Local oscillator phase synchronization for beamforming and MIMO

1. A method of determining an initial phase of each output signal generated by a plurality of radio frequency (RF) front-end circuits of a beamforming or multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) system, each of said RF front-end circuits comprising a mixer tuned to a common frequency and configured to mix an input signal with a mixing signal to generate the output signal for that RF front-end circuit, the method comprising:

generating a reference signal common to the plurality of RF front-end circuits;

for each of the plurality of RF front-end circuits, measuring a time difference between a start edge of the reference signal and a stop edge of the corresponding mixing signal, wherein the start edge defines a beginning of a measurement period and wherein each stop edge defines an end of the measurement period for the corresponding RF front-end circuit;

determining the initial phase of each output signal from the time difference measured for the corresponding RF front-end circuit; and

using the initial phase to set a final phase of the corresponding output signal to a desired value;

wherein each of the plurality of RF front-end circuits comprises:

transmission RF front-end circuits, where each output signal comprises a transmission signal applied to an antenna element of an antenna array; or

reception front-end circuits, where each input signal comprises a reception signal provided by an antenna element of an antenna array.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein using the initial phase to set the final phase of the corresponding output signal to the desired value comprises rotating the initial phase of the output signal to set the final phase of that output signal to the desired value.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising deriving the mixing signal from a local oscillator signal and a frequency divider.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the reference signal comprises a phase-locked loop reference signal applied to a phase-locked loop in each RF front-end circuit, and wherein the phase-locked loop generates the local oscillator signal based on the reference signal.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the start and stop edges both comprise rising edges, and wherein the stop edge comprises the next rising edge of the corresponding mixing signal occurring immediately after the start edge.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the measurement period spans multiple periods of the mixing signal.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising arming the RF front-end circuits to synchronize the measuring of the time differences for each of the plurality of RF front-end circuits.

8. A wireless circuit of a beamforming or multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) system, the wireless circuit comprising:

a plurality of radio frequency (RF) front-end circuits of the beamforming or the multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) system, each of said RF front-end circuits comprising a mixer tuned to a common frequency and configured to mix an input signal with a mixing signal to generate an output signal for that RF front-end circuit;

a reference circuit configured to generate a reference signal common to the plurality of RF front-end circuits; and

a plurality of time measurement circuits, one for each RF front-end circuit, each time measurement circuit operatively connected to an input of the corresponding mixer and the reference circuit and configured to measure a time difference between a start edge of the reference signal and a stop edge of the mixing signal of the corresponding RF front-end circuit, wherein the start edge defines a beginning of a measurement period and wherein each stop edge defines an end of the measurement period for the corresponding RF front-end circuit;

wherein the wireless circuit is configured to determine the initial phase of each output signal from the time difference measured for the corresponding RF front-end circuit, and to use the initial phase to set a final phase of the corresponding output signal to a desired value;

wherein each of the plurality of RF front-end circuits comprises:

transmission RF front-end circuits, where each output signal comprises a transmission signal applied to an antenna element of an antenna array; or

reception front-end circuits, where each input signal comprises a reception signal provided by an antenna element of an antenna array.

9. The wireless circuit of claim 8 further comprising a phase control circuit configured to use the initial phase to set the final phase of the corresponding output signal to the desired value by rotating the initial phase of the output signal to set the final phase of that output signal to the desired value.

10. The wireless circuit of claim 8 wherein each RF front-end circuit further comprises:

a local oscillator implemented as a phase-locked loop; and

a frequency divider operatively coupled to an output of the phase-locked loop;

wherein the mixing signal is derived from an output of the frequency divider.

11. The wireless circuit of claim 10 wherein the reference signal further comprises a phase-locked loop reference signal applied to the phase-locked loop.

12. The wireless circuit of claim 8 wherein the start and stop edges both comprise rising edges, and wherein the stop edge comprises the next rising edge of the corresponding mixing signal occurring immediately after the start edge.

13. The wireless circuit of claim 8 wherein the measurement period spans multiple periods of the mixing signal.

14. The wireless circuit of claim 8 further comprising at least one synchronization circuit configured to synchronize the operations of the time measurement circuits to synchronize the measuring of the time differences for each of the plurality of RF front-end circuits by applying a common arming signal to each of the time measurement circuits.

15. The wireless circuit of claim 8 wherein each time measurement circuit determines the initial phase of the corresponding output signal based on the time difference measured for the corresponding RF front-end circuit.

16. The wireless circuit of claim 8 further comprising a plurality of phase control circuits, one for each RF front-end circuit, each phase control circuit configured to determine the initial phase of the corresponding output signal based on the time difference measured for the corresponding RF front-end circuit.

17. A computer program product stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium for controlling a phase of each of a plurality of radio frequency (RF) front-end circuits of a wireless circuit of a beamforming or multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) system, the computer program product comprising software instructions which, when run on the wireless circuit, causes the wireless circuit to:

generate an output signal for each RF front-end circuit by mixing an input signal with a mixing signal tuned to a common frequency; and

generate a reference signal common to the plurality of RF front-end circuits;

measure a time difference between a start edge of the reference signal and a stop edge of the mixing signal of the corresponding RF front-end circuit, wherein the start edge defines a beginning of a measurement period and wherein each stop edge defines an end of the measurement period for the corresponding RF front-end circuit;

determine an initial phase of each output signal from the time difference measured for the corresponding RF front-end circuit; and

use the initial phase to set a final phase of the corresponding output signal to a desired value;

wherein each of the plurality of RF front-end circuits comprises:

transmission RF front-end circuits, where each output signal comprises a transmission signal applied to an antenna element of an antenna array; or

reception front-end circuits, where each input signal comprises a reception signal provided by an antenna element of an antenna array.

18. A wireless transceiver of a beamforming or multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) system comprising:

a plurality of radio frequency (RF) front-end circuits of the beamforming or the multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) system, each of said RF front-end circuits comprising a mixer tuned to a common frequency and configured to mix an input signal with a mixing signal to generate an output signal for that RF front-end circuit;

a reference circuit configured to generate a reference signal common to the plurality of RF front-end circuits; and

a plurality of time measurement circuits, one for each RF front-end circuit, each time measurement circuit operatively connected to an input of the corresponding mixer and the reference circuit and configured to measure a time difference between a start edge of the reference signal and a stop edge of the mixing signal of the corresponding RF front-end circuit, wherein the start edge defines a beginning of a measurement period and wherein each stop edge defines an end of the measurement period for the corresponding RF front-end circuit;

wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to determine the initial phase of each output signal from the time difference measured for the corresponding RF front-end circuit, and to use the initial phase to set a final phase of the corresponding output signal to a desired value;

wherein each of the plurality of RF front-end circuits comprises:

transmission RF front-end circuits, where each output signal comprises a transmission signal applied to an antenna element of an antenna array; or

reception front-end circuits, where each input signal comprises a reception signal provided by an antenna element of an antenna array.