IP Library Granted Patent US 12,566,249
Granted Patent B2
US 12,566,249 · App. 17/808,745 · Granted Mar 3, 2026

Machine learning-based radio frequency circuit calibration

Inventors: Tharun Adithya Srikrishnan (La Jolla, CA); Intae Kang (San Diego, CA); Supratik Bhattacharjee (San Diego, CA); Christos Komninakis (Solana Beach, CA); Michael Lee McCloud (San Diego, CA); Gautham Hariharan (Sunnyvale, CA); Minkui Liu (San Diego, CA); Gary John Ballantyne (Christchurch, NZ)
Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
G01S7/4008G01S13/42
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,566,249
App. No.
17/808,745
Granted
Mar 3, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for identifying a minimal, or at least reduced, set of representative calibration paths in radio frequency (RF) circuits and calibrating other calibration paths based on calibration codes used for the representative calibration paths. An example method generally includes receiving a calibration data set including measurements associated with each calibration path of a plurality of calibration paths in an RF circuit. Based on a clustering model and the calibration data set, a plurality of calibration clusters is generated. From each respective calibration cluster of the plurality of calibration clusters, a respective representative calibration path for is selected for the respective calibration cluster. Generally, calibration codes generated for the representative calibration path are applicable to other calibration paths in the calibration cluster. A lookup table is generated associating a respective calibration path with other calibration paths in each respective calibration cluster.

Claims (64)

1 . A method for radio frequency (RF) circuit calibration, comprising:

receiving a calibration data set including measurements associated with each calibration path of a plurality of calibration paths for an RF circuit;

generating, based on a clustering model and the calibration data set, a plurality of calibration clusters;

selecting, from each respective calibration cluster of the plurality of calibration clusters, a respective representative calibration path for the respective calibration cluster, wherein calibration codes generated for the respective representative calibration path are applicable to other calibration paths in the respective calibration cluster;

generating a lookup table associating, for each respective calibration cluster, the respective representative calibration path and the other calibration paths associated with the respective calibration cluster; and

deploying the lookup table to perform the RF circuit calibration.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the respective representative calibration path for the respective calibration cluster comprises:

for each respective calibration path in the respective calibration cluster, calculating an average distance between data points for the respective calibration path and other calibration paths in the respective calibration cluster; and

selecting a calibration path in the respective calibration cluster having a smallest average distance.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein a distance between a data point for the respective calibration path and another calibration path in the respective calibration cluster comprises a difference between an impairment metric measured when calibration parameters used for the respective calibration path are used to calibrate the RF circuit and an impairment metric measured when calibration parameters for the other calibration path are used to calibrate the RF circuit.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the respective calibration cluster comprises calibration paths having similar radio frequency performance metrics such that a distance between the respective representative calibration path and each calibration path in the respective calibration cluster other than the respective representative calibration path is below a threshold distance value from a target radio frequency performance metric.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the calibration data set comprises measurements associated with calibration paths from a plurality of devices; and

the clustering model is configured to generate calibration clusters including calibration paths over the plurality of devices, wherein the respective representative calibration path comprises a calibration path for which calibration codes are applicable to other calibration paths within the respective calibration cluster.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of calibration clusters comprises generating calibration clusters based on a minimization of a number of clusters into which the plurality of calibration paths in the calibration data set are classified.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of calibration clusters comprises generating a number of clusters according to a user-defined configuration parameter.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each calibration cluster comprises a cluster in an n-dimensional space, and wherein the n dimensions correspond to n calibration parameters for the RF circuit.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein n is greater than two.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein deploying the lookup table includes deploying the lookup table to an RF circuit calibration system for calibrating other examples of the RF circuit based on calibration codes generated for each representative calibration path in the lookup table.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each calibration cluster of the plurality of calibration clusters is associated with a magnitude value and a unique set of phase error measurements or gain error measurements over a set of frequency offsets from a defined center frequency.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, for each respective calibration cluster of the plurality of calibration clusters:

generating calibration codes for the respective representative calibration path associated with the respective calibration cluster,

identifying, from the lookup table, other calibration paths in the respective calibration cluster; and

calibrating the other calibration paths in the respective calibration cluster based on the generated calibration codes for the respective representative calibration path.

13 . A method for calibrating a radio frequency (RF) circuit, comprising:

generating calibration codes for a representative calibration path associated with a calibration cluster in an RF circuit;

identifying, from a lookup table associating the representative calibration path with the calibration cluster, other calibration paths in the calibration cluster for which the generated calibration codes are applicable; and

calibrating the other calibration paths in the calibration cluster based on the generated calibration codes for the representative calibration path.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein calibrating the other calibration paths comprises writing the generated calibration codes for the representative calibration path as calibration codes for each of the other calibration paths to a memory associated with the RF circuit.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein calibrating the other calibration paths comprises writing the generated calibration codes for the representative calibration path as register settings in a digital processor configured to apply adjustments to an output of the RF circuit for the other calibration paths.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein calibrating the other calibration paths comprises configuring analog components of the RF circuit for the other calibration paths based on the generated calibration codes for the representative calibration path.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the calibration codes for the representative calibration path comprise one or more of a calibration code for in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) imbalance adjustment, a calibration code associated with gain calibration, or a calibration code associated with second-order distortion in the RF circuit.

