TELECOMMUNICATION ELECTRONICS
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2016/2017
- Teacher
- GIORGIO VANNINI
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- ING-INF/01
Training objectives
- After introducing the fundamental radio transmitter and receiver architectures, the main problems related to their circuit components (gain amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, voltage controlled oscillators, mixers, phase lock loops) are examined. Technologies and related electron devices are dealt with too.
Although the main context is radio communication, the topics dealt with are fundamental also for electronic instrumentation.
By using a top-down approach (which analyses transceiver architectures and their issues, non linearity and noise in electron device and circuits, electronic circuits for radio receivers and transmitters) the main acquired competences in the electronic field, will be:
- fundamentals on high-frequency electron devices, circuits/systems for telecommunication applications;
- analysis and design techniques for high-frequency analog circuits.
The main acquired skills (i.e., the capability of applying what has been learnt) will be:
- analysis and performance evaluation of electron devices and circuits for telecommunications;
- analysis and design of high-frequency analog electronic circuits/systems for telecommunications;
and more specifically:
- design of low-noise, gain and transmission amplifiers;
- mixer and oscillator basic design;
- linear, noise and large-signal transistor characterization. Prerequisites
- Telecommunications (frequency conversion, analog and digital modulations, noise, etc.); electron devices and fundamental analog electronic circuits (small- and large-signal amplifiers, oscillators); fundamentals of free-space and guided propagation; basic electronic instrumentation.
Course programme
- 60 hours of teaching are given, divided in lectures (45 hours), and guided CAD laboratory (15 hours).
Fundamental concepts and background (9 hours): effects of non-linearity in transistors, circuits and electronic systems. Noise. Main parameters of a radio receiver. Modulators and de-modulators (analog and digital). Constant envelope modulations and spectral regrowth. Elements on channel access techniques.
Transceiver architectures (5 hours): channel and band selection. Heterodyne receiver: main issues and implementations. Homodyne receiver (zero IF): advantages and problems. Image rejection receivers. Direct conversion and double conversion transmitters.
High-frequency small-signal amplifiers (6 hours): comparison with low-frequency amplifiers. Scattering parameters and Smith chart. L-type matching networks. RF amplifier topology. Unconditional stability and stability circles. K factor. Transducer gain maximization.
Noise in transistors and low-noise amplifiers – LNA (6 hours): Johnson, Shot, Flicker, Burst noise. Noise models for diodes, BJTs and FETs. Two-port noise description. Noise analysis with uncorrelated and correlated sources. Noise figure and noise parameters and experimental characterization. Low-noise amplifier design.
Mixers (4 hours): balanced and doubly-balanced mixers. Analog multipliers (Gilbert cell). Trans-conductance and switching (diode) mixers. Cold-FET mixers (hints). Hybrids and implementation examples.
Voltage controlled oscillators - VCO (4 hours): oscillator background and frequency stabilization (quartz and resonators). VCO (varactors). Phase noise in receivers and transmitters. Oscillator phase-noise generation mechanisms (Leeson formula). Oscillator architectures.
Power amplifiers (8 hours): conduction-angle controlled amplifiers (class A, B and C). High-efficiency amplifiers: class F, E (D, hints). Power amplifier design issues. Compound semiconductors and high-frequency transistors (MESFET, HEMT, HBT). Monolithic and hybrid integrated circuits. Linearization techniques for power amplifiers: back-off, pre-distortion, feed-forward, feed-back, EER and LINC, ET (hints). Doherty amplifier
CAD tools for integrated circuit design (3 hours): transistor models. Numerical techniques for static and dynamic linear and non-linear circuit analysis. Time- (Spice) and frequency-domain (Harmonic Balance) techniques.
CAD laboratory (15 hours): design of a microwave power amplifier by using a CAD software suite. Didactic methods
- The course is organized as follows:
frontal lectures on all the topics of the course;
CAD laboratory under the supervision of a teaching tutor. Students will work alone or in small groups (maximum 3 students). The students are required to provide a report on the lab work. Learning assessment procedures
- The final examination is in oral form. Questions on the course topics are aimed at evaluating the comprehension of the topics and the gained skills.
If the student provides the lab report, high-frequency small-signal amplifiers and CAD tools for integrated circuit design are not subjects of oral questions.
Exams are given weekly. The examination list closes two days before the scheduled date.
Passing the exam is proof of having acquired the ability to apply knowledge related to transceiver architectures, and to the analysis and synthesis of the associated electronic circuits. Reference texts
- Didactic material provided by the teacher.
Specific topics can be further developed in the following texts:
B.Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Prentice Hall, 1998.
L.E.Larson, RF and microwave circuit design for wireless communications, Artech House, 1997.
G.Ghione, Dispositivi per la microelettronica, McGraw-Hill, 1998.
Ludwig, Bretchko, RF Circuit Design: Theory and Applications, Prentice Hall, 2000.
Rohde, Newkirk, RF/Microwave Circuit Design for Wireless Applications, John Wiley, 2000.
S.C. Cripps, RF power amplifiers for wireless communications, Artech House, 1999 (and more recent editions).
