Modern analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) used in radio frequency receiver applications can operate at very high speeds, such as at 3 GHz. However, the fast Fourier transform chip, based on a complex transformation principle, following many known ADCs in digital signal receiver applications, cannot operate at such high speeds due to the complexity of computing the number of sample points examined. The conventional approach to building a wideband digital receiver is to use a polyphase filter to slow down the operation speed of the fast Fourier transform. A specific example to illustrate using a polyphase filter to slow down operation of the fast Fourier transform follows.
The ADC used in this example operates at 3 GHz with 8 bits. A fast Fourier transform is performed on 256 points of digitized data. This fast Fourier transform operation can be written can be written as
where x(n) is the digitized input data and N=256. If the output frequency is decimated by 8, k=0, 8, 16, . . . 248 are kept. That is, there are a total of 32 (256/8) outputs. The result from Eq. 1 can be written as
First, arbitrarily consider two frequency components k=16 and k=248 and rewrite them in slightly different form. The results are
and
In the above equations the relation of e−j2πn=1 when n=integer is used. Now consider a new quantity, y(n) as
where n=0 to 31. The quantity y(n) represents the values in the bracket of Eqs (3) and (4). Each y value contains a total of 8 data points. This operation is graphically represented in
Using these y(n) values, the results from Eq. (2) can be rewritten as
All these equations can be written into one as
where k=0, 1, 2, . . . , 31; and n=0, 1, 2, . . . , 31.
The output X(8k) can be relabeled as Y(k), thus, Eq. 7 can be written as
Equation 8 represents a 32-point fast Fourier transform. In order to obtain the outputs of a 256-point fast Fourier transform decimated by 8 on the output, a 32-point fast Fourier transform can achieve the goal. Thus, the design of the fast Fourier transform can be simplified. However, the input signal must be manipulated in order to obtain the desired result.
Further, consider that if one wants to perform an N-point fast Fourier transform and the outputs in the frequency domain are decimated by M, one can achieve the goal by performing a N/M point fast Fourier transform. For this example, a new input format y(n) must be built first. The generalization of the y(n) can be written as
where n=0, 1, 2, . . . (N/M)−1. The outputs in the frequency domain can be obtained as
This illustrates that when the fast Fourier transform outputs are decimated by M, the outputs can be obtained from N/M point fast Fourier transform. This allows the design of a fast Fourier transform chip to be simplified tremendously.
If the fast Fourier transform uses 256 data points but only every one-eighth of the outputs are kept, there are a total of 32 outputs, and 16 of them carry redundant information. Therefore, only 16 outputs are displayed in
To widen the individual filters and at the same time suppress the side lobes, a window (or weighting) function can be applied to the input data. There are many different window functions. The one used in the present example is the Parks-McClellan window because it can provide the desired frequency response. The relative amplitude of the window function is shown in
The input data x(n) will be modified by the window function h(n). The resulting data xm(n) used as the input of the fast Fourier transform can be written as
xm(n)=x(n)h(n) (11)
where n=0, 1, 2, . . . , 255. As stated previously, the outputs are decimated by 8. Under this condition the modified data can be used in Equation (5) to find the y(n) as
where n=0, 1, 2, . . . (N/M)−1. A few y(n) terms are written as
y(0)=x(0)h(0)+x(32)h(32)+ . . . +x(224)h(224)
y(1)=x(1)h(1)+x(33)h(33)+ . . . +x(225)h(225)
If a 32-point fast Fourier transform is performed on these y(n) values, 16 individual filters will be generated. Each filter shape is as shown in
Now let us consider in more detail the process to generate the y(n) values. Each of these values can be generated from the convolution output of a filter with the input signal. The 256-point window function in the time domain can be written as
h(n)=h(255)δ(n)+h(254)δ(n−1)+h(253)δ(n−2)+ . . . +h(0)δ(n−255) (14)
where the δ function indicates the h(n) value occurs at time n. The impulse sequence of the filter is written in an inverse way. This impulse function can generate the results from Equation (13) through convolution with the input signal. Since the window function shown in
h0(n)=h(224)δ(n)+h(192)δ(n−1)+h(160)δ(n−2)+ . . . +h(0)δ(n−7)
h1(n)=h(225)δ(n)+h(193)δ(n−1)+h(161)δ(n−2)+ . . . +h(1)δ(n−7)
The next time the 32-point fast Fourier transform is performed, the input y(n) values to the fast Fourier transform are
y(0)=x(32)h(0)+x(64)h(32)+ . . . +x(256)h(224)
y(1)=x(33)h(1)+x(65)h(33)+ . . . +x(257)h(225)
Each individual filter in
The shape of the filter bank is shown in
To improve the single signal frequency resolution, a phase comparator is used at every output. For example, there are two signals and both are in channel 5 as shown in
The present invention uses narrow-band monobit receivers after a digital filter bank to separate simultaneous signals in one channel. Placing the monobit receiver at the filter outputs improves receiver performance.
