Communications device with concurrent operation in 5GHZ and 6GHZ U-NII frequency ranges

Abstract

Communications devices are disclosed. A communications device includes an unlicensed national information infrastructure frequency range 1 (U-NII-1) to U-NII-2A transceiver coupled to a first antenna though a U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter, and a U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 transceiver coupled to a second antenna though a U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter.

Description

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHTS AND TRADE DRESS

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

Field

This disclosure relates to radio frequency filters using acoustic wave resonators, and specifically to filters for use in communications equipment.

Description of the Related Art

A radio frequency (RF) filter is a two-port device configured to pass some frequencies and to stop other frequencies, where “pass” means transmit with relatively low signal loss and “stop” means block or substantially attenuate. The range of frequencies passed by a filter is referred to as the “pass-band” of the filter. The range of frequencies stopped by such a filter is referred to as the “stop-band” of the filter. A typical RF filter has at least one pass-band and at least one stop-band. Specific requirements on a passband or stop-band depend on the specific application. For example, a “pass-band” may be defined as a frequency range where the insertion loss of a filter is better than a defined value such as 1 dB, 2 dB, or 3 dB. A “stop-band” may be defined as a frequency range where the rejection of a filter is greater than a defined value such as 20 dB, 30 dB, 40 dB, or greater depending on application.

RF filters are used in communications systems where information is transmitted over wireless links. For example, RF filters may be found in the RF front-ends of cellular base stations, mobile telephone and computing devices, satellite transceivers and ground stations, IoT (Internet of Things) devices, laptop computers and tablets, fixed point radio links, and other communications systems. RF filters are also used in radar and electronic and information warfare systems.

RF filters typically require many design trade-offs to achieve, for each specific application, the best compromise between performance parameters such as insertion loss, rejection, isolation, power handling, linearity, size and cost. Specific design and manufacturing methods and enhancements can benefit simultaneously one or several of these requirements.

Performance enhancements to the RF filters in a wireless system can have broad impact to system performance. Improvements in RF filters can be leveraged to provide system performance improvements such as larger cell size, longer battery life, higher data rates, greater network capacity, lower cost, enhanced security, higher reliability, etc. These improvements can be realized at many levels of the wireless system both separately and in combination, for example at the RF module, RF transceiver, mobile or fixed sub-system, or network levels.

High performance RF filters for present communication systems commonly incorporate acoustic wave resonators including surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators, bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators, film bulk acoustic wave resonators (FBAR), and other types of acoustic resonators. However, these existing technologies are not well-suited for use at the higher frequencies and bandwidths proposed for future communications networks.

The desire for wider communication channel bandwidths will inevitably lead to the use of higher frequency communications bands. Radio access technology for mobile telephone networks has been standardized by the 3GPP (3^rd Generation Partnership Project). Radio access technology for 5^th generation mobile networks is defined in the 5G NR (new radio) standard. The 5G NR standard defines several new communications bands. Two of these new communications bands are n77, which uses the frequency range from 3300 MHz to 4200 MHz, and n79, which uses the frequency range from 4400 MHz to 5000 MHz. Both band n77 and band n79 use time-division duplexing (TDD), such that a communications device operating in band n77 and/or band n79 use the same frequencies for both uplink and downlink transmissions. Bandpass filters for bands n77 and n79 must be capable of handling the transmit power of the communications device.

The Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band, as defined by the United States Federal Communications Commission, is the portion of the radio frequency spectrum from 5.15 GHz to 7.125 GHz. The U-NII band is used by wireless local area networks (WLANs) and by many wireless Internet service providers. U-NII consists of eight ranges. Portions of U-NII-1 through U-NII-4 are used for 5 GHz WLANs based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Standard 802.11a and newer standards (commonly referred to as 5 GHz Wi-Fi®). U-NII-5 though U-NII-8 are allocated for 6 GHz WLANs based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Standard 802.11ax (commonly referred to a 6 GHz Wi-Fi). The U-NII frequency ranges also require high frequency and wide bandwidth bandpass filters.

