Generation of an RF test signal for testing an RF receive circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10673544-B2
Application number	US-201816212883-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2018
Priority date	Dec 8, 2017
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

The description is of a circuit which, according to one example embodiment, comprises the following: an input circuit node for receiving an RF oscillator signal; a test signal generator circuit, which comprises at least one modulator and which is embodied to generate an RF test signal by modulating the RF oscillator signal. Further, the circuit comprises at least one receive channel with a receiver circuit and a coupler, which is embodied to feed the RF test signal into the receiver circuit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A circuit, comprising:
an input circuit node to receive a radiofrequency (RF) oscillator signal;
a first modulator to generate a first RF signal by virtue of the RF oscillator signal being modulated with a first signal;
a second modulator to generate a second RF signal by virtue of the RF oscillator signal being modulated with a second signal;
an RF combiner circuit to generate an RF test signal by combining the first RF signal and the second RF signal;
an RF receive circuit to:
receive the RF test signal, and
generate a digital signal based on the RF test signal; and

a processor to provide information items relating to a linearity of the RF receive circuit on a basis of a spectrum of the digital signal.

2. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first signal and the second signal are single-tone signals that differ in terms of their frequency and/or in terms of their phase.

3. The circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:
a signal source to generate the first signal and the second signal,
wherein the first signal and the second signal each having a single frequency and one phase.

4. The circuit of claim 3 , wherein the signal source comprises:
a first digital signal generator and a downstream first digital/analog converter to provide the first signal as an output signal; and
a second digital signal generator and a downstream second digital/analog converter to provide the second signal as an output signal.

5. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first signal and the second signal are each complex-valued signals, and are each represented by an in-phase signal component and a quadrature signal component, and
wherein the first modulator and the second modulator are IQ modulators.

6. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the RF receive circuit comprises a receive mixer and a coupler disposed upstream of the receive mixer,
the coupler being configured to:
receive the RF test signal, and
transmit the RF test signal to an RF input of the receive mixer.

7. The circuit of claim 6 , wherein the RF receive circuit further comprises:
an analog/digital converter coupled to an output of the receive mixer and configured to:
digitize an output signal of the receive mixer, and
generate the digital signal.

8. The circuit of claim 7 , wherein the processor is coupled to the analog/digital converter and configured to calculate at least part of the spectrum of the digital signal.

9. The circuit of claim 6 , wherein the RF receive circuit further comprises:
an RF amplifier connected between the coupler and the receive mixer,
wherein the information items relating to the linearity of the RF receive circuit comprise information items about a linearity of a combination of the RF amplifier and the receive mixer.

10. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the information items relating to the linearity of the RF receive circuit comprise information items about spectral lines of the digital signal,
the spectral lines having no correspondence in the RF test signal.

11. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first RF signal comprises spectral lines that correspond to an integer multiple of a frequency of the first signal and which are displaced by a frequency of the RF oscillator signal,
wherein the second RF signal comprises spectral lines that correspond to an integer multiple of a frequency of the second signal and which are displaced by the frequency of the RF oscillator signal, and
wherein the first RF signal and the second RF signal have no spectral lines that correspond to sums and/or differences of integer multiples of the frequency of the first signal and the frequency of the second signal and that are shifted by the frequency of the RF oscillator signal.

12. A method, comprising:
generating a first radiofrequency (RF) signal by modulating an RF oscillator signal with a first signal;
generating a second RF signal by modulating the RF oscillator signal with a second signal;
generating an RF test signal by combining the first RF signal and the second RF signal;
coupling the RF test signal into an RF receive circuit;
digitizing an output signal of the RF receive circuit; and
providing information items relating to a linearity of the RF receive circuit on a basis of a spectrum of the digitized output signal.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first signal and the second signal are single-tone signals that differ in terms of their frequency and/or in terms of their phase.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first signal and the second signal are each generated as complex-valued signals that are each represented by an in-phase signal component and a quadrature signal component, and
wherein modulation of the RF oscillator signal is performed using IQ modulators.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein coupling the RF test signal into an RF receive circuit comprises:
coupling the RF test signal into an input of a receive mixer of the RF receive circuit.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
calculating at least part of a spectrum of the digitized output signal.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the information items relating to the linearity of the RF receive circuit comprise information items about spectral lines of the digitized output signal that have no correspondence in the RF test signal.

18. A radiofrequency (RF) apparatus, comprising:
an antenna input to connect an antenna;
an RF signal source to provide an RF oscillator signal;
a receive mixer comprising an RF input and an output;
a coupler connected to the antenna input; and
a circuit comprising:
an input circuit node coupled with the RF signal source to receive the RF oscillator signal;
a first modulator to generate a first RF signal by modulating the RF oscillator signal with a first signal;
a second modulator to generate a second RF signal by modulating the RF oscillator signal with a second signal;
an RF combiner circuit to:
generate an RF test signal by combining the first RF signal and the second RF signal, and
transmit the RF test signal to the RF input; and

a processor to provide information items relating to a linearity of an RF receive circuit on a basis of a spectrum of a digital signal based on the output.

19. The RF apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the first signal and the second signal are single-tone signals that differ in terms of their frequency and/or in terms of their phase.

20. The RF apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the RF combiner circuit, when generating the RF test signal, is to:
generate the RF test signal by providing a linear combination of the first RF signal and the second RF signal.

21. A method, comprising:
producing a radiofrequency (RF) test signal by modulating a plurality of modulation signals onto an RF signal,
the plurality of modulation signals differing pairwise in terms of their phase or pairwise in terms of their frequency;

feeding the RF test signal into at least one RF circuit;
digitizing an output signal of the at least one RF circuit; and
providing information items relating to a linearity of the at least one RF circuit on a basis of a spectrum of the digitized output signal.

22. A circuit, comprising:
an input circuit node to receive a radiofrequency (RF) oscillator signal;
a test signal generator circuit comprising at least one modulator and configured to generate an RF test signal by modulating the RF oscillator signal;
at least one receive channel comprising:
a recei

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Christoffers Niels
• Fiore Vincenzo
• Kollmann Helmut
• Rap Christian
• Schrattenecker Jochen O
• Unterkircher Peter
• Wagner Christoph

Classifications

• H04B17/0085

  using test signal generators · CPC title

• G01S7/4021 Primary

  of receivers · CPC title

• H04B17/19

  Self-testing arrangements · CPC title

• H04L27/12

  Modulator circuits; Transmitter circuits · CPC title

• H04B17/29

  Performance testing · CPC title