Phase-modulated on-off keying for millimeter wave spectrum control

1. A transmitting apparatus, comprising:

a coding circuit for receiving binary digital data and generating an on-off keying (OOK) signal representing the binary digital data, the coding circuit also generating a phase modulation control signal for controlling a phase modulation of a millimeter wave carrier signal based on the on and off pattern of the OOK signal;

a phase modulation circuit communicatively connected to the coding circuit for receiving the phase modulation control signal and the millimeter wave carrier signal, the phase modulation circuit applying the phase modulation to the millimeter wave carrier signal based on the phase modulation control signal to generate a phase-modulated carrier signal;

a power amplifier communicatively connected to the coding circuit and the phase modulation circuit for receiving the OOK signal and the phase-modulated carrier signal, the power amplifier generating, based on the OOK signal and the phase-modulated carrier signal, an amplified phase-modulated carrier signal with OOK; and

an interface to transmit the amplified phase-modulated carrier signal with OOK to a receiving apparatus via a millimeter wave communication link.

2. The transmitting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the phase modulation control signal controls phase modulation during on-periods of the OOK signal.

3. The transmitting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the phase modulation comprises a duobinary phase modulation and wherein the coding circuit is configured to:

count a number of consecutive off-periods of the OOK signal between a previous on-period of the OOK signal and a current on-period of the OOK signal;

responsive to determining that the number of the consecutive off-periods is even, generate the phase modulation control signal to control the phase modulation circuit to apply a same phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period as applied for the previous on-period; and

responsive to determining that the number of the consecutive off-periods is odd, generate the phase modulation control signal to control the phase modulation circuit to apply a different phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period relative to a phase shift applied for the previous on-period.

4. The transmitting apparatus of claim 3 , wherein applying the different phase shift comprises:

applying no phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period responsive to the previous on-period having a phase of pi radians; and

applying a phase shift of pi radians to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period responsive to the previous on-period having a phase of zero radians.

5. The transmitting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the phase modulation comprises an alternating phase modulation and wherein the coding circuit is configured to:

determine a first phase shift applied to the millimeter wave carrier signal for a previous on-period prior to a current on-period;

apply a same phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period if there are no off-periods between the previous on-period and the current on-period; and

apply a second phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period if there are one or more off-periods between the previous on-period and the current on-period, the second phase shift having a different value from that of the first phase shift.

6. The transmitting apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the first phase shift has a value of zero radians and the second phase shift has a value of pi radians.

7. The transmitting apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the coding circuitry includes a state machine to store the first phase shift of the previous on-period.

8. The transmitting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the millimeter wave communication link comprises a 60 GHz millimeter wave communication link.

9. A system, comprising:

a transmitting apparatus comprising:

a coding circuit for receiving binary digital data and generating an on-off keying (OOK) signal representing the binary digital data, the coding circuit also generating a phase modulation control signal for controlling a phase modulation of a millimeter wave carrier signal based on the on and off pattern of the OOK signal;

a phase modulation circuit communicatively connected to the coding circuit for receiving the phase modulation control signal and the millimeter wave carrier signal, the phase modulation circuit applying the phase modulation to the millimeter wave carrier signal based on the phase modulation control signal to generate a phase-modulated carrier signal;

a power amplifier communicatively connected to the coding circuit and the phase modulation circuit for receiving the OOK signal and the phase-modulated carrier signal, the power amplifier generating, based on the OOK signal and the phase-modulated carrier signal, an amplified phase-modulated carrier signal with OOK; and

an interface to transmit the amplified phase-modulated carrier signal with OOK to a receiving apparatus via a millimeter wave communication link;

a receiving apparatus to receive the amplified phase-modulated carrier signal with OOK, the receiving apparatus detect an envelope of amplified phase-modulated carrier signal with OOK to recover the binary digital data; and

the millimeter wave communication link having a data transmission rate of multi-gigabits per second.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the phase modulation control signal controls phase modulation during on-periods of the OOK signal.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the phase modulation comprises a duobinary phase modulation and wherein the coding circuit is configured to:

count a number of consecutive off-periods of the OOK signal between a previous on-period of the OOK signal and a current on-period of the OOK signal;

responsive to determining that the number of the consecutive off-periods is even, generate the phase modulation control signal to control the phase modulation circuit to apply a same phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period as applied for the previous on-period; and

responsive to determining that the number of the consecutive off-periods is odd, generate the phase modulation control signal to control the phase modulation circuit to apply a different phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period relative to a phase shift applied for the previous on-period.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein applying the different phase shift comprises:

applying no phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period responsive to the previous on-period having a phase of pi radians; and

applying a phase shift of pi radians to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period responsive to the previous on-period having a phase of zero radians.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the phase modulation comprises an alternating phase modulation and wherein the coding circuit is configured to:

determine a first phase shift applied to the millimeter wave carrier signal for a previous on-period prior to a current on-period;

apply a same phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period if there are no off-periods between the previous on-period and the current on-period; and

apply a second phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period if there are one or more off-periods between the previous on-period and the current on-period, the second phase shift having a different value from that of the first phase shift.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the first phase shift has a value of zero radians and the second phase shift has a value of pi radians.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the coding circuitry includes a state machine to store the first phase shift of the previous on-period.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the millimeter wave communication link comprises a 60 GHz millimeter wave communication link.

17. A method comprising:

generating, at a transmitting apparatus, an on-off keying (OOK) signal representing binary digital data;

generating, at the transmitting apparatus, a phase modulation control signal for controlling a phase modulation of a millimeter wave carrier signal based on the on and off pattern of the OOK signal;

applying, at the transmitting apparatus, the phase modulation to the millimeter wave carrier signal based on the phase modulation control signal to generate a phase-modulated carrier signal;

generating, at the transmitting apparatus, an amplified phase-modulated carrier signal with OOK based on the OOK signal and the phase-modulated carrier signal; and

transmitting, at the transmitting apparatus, the amplified phase-modulated carrier signal with OOK to a receiving apparatus via a millimeter wave communication link.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the phase modulation control signal controls phase modulation during on-periods of the OOK signal.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the phase modulation comprises a duobinary phase modulation and wherein generating a phase modulation control signal for controlling the phase modulation of a millimeter wave carrier signal based on the on and off pattern of the OOK signal comprises:

counting a number of consecutive off-periods of the OOK signal between a previous on-period of the OOK signal and a current on-period of the OOK signal;

responsive to determining that the number of the consecutive off-periods is even, generating the phase modulation control signal to control the phase modulation circuit to apply a same phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period as applied for the previous on-period; and

responsive to determining that the number of the consecutive off-periods is odd, generating the phase modulation control signal to control the phase modulation circuit to apply a different phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period relative to a phase shift applied for the previous on-period.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein applying the different phase shift comprises:

applying no phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period responsive to the previous on-period having a phase of pi radians; and

applying a phase shift of pi radians to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period responsive to the previous on-period having a phase of zero radians.

21. The method of claim 17 , wherein the phase modulation comprises an alternating phase modulation and wherein generating a phase modulation control signal for controlling the phase modulation of a millimeter wave carrier signal based on the on and off pattern of the OOK signal comprises:

determining a first phase shift applied to the millimeter wave carrier signal for a previous on-period prior to a current on-period;

applying a same phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period if there are no off-periods between the previous on-period and the current on-period; and

applying a second phase shift to the millimeter wave carrier signal for the current on-period if there are one or more off-periods between the previous on-period and the current on-period, the second phase shift having a different value from that of the first phase shift.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the first phase shift has a value of zero radians and the second phase shift has a value of pi radians.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising storing the first phase shift of the previous on-period.