The Transversely-Excited Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (XBAR) is an acoustic resonator structure for use in microwave filters. The XBAR is described in U.S. Pat. No. 10,491,291, titled TRANSVERSELY EXCITED FILM BULK ACOUSTIC RESONATOR. An XBAR resonator comprises an interdigital transducer (IDT) formed on a thin floating layer, or diaphragm, of a single-crystal piezoelectric material. The IDT includes a first set of parallel fingers, extending from a first busbar and a second set of parallel fingers extending from a second busbar. The first and second sets of parallel fingers are interleaved. A microwave signal applied to the IDT excites a shear primary acoustic wave in the piezoelectric diaphragm. XBAR resonators provide very high electromechanical coupling and high frequency capability. XBAR resonators may be used in a variety of RF filters including band-reject filters, band-pass filters, duplexers, and multiplexers. XBARs are well suited for use in filters for communications bands with frequencies above 3 GHz.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the defined U-NII frequency ranges.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of portions of a communication device with concurrent operation in 5 GHz and 6 GHz U-NII frequency ranges.

FIG. 3 is a graph of the input-output transfer function S2,1 of exemplary coexistence bandpass filters for the radio of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another communications device with concurrent operation in 5 GHz and 6 GHz U-NII frequency ranges.

Throughout this description, elements appearing in figures are assigned three-digit or four-digit reference designators, where the two least significant digits are specific to the element and the one or two most significant digit is the figure number where the element is first introduced. An element that is not described in conjunction with a figure may be presumed to have the same characteristics and function as a previously-described element having the same reference designator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Description of Apparatus

FIG. 1 is a chart depicting the U-NII frequency spectrum, which is divided into 8 frequency ranges designated U-NII-1 through U-NII-8. U-NII-2 is divided into three portions, or sub-ranges, designated U-NII-2A, U-NII-2B, and U-NII-2C. Almost all of the U-NII frequency spectrum is allocated for WLANs (and other applications) with the exception of U-NII-2B and a small frequency band around 5.925 GHz (the upper edge of U-NII-4 and the lower edge of U-NII-5). The unallocated portions of the U-NII spectrum are cross-hatched in FIG. 1.

It is desirable for a communications device to be able to concurrently use more than one portion of the U-NII spectrum. However, concurrent use, or coexistence of two or more portions of the spectrum requires a corresponding number of filters to distinguish between the portions. Each filter would be required to pass a respective portion of the spectrum while blocking the other portions. Such filters are called “coexistence filters” in this patent.

Realizable RF filters transition between pass-bands and stop-bands over a finite frequency range. The unallocated frequency range between U-NII-4 and U-NII-5 is, at most, 50 MHz, which is much smaller than the transition frequency range for coexistence filters having an acceptable size and cost for a portable communications device. Unallocated frequency range U-NII-2B covers 120 MHz. Additionally, the upper 10 MHz of range U-NII-2A and the lowest 10 MHz of U-NII-2C are not used by WLAN channels defined by IEEE Standard 802.11. The total un-used spectrum of 140 MHz is sufficient for coexistence filters to allow concurrent operation of WLANs in the U-NII-1/U-NII-2A spectrum and WLANs in the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 spectrum.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of portions of a communications device 200 capable of concurrent communications in two portions of the U-NII spectrum. Specifically, the communications device 200 can communicate in the U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A spectrum and concurrently communicate in the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 spectrum.

The communications device 200 includes a U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A transceiver (transmitter/receiver) 210 coupled to an antenna 225 via a U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter 220. The U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A transceiver 210 includes a transmitter, a receiver, and a transmit/receive switch to select which of the transmitter and receiver is connected to the coexistence filter 220 at any given time. The U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A transceiver 210 typically also includes one or more digital processors performing processing functions such as digital signal processing and media access control functions. The U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter 220 is configured to pass (i.e. transmit with acceptably low loss) the U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A frequency spectrum and stop (i.e., adequately attenuate) the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 frequency spectrum.

The communications device 200 also includes a U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 transceiver (transmitter/receiver) 230 coupled to an antenna 245 via a U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter 240. The U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 transceiver 230 includes a transmitter, a receiver, and a transmit/receive switch to select which of the transmitter and receiver is connected to the coexistence filter 240 at any given time. The U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 transceiver 230 typically also includes one or more digital processors performing processing functions such as digital signal processing and media access control functions. The U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter 240 is configured to pass (i.e. transmit with acceptably low loss) the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 frequency spectrum and stop (i.e., adequately attenuate) the U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A frequency spectrum.

