The disclosures herein relate generally to wireless communication systems and more particularly to the detection of frequency burst signals used in such systems.
Mobile wireless communications systems, such as GSM/GPRS (Global System Mobile/General Packet Radio Service) systems, include base stations that can communicate with large numbers of mobile stations. The base stations periodically transmit a reference signal known as a frequency burst (FB) on a broadcast control channel (BCCH) to enable the mobile stations to synchronize with the base stations. The purposes of the frequency burst are twofold, namely frequency synchronization and coarse timing. First, with respect to frequency synchronization of the mobile station, the frequency burst enables correction of the frequency offset or error between the local carrier frequency of the mobile station and the carrier frequency of the base station. Second, with respect to coarse timing, approximate time alignment with the beginning of the frequency burst is performed so that a fine tuning can be conducted in the later acquisition of a sync burst (SB) from the base station.
As the radio frequency bands employed for wireless communication become more crowded, the possibility of interference from other radio frequency sources has increased substantially. For example, it is possible that a GSM wireless network may need to co-exist with legacy analog cellular networks and other digital cellular networks in the same frequency band. For this reason, a frequency burst acquisition technique should be able to distinguish between a frequency burst and a continuous wave (CW) signal or a very narrowband signal of other potential interfering systems.
A key factor in frequency burst acquisition by the mobile station is its ability to tolerate a wide range of frequency offset. Frequency offset in the mobile station is typically caused by temperature variation of the crystal that is used as a time base reference for the mobile station. Even when crystal accuracy is enhanced in a digital compensated crystal oscillator (DCXO), the undesired offset may still be substantial due to factors such as crystal aging, factory calibration inaccuracy and temperature variation. Expensive crystals tend to be more accurate but less desirable from the price perspective. Inexpensive crystals are more susceptible to offset problems but are more desirable from the price perspective.
What is needed is an apparatus and methodology which achieves accurate frequency burst acquisition with large frequency offset tolerance. Moreover, it is desirable that this be achieved while using relatively inexpensive crystals or other references as time bases.
Accordingly, in one embodiment, a method is disclosed for acquiring a radio frequency burst (FB) signal in a wireless communication device. The method includes receiving a signal to provide a received signal that is an FB candidate. The method further includes determining autocorrelation function values of the received signal. The method also includes determining if the autocorrelation function values of the received signal exhibit a substantial peak. The method further includes designating the received signal as an FB signal if the autocorrelation function values thereof exhibit a substantial peak.
In another embodiment, a method is disclosed for acquiring a radio frequency burst (FB) signal in a wireless communication device. The method includes receiving a signal to provide a received signal. The method also includes filtering the received signal with an FB filter when performing an FB search. The method further includes designating the received signal as an FB signal if autocorrelation function values thereof exhibit a substantial peak.
In yet another embodiment, a method is disclosed for acquiring a radio frequency burst (FB) signal in a wireless communication device. The method includes receiving a signal and filtering the received signal with an FB filter while performing an FB search. The method further includes designating the received signal as an FB if autocorrelation function values thereof exhibit a substantial peak. Filtering by the FB filter is performed until an FB is detected for the received signal. However, in this embodiment, once an FB is detected, then the received signal is filtered with a normal channelization filter.
The appended drawings illustrate only exemplary embodiments of the invention and therefore do not limit its scope, because the inventive concepts lend themselves to other equally effective embodiments.
