
& amp amp amp amp amp amp lt img src=' ' alt='Figure 2'& amp amp amp amp amp amp gt įigure 2. The converter’s integrated DDC will address the previous requirements.įigure 2 shows the block diagram of a typical DDC. But on the other hand, lower data rates on interface are preferred to save power, cost, and high speed logics in FPGAs/ASICs. In the R x chain, higher sampling rates are necessary to avoid signal aliasing, easy analog filter design, and to provide wider signal band. Independent DDCs and DUCs requires dealing with multiple carriers in parallel and combining them together before outputting the transmission signal or separating them in the received signal. Multiple stages of DDCs and DUCs are often cascaded respectively for flexibility. The DUC processing is almost converse with that of the DDC.

A DUC will generate a complex signal at dc, IF-based, or RF directly depending on the system architecture design. These function blocks work in sequence or can be bypassed respectively and finally generate a complex signal at dc or a real signal based on the requirements of the following FPGA or ASIC with lower sampling rates.Ī typical DUC module includes interpolation, a filter, a frequency upconverter, and a carrier combiner. The common term for individual digital signal processing blocks in this stage is the DUC (digital upconverter) for T x path and the DDC (digital downconverter) for R x path.Īn exception is in a direct RF architecture where data converters sample RF signals directly, so the analog IF stage will be omitted and the signal chain will consist of the RF stage and digital IF stage only.Ī typical DDC module includes the carrier selection, frequency downconverter, filter, and decimator. We call this stage the analog IF stage.Īfter the converters, in fact, after the quantizer portion of the converters, the signal becomes digital, and together with the subsequent FPGA or ASIC, we called this the digital IF stage. From the data converter to the mixer, the process module includes converters (ADCs or DACs), analog filters, and IF amplifiers. The RF stage deals with the RF signal, which generally includes the signal frequency range of 700 MHz to 3.8 GHz in the current LTE standard.Īfter the mixer, modulator, or demodulator-which are all frequency shifting stages-the RF signal will be shifted to a lower frequency around dc to less than 300 MHz. Typical block diagram of transmitter or receiver. & amp amp amp amp amp amp lt img src=' ' alt='Figure 1'& amp amp amp amp amp amp gt įigure 1.

In modern digital mobile communication systems, the transmission and receive paths (including observation receive path in the following description) can be divided into three major stages based on the signal’s properties: the RF stage, the analog IF stage, and the digital IF stage.įigure 1 shows the block diagram of typical transmitter and receiver. Please omit the signal flow direction if it causes confusion. Note that this article will focus on digital processing blocks in ADCs and DACs, so the transmitter and receiver blocks are combined in some descriptions. This article will hopefully give a clear view of DDC and DUC functionality in data converters and enable system designers to fully utilize the benefits that ADI converters can provide to the transceiver architecture. Digital signal processing blocks in converters provide valuable benefits to system designs, but these benefits are still not widely understood by many engineers. More and more such converters are integrated with complex digital signal processing blocks to simplify the FPGA’s work in the system design. High speed converters are one of the key functions in a modern wireless base station system. This article explores the integrated DDC and DUC channels in ADI’s IF and RF converters and explains how they work in real-world applications.

ADI is integrating more and more of these digital IF processing blocks into high speed converter ICs, which significantly relieves design work and provides cost and power savings in the system. These digital functions can be realized in DSPs and FPGAs and some big companies also build their own digital IF processing ASICs. Functional processing blocks that are now being utilized in data conversion architectures to achieve faster data rates are digital IF processing, DDC (digital downconverter), and DUC (digital upconverter). To meet the ever increasing data demands of smartphone functionality, the infrastructure architecture of modern digital mobile communication systems must constantly evolve to accommodate wider bandwidths and faster data conversion.

Digital Signal Processing in IF/RF Data Converters