In some applications the antennas 225, 245 may be a common antenna, in which case the coexistence filters 220, 240 perform the function of a diplexer. In some applications, processing functions required by the transceivers 210, 230 may be performed by a common processor.

FIG. 3 is a chart 300 of idealized characteristics of exemplary coexistence filters for the communications device 200 of FIG. 2. The U-NII-1 to U-NII-8 frequency ranges are identified for reference.

The solid curve 310 is a plot of idealized characteristics of a U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter. The U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter has a pass-band from less than 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHz and a stop-band from 5.48 GHz to greater than 7.125 GHz. In this example, the input/output transfer function (S2,1) of the filters is required to be greater than −3 dB in the pass-band and less than −50 dB in the stop-band. These requirements are exemplary and specific applications may have other requirements.

The dashed curve 320 is a plot of idealized characteristics of a U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter. The U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter has a pass-band from 5.48 GHz to at least 7.125 GHz and a stop-band from 5.34 GHz to less than 5.15 GHz. In this example, the input/output transfer function (S2,1) of the filters is required to be greater than −3 dB in the pass-band and less than −50 dB in the stop-band. These requirements are exemplary and specific applications may have other requirements.

The width of the pass-band of the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter is 1645 MHz, which is 26% of its center frequency of 6300 MHz. A bandpass filter with 26% fractional bandwidth may be implemented using transversely-excited film bulk acoustic resonators (XBARs). For example, co-pending patent application Ser. No. 17/189,246, titled SPLIT-LADDER BAND N77 FILTER USING TRANSVERSELY-EXCITED FILM BULK ACOUSTIC RESONATORS, describes an XBAR bandpass filter with 24% fractional bandwidth for 5G NR band n77. A similar filter may be shifted in frequency and optimized for the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter.

Portable communications devices are increasingly using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radio architectures to increase communications bandwidth. MIMO radios use multiple receive channels and/or multiple transmit channels within a common frequency band. MIMO radios are commonly described as M×N, where M is the number of receive channels and N is the number of transmit channels. For example, the communications device of FIG. 2 could be described as two 1×1 MIMO radios since there is only a single transmit channel and a single receive channel in each frequency range. MIMO radio architectures currently in use include 2×2 (two receive and two transmit channels), 4×2 (four receive and two transmit channels) and 4×4 (four receive and four transmit channels).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of portions of another communications device 400 capable of concurrent communications in two portions of the U-NII spectrum. Specifically, the communications device 400 includes a 4×4 MIMO radio 410 for communications in the U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A spectrum and a 4×4 MIMO radio 430 for concurrent communications in the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 spectrum.

The U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A radio 410 includes a U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A transmit/receive (TRX) processor 412 and four channels. Each channel includes a respective U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A RF front end (RFFE) 415A, 415B, 415C, 415D coupled to a respective antenna 425A, 425B, 425C, 425D via a respective U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter (CF) 420A, 420B, 420C, 420D. The U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A transmit/receive (TRX) processor 412 may include, for example, various processors and processing functions such as one or more digital signal processors and a processor performing a media access control (MAC) function. Each U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A RF front end (RFFE) 415A, 415B, 415C, 415D may include a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, a transmit/receive switch, and D/A and A/D converters.

The U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 radio 430 includes a U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 TRX processor 432 and four channels. Each channel includes a respective U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 RF front end 435A, 435B, 435C, 435D coupled to a respective antenna 445A, 445B, 445C, 445D via a respective U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter 440A, 440B, 440C, 440D. The U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 transmit/receive (TRX) processor 432 may include, for example, various processors and processing functions such as one or more digital signal processors and a processor performing a media access control (MAC) function. Each U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 RF front end 435A, 435B, 435C, 435D may include a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, a transmit/receive switch, and D/A and A/D converters.

