vector network analyzer (VNA) was presented in <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">[1]</xref> . This article demonstrates how researchers have modeled and measured impairments from antenna and phased array signal transmission to characterize their influence on the EVM of single and multicarrier digital signals. It presents examples of simulation models and measurements of the distortion from ultrawideband (UWB) passive antenna transmission, power amplifier (PA) nonlinearities, and phased array beam squint and beam scan intersymbol interference (ISI). A brief survey of over-the-air (OTA) test ranges for EVM analysis is also provided. This overview of state-of-the-art EVM simulation and measurement methods is intended to help interested readers understand and enhance the EVM performance analysis methods applied to antennas and phased arrays in this new era of millimeter-wave communications.

The structure of an automated measuring system for the study of the frequency characteristics of microwave filters in a wide frequency range is given. It is based on a handheld probe station, a vector network analyzer, a vector signal analyzer and a signal generator. It provides automation of research and determination of the main parameters of microwave filters – amplitude-frequency characteristics, phase-frequency response, group delay differences, level signal attenuation in stop band. The function of documenting the results of measuring the parameters of microwave filters allows not only in real time, but also in post-processing to analyze and compare the characteristics of microwave filters in the frequency range from 10 MHz to 24 GHz.