SAW filter 110 is coupled to an RF transceiver subsystem 115, the receiver 120 of which is illustrated in
The in phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components are converted from analog signals to digital signals by analog to digital converters (ADCs) 155 and 160, respectively. The resultant digital I and digital Q signals are then provided to a digital mixer 165 which is coupled to a low intermediate frequency block 170 to down-convert the digital I and Q signals to baseband frequencies. A dual mode filter 175 is coupled to digital mixer 165 to separate the I and Q signals at baseband from adjacent signals outside of the pass bands of the filter. In conventional designs, a filter is normally centered on the nominal carrier frequency where the mobile station is operating. To include the desired signal within the pass band, the bandwidth of the filter needs to be large enough to cover the worst cases with maximum positive and maximum negative frequency offset. By doing so, an inherent disadvantage is that it reduces isolation from adjacent channel signals, which can leak into the pass band and act as interference sources. The GSM/GPRS specification defines an FB signal to be positioned at approximately 67.7 kHz beyond the nominal carrier frequency. In the disclosed embodiment, an FB search custom filter 175A is employed when the frequency offset can be relatively large. The center frequency of this custom filter 175A is chosen to be between the nominal carrier frequency and the corresponding FB frequency, and the bandwidth of the filter is narrower than for the reception of other types of GSM/GPRS burst, such as synchronization burst (SB) and normal burst (NB). Hence, the custom filter 175A is less vulnerable to adjacent interference and also passes the desired FB signal, even if the frequency error is relatively large. In the embodiment described above, the custom filter 175A is an asymmetric complex filter, which is more expensive to implement in comparison with a symmetric real filter. A preferable alternative filter 175A is a symmetric, real-valued narrow-band custom filter wherein its pass-band is shifted by biasing the synthesizer frequency away from the nominal value. In this way, the resulting filter is centered on the biased synthesizer frequency and thus the asymmetric filter described above can be implemented as a symmetric real filter plus a synthesizer frequency bias.
More specifically, during initial acquisition when frequency offset can be relatively large, an FB search custom filter 175A is switched into use, or otherwise activated. Additionally, the local frequency generated from DCXO 130 is intentionally biased away from the nominal value on which the mobile station is operating. The bias value and the bias direction are pre-defined and directly related with the design of the FB custom filter 175A. Once frequency synchronization is achieved, channelization filter 175B is switched into use during subsequent FB searches and the frequency bias is not applied. During reception of synchronization burst (SB) and normal burst (NB), the channelization filter 175B is switched into use, or otherwise activated, as filter 175. In one embodiment, when FB search filter 175A is active, channelization filter 175B is inactive, and vice versa. One FB search filter 175A that may be employed as filter 175 is a combination of two cascaded filters working at different sampling rates. FB search filter 175A has a bandwidth that is narrower than the bandwidth of channelization filter 175B. Channelization filter 175B is a low pass filter exhibiting a bandwidth wider than narrowband FB filter 175A, namely a bandwidth appropriate for normal reception of GSM voice and data signals.
The I and Q outputs of filter 175 are coupled to RF receiver interface 180. It is noted that the I and Q outputs of filter 175 are also outputs of transceiver subsystem 115. RF receiver interface 180 includes an FB circular buffer 182 which is configured to store I and Q samples that are supplied thereto by receiver 120.
The I and Q outputs of RF receiver interface 180 are coupled to frequency burst (FB) search hardware 185 which determines the location of the frequency burst (FB) when receiver 120 is first set to a particular frequency channel. FB search hardware 185 is located in baseband subsystem 190. The I and Q outputs of RF receiver interface 180 are also coupled to a digital signal processor (DSP) 200 which executes a frequency offset estimation process 205 to adjust the frequency of receiver 120 when a search for the FB is conducted.
FB search hardware 185 includes an autocorrelation (ACOR) computation unit 195 to which the I and Q outputs of receiver interface 180 are coupled. Any DC offset which the I and Q signals may contain can be removed in ACOR unit 195 based on the value in DC offset register 246 as programmed by MCU 125. One purpose of FB search hardware 185 is to distinguish between a desired FB signal on a particular channel from an interferer. On the GSM/GPRS broadcast control channel (BCCH), each FB lasts for one time slot while other types of bursts generated from quasi-random data are transmitted prior to and after the FB. Thus, a relatively sharp or relatively high peak appears in the magnitude of the ACOR coefficients of the received signal when it reaches the end of an FB. Once the position of this substantial ACOR peak is determined, coarse timing of the FB is achieved. An interferer may be a so-called “continuous wave” (CW) signal or other similar undesired narrowband signal or carrier associated with existing analog cellular systems or other digital systems. It is noted that for a CW signal or other similar undesired narrowband signal, that type of signal persists much longer in time than an FB signal which is a burst. By observing the profile of ACOR values of the received signal, the disclosed FB search hardware 190 can distinguish between the desired GSM signal and a narrowband interferer.