In some applications some or all of the antennas 425A-D, 445A-D may be common to both the U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A and U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 transceivers, in which case the respective coexistence filters 420A-D, 440A-D act as diplexers. In some applications, processing functions required by the transceivers 410, 430 may be performed, at least in part, by one or more common processors. In radio configurations, such as 4×2 MIMO, where some channels are only used for reception, the corresponding RFFE will not include a power amplifier or A/D converter.

Closing Comments

Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus and procedures disclosed or claimed. Although many of the examples presented herein involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understood that those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to accomplish the same objectives. With regard to flowcharts, additional and fewer steps may be taken, and the steps as shown may be combined or further refined to achieve the methods described herein. Acts, elements and features discussed only in connection with one embodiment are not intended to be excluded from a similar role in other embodiments.

As used herein, “plurality” means two or more. As used herein, a “set” of items may include one or more of such items. As used herein, whether in the written description or the claims, the terms “comprising”, “including”, “carrying”, “having”, “containing”, “involving”, and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”, respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims. Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements. As used herein, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives, but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items.

Claims

1. A communications device, comprising: an unlicensed national information infrastructure frequency range 1 (U-NII-1) to U-NII-2A transceiver coupled to a first antenna through a U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter; anda U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 transceiver coupled to a second antenna through a U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter,wherein a subrange of U-NII-2B defines an unused frequency spectrum of the communication device between the subrange U-NII-2A and the subrange U-NII-2C such that the respective coexistence filters are configured for concurrently filtering signals in the U-NII-1/U-NII-2A spectrum and the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 spectrum.

2. The communications device of claim 1, wherein the U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A transceiver operates over a frequency range of 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHz, andU-NII-2C to U-NII-8 transceiver operates over a frequency range of 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHz.

3. The communications device of claim 1, wherein the U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter has a pass-band from 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHZ, and a stop-band from 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHz.

4. The communications device of claim 3, wherein an input-output transfer function of the U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter is greater than or equal to −3 dB over a frequency range of 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHZ, and less than or equal to −50 dB over a frequency range of 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHz.

5. The communications device of claim 1, wherein the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter has a pass-band from 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHZ, and a stop-band from 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHz.

6. The communications device of claim 5, wherein an input-output transfer function of the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter is greater than or equal to −3 dB over a frequency range of 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHZ, and less than or equal to −50 dB over a frequency range of 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHz.

7. The communications device of claim 1, wherein the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter comprises a plurality of transversely-excited film bulk acoustic resonators (XBARs).

8. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are the same.

9. A communications device, comprising: an unlicensed national information infrastructure frequency range 1 (U-NII-1) to U-NII-2A multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) radio comprising one to four channels, each channel comprising a respective radio frequency front end (RFFE) coupled to a respective antenna through a respective U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter; anda U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 MIMO radio comprising one to four channels, each channel comprising a respective radio frequency front end (RFFE) coupled to a respective antenna through a respective U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filterwherein a subrange of U-NII-2B defines an unused frequency spectrum of the communication device between the subrange U-NII-2A and the subrange U-NII-2C such that the respective MIMO radios are configured for concurrently filtering signals in the U-NII-1/U-NII-2A spectrum and the U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 spectrum.

10. The communications device of claim 9, wherein the U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A MIMO radio operates over a frequency range of 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHz, andU-NII-2C to U-NII-8 MIMO radio operates over a frequency range of 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHz.

11. The communications device of claim 9, wherein each U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter has a pass-band from 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHz, and a stop-band from 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHz.

12. The communications device of claim 11, wherein an input-output transfer function of each U-NII-1 to U-NII-2A coexistence filter is greater than or equal to −3 dB over a frequency range of 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHz, and less than or equal to −50 dB over a frequency range of 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHz.

13. The communications device of claim 9, wherein each U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter has a pass-band from 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHz, and a stop-band from 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHz.

14. The communications device of claim 13, wherein an input-output transfer function of each U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter is greater than or equal to −3 dB over a frequency range of 5.48 GHz to 7.125 GHZ, and less than or equal to −50 dB over a frequency range of 5.15 GHz to 5.34 GHz.

15. The communications device of claim 9, wherein each U-NII-2C to U-NII-8 coexistence filter comprises a plurality of transversely-excited film bulk acoustic resonators (XBARs).