Frequency independence for synthesis within programmable non-reciprocal network circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10868576-B2
Application number	US-201916396024-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2019
Priority date	Apr 27, 2018
Publication date	Dec 15, 2020
Grant date	Dec 15, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus includes parallel delay lines, each exhibiting a delay; a first set of switches for each port of a first set of ports, each of which is to selectively couple a port of the first set of ports to first ends of the delay lines; a second set of switches for each port of a second set of ports, each of which to selectively couple a port of the second set of ports to second ends of the delay lines. A signal source generates a series of clock signals that are sequentially time delayed between the first set of switches and the second set of switches, where an input signal at one of the first or second sets of ports travels from the one of the first or second sets of ports to an output port of opposite set of ports over the delay lines.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a plurality of delay lines arranged in parallel, wherein each delay line of the plurality of delay lines exhibits a delay to input signals, and wherein the plurality of delay lines comprise more than four identical delay lines;
a first set of switches for each port of a first set of ports, wherein each switch of the first set of switches is to selectively couple a port of the first set of ports to first ends of the plurality of delay lines;
a second set of switches for each port of a second set of ports, wherein each switch of the second set of switches is to selectively couple a port of the second set of ports to second ends of the plurality of delay lines; and
a signal source coupled to control ports of each of the first set and the second set of switches, the signal source to generate a series of clock signals to sequentially:
turn on a first switch of the first set of switches of a first port of the first set of ports to pass a first input signal from the first port of the first set of ports across a first delay line of the plurality of delay lines;
turn on a first switch of the second set of switches of a first port of the second set of ports to output the first input signal at the first port of the second set of ports;
turn on a second switch of the second set of switches of the first port of the second set of ports to pass a second input signal from the first port of the second set of ports to a second delay line of the plurality of delay lines;
turn on a second switch of the first set of switches of a second port of the first set of ports to output the second input signal at the second port of the first set of ports;
turn on a fifth switch of the first set of switches of a third port of the first set of ports to pass a fifth input signal from the third port of the first set of ports to a fifth delay line of the plurality of delay lines; and
turn on a fifth switch of the second set of switches of a third port of the second set of ports to output the fifth input signal at the third port of the second set of ports.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first input signal, the second input signal, and the fifth input signal are time-multiplexed portions of an identical input signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signal source comprises:
a first signal generator to generate a first set of the series of clock signals, of which each on period lasts twice the delay, which are applied to each of the first set of switches; and
a second signal generator to generate a second set of the series of clock signals, of which each on period lasts twice the delay, which are applied to each of the second set of switches, wherein the first and second signal generators are synchronized.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the first set of ports are sequentially odd-numbered ports (m) and the second set of ports are sequentially even-numbered ports (m+1), and wherein the first set of the series of clock signals are generated to comprise C(t,m,n) clock signals and the second set of the series of clock signals are generated to comprise C(t,m+1,n) clock signals, where t represents time, and where n represents sequential delay line number of the plurality of delay lines.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein respective ones of the first set of the series of clock signals are sequenced numerically according to m port number of the first set of ports, and respective ones of the second set of the series of clock signals are sequenced numerically according to m+1 port number of the second set of ports.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein at least one clock signal of the first set of the series of clock signals is sequenced numerically out of order of m port number of the first set of ports, and a corresponding at least one clock signal of the second set of the series of clock signals is sequenced numerically out of order of m+1 port number of the second set of ports.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the series of clock signals is further to sequentially turn on the first switch of each of the first set of switches, C(t,1,1) to C(t,1,N), to circulate a last input signal from a last port of the second set of ports to the first port of the first set of ports.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first set and the second set of switches are single pole, multiple throw switches.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of delay lines are electromagnetic delay lines.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of delay lines are acoustic delay lines, further comprising:
a first pair of distributed acoustic reflection transducers (DARTs) coupled to each first end of the plurality of delay lines; and
a second pair of DARTs coupled to each second end of the plurality of delay lines.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first pair and the second pair of DARTs are disposed at the first end and the second end, respectively, of suspended thin film made of one of lithium niobate, aluminum nitride, or scandium-doped aluminum nitride for each of the plurality of delay lines.

12. A radio frequency transceiver comprising:
an antenna;
a receiver;
a transmitter; and
a non-reciprocal device coupled between the antenna, the receiver, and the transmitter, the non-reciprocal device comprising:
a plurality of delay lines arranged in parallel, wherein each delay line of the plurality of delay lines exhibits a delay to input signals from one of the receiver or the transmitter, and wherein the plurality of delay lines comprise more than four identical delay lines;
a first set of switches for each port of a first set of ports, wherein each switch of the first set of switches is to selectively couple a port of the first set of ports to first ends of the plurality of delay lines;
a second set of switches for each port of a second set of ports, wherein each switch of the second set of switches is to selectively couple a port of a second set of ports to second ends of the plurality of delay lines; and
a signal source coupled to control ports of each of the first set and the second set of switches, the signal source to generate a series of clock signals to sequentially:
turn on a first switch of the first set of switches of a first port of the first set of ports to pass a first input signal from the first port of the first set of ports across a first delay line of the plurality of delay lines;
turn on a first switch of the second set of switches of a first port of the second set of ports to output the first input signal at the first port of the second set of ports;
turn on a second switch of the second set of switches of the first port of the second set of ports to pass a second input signal from the first port of the second set of ports to a second delay line of the plurality of delay lines;
turn on a second switch of the first set of switches of a second port of the first set of ports to output the second input signal at a second port of the first set of ports;
turn on a fifth switch of the first set of switches of a third port of the first set of ports to pass a fifth input signal from the third port of the first set of ports to a fifth delay line of the plurality of delay lines; and
turn on a fifth switch of the second set of switches of a third port of the second set of ports to output the fifth input signal at the third port of the second set of ports.

13. The radio frequency transceiver of claim 12 , wherein the signal source comprises:
a first switching control signal generator to generate the first set of the series of clock signals, of which each on period lasts twice t

Assignees

• Univ Illinois
• Board Of Trustees Of The Univ Of Illinois

Inventors

• Gong Songbin
• Lu Ruochen
• Krol John Andrew
• Gao Liuqing

Classifications

• H04B1/40 Primary

  Circuits · CPC title

• H01P5/16

  Conjugate devices, i.e. devices having at least one port decoupled from one other port · CPC title

• H03K5/135 Primary

  by the use of time reference signals, e.g. clock signals · CPC title

• H03K2005/00078

  Fixed delay · CPC title

• H01P1/387

  Strip line circulators · CPC title