FB search hardware 185 includes an FB location state machine section 210 that performs profile matching to find the sharp peak in the ACOR function values i.e. the ACOR coefficients, mentioned above. FB location state machine section 210 includes an FB location state machine with CW detection 215 and an FB location state machine without CW detection 220 to determine the location of the FB from information provided thereto by ACOR computation unit 195. Once the FB is located, an automatic frequency correction (AFC) unit 225 of a synchronization state machine 230 in MCU 125 uses this result to adjust the DCXO programming value. This indirectly changes the carrier frequency of RF receiver 115 by making adjustments to a 26 MHz clock associated with frequency synthesizer 140. The disclosed methodology can accommodate relatively large carrier frequency offsets. In practice, this means that less expensive crystals 135 may be employed as frequency references in system 100. Such crystals tend to have wider tolerance and thus be more prone to undesired offsets.
Synchronization state machine 230 of MCU 125 includes an FB scheduling unit 235 which controls the timing and duration of the search window during which receiver 120 is activated to listen for FB on the desired channel. As will be discussed in more detail below, it is noted that DSP 200 and MCU 125 are not always activated. Rather, to reduce digital noise that could impact reception, when receiver 120 is active, DSP 200 and MCU 125 are inactive. Then later, after receiver 120 is deactivated, DSP 200 and MCU 125 can be activated. This is a type of time domain isolation (TDI) wherein RF activities are generally isolated in time from digital processing activities. Time domain isolation is described in the copending patent U.S. patent application entitled “Highly Integrated Radio-Frequency Apparatus and Associated Methods”, inventors Navdeep S. Sooch and G. Tyson Tuttle, Ser. No. 10/426,042 filed Apr. 29, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. A time domain isolation window (TDI window) is a period of time during which RF activity is isolated from digital activity that is performed at other times. A system timer unit (STU) 240 is coupled to MCU 125 to receive system timing instructions therefrom. In one embodiment STU 240 is always on. STU 240 includes a power down (POWER DOWN) output 240A which is coupled to transceiver 115 so that receiver 120 can be activated or inactivated. In one embodiment, STU 240 generates a POWER DOWN signal which controls when the RF circuitry is active and inactive. It is noted that the RF circuitry 115 can include not only receiver circuitry, but also transmitter circuitry. The POWER DOWN signal can be used to control the activation and inactivation of both receiver and transmitter circuitry. STU 240 also includes an FB_Search_Enable output 240B which is coupled to FB search hardware 185 so that hardware 185 can be instructed that an FB search window is open and that an FB search is to be commenced. In one embodiment, receiver 120 is active during the search window.
More detail is now provided with respect to the subsystems and other components of wireless communication system 100. As mentioned above, FB search hardware 185 includes an autocorrelation (ACOR) computation unit 195 that determines the autocorrelation results or values with respect to the signal received by receiver 120 in real time when receiver 120 is active and DSP 200 and MCU 125 are inactive. A sharp or substantial peak in the magnitude of the ACOR results or values of the received signal indicates that an FB has been received. More specifically, this sharp peak corresponds to the end of an FB. Such a peak is substantial relative to the ACOR values adjacent the peak, namely before and after the peak. Once the position of this peak is determined, coarse timing of the FB is accomplished. The ACOR results, i.e. the ACOR Ratios or values, can be determined by using either Equation 1 or Equation 2 below. In one embodiment, ACOR computation unit 195 calculates the magnitude of the autocorrelation value by using 144 baud-rate symbols in a sliding window. A delay lag of 8 symbols is used and the sliding window advances 9 symbols at a time. More particularly, nine symbols are averaged and every nine symbols the oldest of the nine symbol averages in a collection of sixteen is replaced by the newest average, and the ACOR of the resulting 144 bits is performed as indicated in Equation 2 below. In one embodiment, a post-normalized ACOR value, Ratiopost[i], is determined according to Equation 1:
wherein 8 is the autocorrelation delay of 8 GSM symbols;
wherein Ratiopost[i] is computed at 1/9 of the GSM symbol rate, the symbol index “k” being advanced by 9 each time. The summation for the numerator is performed in a time window k=[i*9, i*9+143] which contains 144 symbols. The summation for the denominator is performed in a time window k=[i*9−4, i*9+139] which also contains 144 symbols. The term, y[k], is the baud-rate sampled received signal.