a shows a time domain response of a Parks-McClellan window.
b shows a frequency domain response of a Parks-McClellan window.
a shows a four-point kernel function arrangement of the invention.
b shows an eight-point kernel function arrangement of the invention.
The present invention uses narrow-band monobit receivers after a digital filter bank to separate simultaneous signals in one channel. The invention improves the capability of wideband digital receivers.
One important factor in building this receiver is the bandwidth of the monobit receiver. In order to process signals falling between channels, the monobit receiver should have a bandwidth wider than 93.75 MHz. One simple approach to increase the bandwidth is to double it to 187.5 MHz, which can be accomplished by doubling the output sampling frequency.
The relation between(1)
K=MI (17)
where K is the output frequency bins, M is the number of data points shifting per fast Fourier transform operation and I is an integer, which is referred to as the over sampling ratio. In this discussion K=32, M=16 and I=2.
When the filter reaches steady state, the input to the fast Fourier transform operator is the same as Equation (13). However, the second cycle of the fast Fourier transform operates, the input is different from the result of Equation (16), the desired results are
y(0)=x(16)h(0)+x(48)h(32)+ . . . +x(240)h(224)
y(1)=x(17)h(1)+x(49)h(33)+ . . . +x(241)h(225)
The output starts from x(16) instead of starting from x(32). This discussion is similar to the discussion in reference 2.
As shown in
A simulation demonstrates operational performance of the digital filter followed by monobit receivers arrangement of the present invention. The digital filters are generated through fast Fourier transform operation. The filter shape is the same as shown in
The channels with signals are processed with the monobit receivers. Only the highest two bits from the real and imaginary parts are used as the input of the monobit receiver. This operation should be equivalent to putting a limiting amplifier at the filter output, although a real limiting amplifier cannot operate on complex signals. This limiting action destroys the amplitude information on the input signals, thus, a threshold is needed at the channel output as discussed in the previous paragraph. In the time domain every 16 outputs from a certain frequency bin are used as one input frame of the monobit receiver. Since the output-sampling rate is 187.5 MHz, the time to collect 16 samples is about 85 ns (16/187.5×106). This is the same time to collect 256 input data points because 256/3×109 also equal to 85 ns. Thus, both the digital filter and the monobit receiver process 256 input data points. Since there are only 16 inputs to a monobit receiver the design can be very simple. There are 16 outputs because the inputs are complex. These 16 outputs cover a bandwidth of 187.5 MHz thus, each individual output of the monobit receiver is about 11.72 MHz (187.5/16). This implies that the receiver can separate two signals separated by about 12 MHz. However, if the amplitudes of the two signals from a wide-band digital filter are separated more the 5 dB, the receiver will miss the weak signal.
Since the fast Fourier transform operation only takes 16 input points, both the Kernel functions in
In the above example, each channel has a width of 11.72 MHz. These bandwidths are narrow enough to separate two simultaneous signals, but not fine enough to report a frequency reading. It is desirable to have the capability to report a finer frequency reading. The finer frequency reading can be obtained by using a phase comparator after the monobit receiver.
Using this approach a single frequency resolution of about 0.5 MHz should be achievable. In order to obtain this resolution the pulse width must increase to a minimum of 512 data points at the input of the receiver, which is about 171 ns.
While the apparatus and method herein described constitute a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise form of apparatus or method and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the appended claims.
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States for all governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty.
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