Sensor circuit and method
A sensor circuit, method and apparatus are provided. A clock source may be configured to generate a clock signal. A plurality of samplers may be configured to receive a plurality of radio frequency signals and to produce, based on the clock signal, a plurality of low-frequency samples. A data analyzer may be configured to process low-resolution representations of the plurality of low-frequency samples collected over a plurality of sampling instances and process them at low or medium resolution to generate one or more data analysis metrics associated with the plurality of RF signals. The sensor circuit including samplers taking low-frequency samples, and a data analyzer processing low-resolution or medium-resolution representations of a number of samples collected over time for statistical analysis, provides power efficiency compared to known approaches that use power-hungry samplers at a high frequency.
1 . A method for processing radio frequency (RF) signals, the method comprising:
generating a clock signal;
receiving a plurality of RF signals;
producing, based on the clock signal and on the plurality of RF signals, a plurality of low-frequency samples;
processing low-resolution representations of the plurality of low-frequency-samples collected over a plurality of sampling instances;
receiving a plurality of the generated clock signals as a plurality of received clock signals;
aligning the plurality of received clock signals for sampling at the same relative waveform position on each of the plurality of RF signals; and
generating a data analysis metric associated with the plurality of RF signals.
2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
applying a respective delay to each of the plurality of received clock signals, the respective delay being configured for aligning each of the plurality of received clock signals for sampling the plurality of RF signals at the same relative waveform position; and
providing a plurality of delayed clock signals based on applying the respective delay to each of the plurality of received clock signals.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of RF signals comprises first and second RF signals, the method further comprising:
performing phase alignment of first and second received clock signals to align sampling of the first and second RF signals.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of RF signals comprises first and second RF signals, the method further comprising:
performing amplitude alignment of first and second received clock signals to align sampling of the first and second RF signals.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of RF signals comprises first and second RF signals, the method further comprising:
performing phase alignment or amplitude alignment of first and second received clock signals to align sampling of the input RF signal and the corresponding output RF signal.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising producing the low-frequency samples at a sub-Nyquist sampling rate.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the clock signal has a clock rate that is asynchronous to the RF signal.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising producing the low-frequency samples at a sampling rate that is asynchronous to the RF signal.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the plurality of low-frequency samples is performed using low-power sample-and-hold sampling.
10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
conditioning one or more of the plurality of RF signals prior to producing the plurality of low-frequency samples.
11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing the generated data analysis metric to optimize performance of a device-under-observation producing the RF waveform.
12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing data correlation to determine amplitude and phase relationships.
13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating the data analysis metric based on a low-resolution representation of a comparison of the plurality of low-frequency samples.
14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising processing medium-resolution representations of the plurality of low-frequency samples collected over the plurality of sampling instances.
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the data analysis metric comprises generating: relative gain; relative phase; relative distortion; voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR); voltage distribution; current distribution; or reliability protection.
16 . An apparatus comprising:
a non-transient computer-readable storage medium having executable instructions embodied thereon; and
one or more hardware processors configured to execute the instructions to:
generate a clock signal;
receive a plurality of RF signals;
produce, based on the clock signal and on the plurality of RF signals, a plurality of low-frequency samples;
process low-resolution representations of the plurality of low-frequency samples collected over a plurality of sampling instances;
receive a plurality of the generated clock signals as a plurality of received clock signals;
align the plurality of received clock signals for sampling at the same relative waveform position on each of the plurality of RF signals; and
generate a data analysis metric associated with the plurality of RF signals.
17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
apply a respective delay to each of the plurality of received clock signals, the respective delay being configured for aligning each of the plurality of received clock signals for sampling the plurality of RF signals at the same relative waveform position; and
provide a plurality of delayed clock signals based on applying the respective delay to each of the plurality of received clock signals.
18 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of RF signals comprises first and second RF signals, and wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
perform phase alignment of first and second received clock signals to align sampling of the first and second RF signals.
19 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of RF signals comprises first and second RF signals, and wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
perform amplitude alignment of first and second received clock signals to align sampling of the first and second RF signals.
20 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of RF signals comprises first and second RF signals, and wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
perform phase alignment or amplitude alignment of first and second received clock signals to align sampling of the input RF signal and the corresponding output RF signal.
21 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
produce the low-frequency samples at a sub-Nyquist sampling rate.
22 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the clock signal has a clock rate that is asynchronous to the RF signal.
23 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
produce the low-frequency samples at a sampling rate that is asynchronous to the RF signal.
24 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to provide the plurality of low-frequency samples using low-power sample-and-hold sampling.
25 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
condition one or more of the plurality of RF signals prior to producing the plurality of low-frequency samples.
26 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
provide the generated data analysis metric to optimize performance of a device-under-observation producing the RF waveform.
27 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
perform data correlation to determine amplitude and phase relationships.
28 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
generate the data analysis metric based on a low-resolution representation of a comparison of the plurality of low-frequency samples.
29 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to:
process medium-resolution representations of the plurality of low-frequency samples collected over the plurality of sampling instances.
30 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to execute the instructions to generate the data analysis metric by generating: relative gain; relative phase; relative distortion; voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR); voltage distribution; current distribution; or reliability protection.