In one embodiment, to improve the statistics of ACOR value in a fading environment, a pre-normalized ACOR value, Ratio[i], is determined according to Equation 2:
The term, y[k], is again the baud-rate sampled received signal. In this particular embodiment, the FB search conducted by the ACOR computation unit 195 determines the autocorrelation value at a fixed time delay of 8 symbols according to this equation. Time delays less than or greater than 8 symbols can also produce acceptable results provided the time delay is not so large or small that performance is substantially degraded. When the time delay is set to 8 symbols to perform the calculation indicated by Equation 2 for the pre-normalized ACOR value, Ratio[i], 9 symbols are averaged. For every 9 symbols, the oldest of the 9 symbol averages in a collection of 16 is replaced by the newest average and the ACOR value for the resulting 144 bits is determined. Thus the computation is performed every 9 samples. The initial average is over 9 samples and thus there are 8 clocks to perform the average. In one embodiment, ACOR computation unit 195 may employ a look-up table (not shown) for the pre-normalization computation, rather than applying a divide operation.
The values, Ratio[i], are supplied to the frequency burst FB location state machine section 210 so that state machine section 210 can determine if an FB has been found as well as its location. Location state machine section 210 includes an FB location state machine with CW (i.e. narrowband signal) detection 215 that determines if a signal is an FB or a CW (narrowband) signal. Location state machine section 210 also includes an FB location state machine 220 without CW detection. FB search hardware 185 is an internally programmable device which acts as a peripheral of MCU 125. MCU 125 programs the FB search hardware with DC offset register 246 for its ACOR computation unit 195, and programs it with mode control register 244 to select between state machine 215 and state machine 220, and programs it with parameter register 242 for the selected state machine. It is thus seen that the MCU assists the ACOR computation unit in locating FB by these actions. Ultimately MCU 125 provides corrective information to DCXO 130 thus indirectly enabling the operating frequency of receiver 120 to be corrected.
As seen in the state diagram of
Returning to state 101 of
The parameters Thresh, Minrise, Max_Fall_Time, and MinFall are programmable by MCU 125. For those circumstances when CW detection is not required, FB location state machine 220 commences searching for FB at state 000 of
Returning to the FB_SEARCHING state 000 of
Returning to
Once an FB is detected, DSP 200 executes a frequency offset estimation process 205 to estimate the current frequency offset of the received signal. Frequency offset estimation process 205 includes a filter bank process 205A and a single filter process 205B. When the FB is initially acquired, the frequency offset can be relatively large and in this case DSP 200 employs the filter bank of filter bank process 205A. For later received FBs after initial offset correction, the single filter of single filter process 205B may be used. The operation of filter bank 205A and filter 205B by DSP 200 are examples of noise producing digital processes that could potentially interfere with signal reception if they had been allowed to occur while RF circuitry 115 was activated. However in an embodiment discussed above, noise producing digital processes such as those carried out by MCU 125 and DSP 200 were inactivated during RF activity.
