Tunable microwave devices with auto-adjusting matching circuit
View Patent ↗An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising an input port and a dynamic impedance matching network capable of determining a mismatch at the input port and dynamically changing the RF match by using at least one matching element that includes at least one voltage tunable dielectric capacitor. The matching network may be a “Pi”, a “T”, or “ladder” type network and the apparatus may further comprise at least one directional coupler capable of signal collection by sampling a portion of an incident signal, a reflected signal or both. In an embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus may also include a control and power control & logic unit (PC LU) to convert input analog signals into digital signals and sensing VSWR phase and magnitude and processing the digital signals using an algorithm to give it a voltage value and wherein the voltage values may be compared to values coming from the coupler and once compared and matched, the values may be passed to a Hi Voltage Application Specific Integrated Circuit (HV ASIC) to transfer and distribute compensatory voltages to the matching network elements. Additional embodiments are disclosed.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a matching network for matching an impedance presented to an RF signal received by an input port of a matching network capable of adapting to a mismatch at the input port by using at least one matching element that includes at least one tunable reactive element; and
a control and logic unit,
wherein the matching network adjusts the impedance presented to the RF signal responsive to the control and logic unit converting signals collected from a directional coupler into digital signals, determining Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) values from the digital signals, and processing the digital signals using an algorithm to produce one or more voltage values, and wherein the one or more voltage values are determined from a comparison of VSWR values and once compared, the one or more voltage values are passed to a voltage circuit to transfer and distribute one or more compensatory voltages to the at least one matching element.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the matching network comprises one of a “Pi” type network, a “T” type network, a “ladder” type network, or any combination thereof.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the VSWR values comprise at least current and previous VSWR values.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the directional coupler samples a portion of an incident signal, a reflected signal or both.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is a mobile telephone.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one tunable reactive element corresponds to at least one of a plurality of micromachined tunable reactive elements, capacitors with a variable dielectric, semiconductor variable reactive elements, or any combination thereof.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one tunable reactive element corresponds to one of a capacitor, inductor, or a combination thereof.
8. A method, comprising:
matching an impedance presented to an RF signal received by an input port of a matching network capable of adapting to a mismatch at the input port by using at least one matching element that includes at least one tunable reactive element,
wherein the matching network adjusts the impedance presented to the RF signal responsive to a control and logic unit that converts signals collected from a directional coupler into digital signals, determines Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) values from the digital signals, and processes the digital signals using an algorithm to produce one or more voltage values, and wherein the one or more voltage values are determined from a comparison of VSWR values and once compared, the one or more voltage values are passed to a voltage circuit to transfer and distribute one or more compensatory voltages to the at least one matching element.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the matching network comprises one of a “Pi” type network, a “T” type network, a “ladder” type network, or any combination thereof.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the compared VSWR values comprise at least current and previous VSWR values.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one matching element comprises at least one micromachined tunable reactive element.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the directional coupler samples a portion of an incident signal, a reflected signal or both.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one matching element comprises at least one capacitor with a tunable dielectric.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one matching element comprise at least one semiconductor variable reactive element.
15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one tunable reactive element corresponds to a capacitor, an inductor, or any combination thereof.
16. The method of claim 8 , wherein the method operates in a mobile communication device.
17. A matching circuit, comprising:
an input port; and
a matching network for matching an impedance presented to an RF signal received by the input port of the matching network capable of adapting to a mismatch at the input port by using at least one matching element that includes at least one tunable reactive element, wherein the matching network adjusts the impedance presented to the RF signal responsive to a control and logic unit that converts signals collected from a directional coupler into digital signals, determines Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) values from the digital signals, and processes the digital signals using an algorithm to produce one or more voltage values, and wherein the one or more voltage values are determined from a comparison of VSWR values and once compared, the one or more voltage values are passed to a voltage circuit to transfer and distribute one or more compensatory voltages to the at least one matching element.
18. The matching circuit of claim 17 , wherein the VSWR values comprise at least current and previous VSWR values.
19. The matching circuit of claim 17 , wherein the tunable reactive elements correspond to at least one of a plurality of micromachined tunable reactive elements, capacitors with a variable dielectric, semiconductor variable capacitors, or any combination thereof.