Harmonic mixer with multi-phase local oscillator signals for inherently linear upconversion
View Patent ↗Disclosed are example embodiments of harmonic mixer. The harmonic mixer including a multi-phase LO signal generator. Each phase of the multi-phase LO signal generator outputting an LO signal on a signal line. The harmonic mixer including a plurality of mixers. Each mixer of the plurality of mixers connected to a signal line. The mixer driven by an IF. The harmonic mixer including an output network coupled to the outputs of the plurality of mixers.
1 . A harmonic mixer, comprising:
a multi-phase LO signal generator, each phase of the multi-phase LO signal generator outputting an LO signal on a signal line;
a plurality of mixers, each mixer of the plurality of mixers connected to a signal line, the mixer driven by an intermediate frequency (IF); and an output network coupled to the outputs of the plurality of mixers,
wherein the harmonic mixer is configured to perform single-sideband (SSB) up-conversion using in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) local oscillator (LO) signals and corresponding I/Q baseband signals.
2 . The harmonic mixer of claim 1 , wherein the harmonic up-conversion mixer provides inherently linear operation.
3 . The harmonic mixer of claim 1 , wherein the multi-phase LO signal generator produces (2N+1) LO signals at the same frequency with equally spaced phase, where N is a non-negative integer greater than zero.
4 . The harmonic mixer of claim 3 , wherein the (2N+1) LO signals each drive a current steering double-balanced mixer.
5 . The harmonic mixer of claim 4 , wherein the mixer outputs are shorted together and connected to the output network, the output network comprising a generic output network for signal resonance at the desired center frequency.
6 . The harmonic mixer of claim 1 , wherein the multi-phase LO signal generator produces multi-phase LO signals using at least one of a delay-locked-loop (DLL), poly-phase filter, or phase shifter.
7 . A method in a harmonic mixer, the method comprising:
outputting an LO signal on a signal line in each phase of a multi-phase LO signal generator; driving each mixer of a plurality of mixers by an intermediate frequency (IF), each mixer of the plurality of mixers connected to a signal line; and
coupling an output network to the outputs of the plurality of mixers,
wherein the method further comprises performing single-sideband (SSB) up-conversion using in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) local oscillator (LO) signals and corresponding I/Q baseband signals.
8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising providing inherently linear operation with the harmonic up-conversion mixer.
9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising producing (2N+1) LO signals at the same frequency with equally spaced phase, where N is a non-negative integer greater than zero.
10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising driving a current steering double-balanced mixer using the (2N+1) LO signals.
11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising shorting together the mixer outputs and connected the mixer outputs to the output network, the output network comprising a generic output network for signal resonance at the desired center frequency.
12 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising producing multi-phase LO generation using at least one of a delay-locked-loop (DLL), poly-phase filter, or phase shifters.