Digital hybrid amplifier calibration and compensation method

1. A method of calibrating a hybrid matrix amplifier of a wireless transceiver, the method comprising:

toggling between a plurality of signal paths having a digital and an analog portion such that the analog portion of each of the plurality of signal paths is active only during a corresponding buffer capture interval of a calibration process, the signal paths carrying signals to be transmitted by an antenna arrangement, wherein the buffer capture intervals corresponding to each signal path do not overlap;

generating channel estimates for each of the plurality of signal paths, the channel estimate for each signal path being generated based only on sampling data collected during the corresponding buffer capture interval; and

calibrating the hybrid matrix amplifier based on the generated channel estimates.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating step comprises:

generating a filter compensation matrix including a plurality of compensation filters; and wherein

the calibrating step calibrates the hybrid matrix amplifier based on the generated filter compensation matrix.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

filtering a plurality of digital input signals based on a filter compensation matrix; and

summing the filtered digital input signals to generate a plurality of digital matrix combined signals, each of the plurality of digital matrix combined signals corresponding to one of the plurality of signal paths; wherein

the toggling step includes,

selectively outputting each the plurality of digital matrix combined signals such that only one of the plurality of digital matrix combined signals is output from the digital portion to the analog portion of the signal path during a given buffer capture interval, and

the calibrating step further includes,

updating the filter compensation matrix to calibrate the hybrid matrix amplifier.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein, during each buffer capture interval, the generating of the channel estimates further comprises:

sampling a digital matrix combined signal on the active signal path among the plurality of signal paths;

generating a plurality of analog matrix combined output signals based on the digital matrix combined signal;

sampling the analog matrix combined output signals;

generating the channel estimates based on samples of the digital matrix combined signal and samples of the corresponding analog matrix combined signal, the samples of the digital matrix combined signal and the samples of the corresponding analog matrix combined signal being time-aligned with one another.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein, for each of the plurality of signal paths, the generating of the channel estimates comprises:

generating a filter compensation matrix including a plurality of compensation filters; and wherein

the calibrating step calibrates the hybrid matrix amplifier based on the filter compensation matrix.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the generating step further comprises:

generating time, gain and phase associated with the first signal path based on a first set of samples of the digital matrix combined signal generated during a first buffer capture interval and a first set of samples of the analog matrix combined output signals generated during a first buffer capture interval; and

generating a filter compensation matrix including a plurality of compensation filters, the compensation filters being time and phase aligned with one another based on the time, gain and phase associated with the first signal path.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

filtering a plurality of digital input signals; and

summing the filtered digital input signals to generate a plurality of digital matrix combined digital signals, each of the plurality of digital matrix combined digital signals corresponding to one of the plurality of signal paths; and wherein

the toggling step includes,

selectively outputting the plurality of digital matrix combined signals such that only one of the plurality of digital matrix combined signals is output from the digital portion to the analog portion of the signal path during a given buffer capture interval.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the toggling step comprises:

activating, for a first of the buffer capture intervals, a first of the plurality of signal paths;

deactivating, for each subsequent buffer capture interval, the first of the plurality of signal paths; and

activating, for each subsequent buffer capture interval, an other of the plurality of signal paths such that each of the plurality of signal paths is active only during a corresponding buffer capture interval.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the toggling step comprises:

selectively deactivating each of the plurality of signal paths such that only a first of the plurality of signal paths is active during a first buffer capture interval; and

selectively activating and deactivating each of the plurality of signal paths during subsequent buffer capture intervals such that only one of the plurality of signal paths is active during each buffer capture interval.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the toggling step is performed in response to a calibration trigger, the calibration trigger being indicative of variations in characteristics of analog portions of the plurality of signal paths.

11. A hybrid matrix amplifier of a wireless transceiver comprising:

a digital phase combiner configured to toggle between a plurality of signal paths having a digital and an analog portion such that the analog portion of each of the plurality of signal paths is active only during a corresponding buffer capture interval of a calibration process, the signal paths carrying signals to be transmitted by an antenna arrangement, wherein the buffer capture intervals corresponding to each signal path do not overlap; and

a matrix compensation estimator configured to generate channel estimates for each of the plurality of signal paths, the channel estimate for each signal path being generated based only on sampling data collected during the corresponding buffer capture interval; wherein

the hybrid matrix amplifier is calibrated based on the generated channel estimates.

12. The hybrid matrix amplifier of claim 11 , wherein the matrix compensation estimator is further configured to generate a filter compensation matrix including a plurality of compensation filters; and wherein

the hybrid matrix amplifier is calibrated based on the generated filter compensation matrix.

13. The hybrid matrix amplifier of claim 11 , wherein the digital phase combiner comprises:

a filter bank configured to filter a plurality of digital input signals based on a filter compensation matrix;

a plurality of adders configured to sum the filtered digital input signals to generate a plurality of digital matrix combined signals, each of the plurality of digital matrix combined signals corresponding to one of the plurality of signal paths; and

a plurality of multiplexers configured to selectively output each the plurality of digital matrix combined signals such that only one of the plurality of digital matrix combined signals is output from the digital portion to the analog portion of the signal path during a given buffer capture interval.

14. The hybrid matrix amplifier of claim 11 , further comprising:

a buffer capture unit configured to capture samples of a digital matrix combined signal on the active signal path among the plurality of signal paths;

an analog hybrid matrix unit configured to generate a plurality of analog matrix combined output signals based on the digital matrix combined signal;

a sampling unit configured to sample the analog matrix combined output signals; and wherein

the matrix compensation estimator is configured to generate the channel estimates based on samples of the digital matrix combined signal and samples of the corresponding analog matrix combined signal, the samples of the digital matrix combined signal and the samples of the corresponding analog matrix combined signal being time-aligned with one another.

15. A method of calibrating a hybrid matrix amplifier of a wireless transceiver, the method comprising:

isolating each of a plurality of signal paths having a digital and an analog portion such that the analog portion of each of the plurality of signal paths is active only during a corresponding buffer capture interval of a calibration process, the signal paths carrying signals to be transmitted by an antenna arrangement, wherein the buffer capture intervals corresponding to each signal path do not overlap;

generating channel estimates for each of the plurality of signal paths, the channel estimate for each signal path being generated based only on sampling data collected during the corresponding buffer capture interval; and

calibrating the hybrid matrix amplifier based on the generated channel estimates.