18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein each calibration cluster in the lookup table is associated with a magnitude value and a unique set of phase error measurements or gain error measurements over a set of frequency offsets from a defined center frequency.

19 . The method of claim 13 , wherein each calibration cluster comprises a cluster in an n-dimensional space, and wherein the n dimensions correspond to n calibration parameters for the RF circuit.

20 . A system, comprising:

memory having executable instructions stored thereon; and

one or more processors, individually or collectively, configured to execute the executable instructions to cause the system to:

receive a calibration data set including measurements associated with each calibration path of a plurality of calibration paths in an RF circuit;

generate, based on a clustering model and the calibration data set, a plurality of calibration clusters;

select, from each respective calibration cluster of the plurality of calibration clusters, a respective representative calibration path for the respective calibration cluster, wherein calibration codes generated for the respective representative calibration path are applicable to other calibration paths in the calibration cluster; and

generate a lookup table associating, for each respective calibration cluster, the respective representative calibration path and the other calibration paths associated with the respective calibration cluster; and

deploy the lookup table to perform radio frequency (RF) circuit calibration.

21 . The system of claim 20 , wherein:

in order to select the respective representative calibration path for the respective calibration cluster, the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to cause the system to calculate, for each respective calibration path in the respective calibration cluster, an average distance between data points for the respective calibration path and other calibration paths in the respective calibration cluster; and

in order to select the respective representative calibration path, the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to cause the system to select a calibration path in the respective calibration cluster having a smallest average distance.

22 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the respective calibration cluster comprises calibration paths having similar radio frequency performance metrics such that a distance between the respective representative calibration path and each calibration path in the respective calibration cluster other than the respective representative calibration path is below a threshold distance value from a target radio frequency performance metric.

23 . The system of claim 20 , wherein:

the calibration data set comprises measurements associated with calibration paths from a plurality of devices; and

the clustering model is configured to generate calibration clusters including calibration paths over the plurality of devices, wherein the respective representative calibration path comprises a calibration path for which calibration codes are applicable to other calibration paths within the respective calibration cluster.

24 . The system of claim 20 , wherein each calibration cluster comprises a cluster in an n-dimensional space, and wherein the n dimensions correspond to n calibration parameters for the RF circuit.

25 . The system of claim 20 , wherein, to deploy the lookup table, the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to cause the system to deploy the lookup table to an RF circuit calibration system for calibrating other examples of the RF circuit based on calibration codes generated for each representative calibration path in the lookup table.

26 . The system of claim 20 , wherein each calibration cluster of the plurality of calibration clusters is associated with a magnitude value and a unique set of phase error measurements or gain error measurements over a set of frequency offsets from a defined center frequency.

27 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are further configured to cause the system to, for each respective calibration cluster of the plurality of calibration clusters:

generate calibration codes for the respective representative calibration path associated with the respective calibration cluster;

identify, from the lookup table, other calibration paths in the respective calibration cluster; and

calibrate the other calibration paths in the respective calibration cluster based on the generated calibration codes for the respective representative calibration path.

28 . A system comprising:

memory having executable instructions stored thereon; and

one or more processors, individually or collectively, configured to execute the executable instructions in order to cause the system to:

generate calibration codes for a representative calibration path associated with a calibration cluster in a radio frequency (RF) circuit;

identify, from a lookup table associating the representative calibration path with the calibration cluster, other calibration paths in the calibration cluster for which the generated calibration codes are applicable; and

calibrate the other calibration paths in the calibration cluster based on the generated calibration codes for the representative calibration path.

29 . The system of claim 28 , wherein in order to calibrate the other calibration paths, the one or more processors, individually or collectively, are configured to write the generated calibration codes for the representative calibration path as calibration codes for each of the other calibration paths to memory associated with the RF circuit.

30 . The system of claim 28 , wherein each calibration cluster in the lookup table is associated with a magnitude value and a unique set of phase error measurements or gain error measurements over a set of frequency offsets from a defined center frequency.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 15, 2022
From: SRIKRISHNAN, THARUN ADITHYA; KANG, INTAE; BHATTACHARJEE, SUPRATIK; KOMNINAKIS, CHRISTOS; MCCLOUD, MICHAEL LEE; HARIHARAN, GAUTHAM; LIU, MINKUI; BALLANTYNE, GARY JOHN
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 060809/0512 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230417870A1 · Dec 28, 2023
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Cited By (1)
US 12,683,644