Returning to
More particularly, the FB search is performed within a search window caused by the STU raising a level sensitive enable signal (the FB_Search_Enable) which is supplied by STU 240 to the FB search hardware (FBSHW) 185. Upon finding an FB or a CW signal, the FBSHW 185 stops itself even before the window is finished. The FBSHW sets an FB_DONE flag as soon as FB or CW is detected. CW here is used in the sense of being not only a continuous wave signal, but other narrowband interfering signals as well. If no FB or CW is detected, the FB_DONE flag is set at the end of the search window. The FB_DONE flag is reset at the beginning of each new FB search window. The FB_DONE flag is sent to STU 240 and to circular buffer 182 (connection not shown). STU 240 can choose to use this flag to end the search window immediately. When an FB is detected, STU 240 uses the rising edge of the FB_DONE flag to capture the time value which is then reported back to MCU 125. In one embodiment, the reported time value refers to the number of quarter bits from the time at which a last instruction issues until the FB_DONE is asserted. Receiver interface 180 then freezes the contents of FB circular buffer 182 such as its write address and stops sending data strobes to the FB search hardware 185. Once FB or CW is detected by the FB search hardware 185, an oldest sample pointer (fbEndPointer) is provided by RF RX interface 180. FB search hardware 185 provides an fb_cnt_value (frequency burst count value) stored in FB status register 222. When the DSP starts its FB related tasks, it computes a read pointer based on fbEndPointer and fb_cnt_value and provides the read pointer to the circular buffer 182 pointing to the starting position of samples that will be used for frequency offset determination.
FB acquisition is performed in a time window also referred to above as the search window during which the RF front end, namely receiver 120 is continuously activated to receive a signal. RF activities such as just described are isolated in time from the baseband digital activities such as those performed by DSP 200. This desirably reduces noise in the receiver. This noise reduction approach is discussed in more detail in the copending patent application entitled “Wireless Communication System With Hardware-Based Frequency Burst Detection”, Attorney Docket No. 23119.11 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entity and which is filed on the same day as this patent application.
The received I and Q samples are provided to ACOR computation unit 195 via the FB circular buffer 182. ACOR computation unit 195 determines the autocorrelation function of the received samples as per block 735. FBSHW 185 and its ACOR unit 195 are active at this time. The resultant sequence of ratios or values, Ratio[i], are supplied to the frequency burst FB location state machine 210 so that state machine 210 can determine if an FB has been found as well as the location of the FB. Location state machine 210 can search for the FB in two different modes, namely a mode with CW detection and a mode without CW detection as per block 740. MCU 125 pre-programs the FB location state machine 210 with an FB search mode selection bit in mode control register 244 to instruct the location state machine to use either the mode with CW detection or the mode without CW detection to locate the FB. The FB detection result is then returned to the MCU with FB timing information after the RF circuitry is deactivated.
In
Dashed line 755 is used to provide demarcation between frequency offset estimation processes conducted by the DSP above and MCU processes below. The FB detection result and FB timing information are provided by the FB search hardware 185 to FB scheduling unit 235 in MCU 125 as per block 760. The FB scheduling unit 235 instructs STU 240 to tell FB search hardware 185 when to process I and Q samples, i.e. when to open and close the search window as per block 760. MCU 125 loads this information into STU 240 which controls FBSHW timing. In one embodiment, MCU 125 is inactive or disabled while FBSHW 185 is processing data. FB scheduling unit 235 also instructs FB hardware 185 regarding the FB search mode selection, namely whether to conduct a search with CW (narrowband signal) detection or without CW (narrowband signal) detection. DSP 200 provides the AFC unit 225 of MCU 125 with a frequency offset estimate of the current FB also as per block 760. AFC unit 225 instructs DSP 200 whether to use a filter bank 205A mode or single filter 205B mode. In other words, the DSP is provided with a frequency estimation mode selection by AFC unit 225. AFC unit 225 also provides a DCXO adjustment value to DCXO 130 to correct the frequencies at which synthesizer 140, and ultimately receiver 120, are operating. During the times when the above-described digital activities of MCU 125 and DSP 200 are being conducted, the RF circuitry is inactive to save power. It is noted that the RF circuitry can be effectively inactive if it is powered up but signals received by the RF circuitry are ignored.
A wireless communication system is thus provided that detects a frequency burst (FB) through analysis of the autocorrelation function of received signals. The system can accommodate the relatively large frequency offsets that are associated with less expensive reference frequency crystals. The system employs a multi-mode filter that is utilized as described above. In one embodiment, the FB filter is employed until an FB is located and then, once the FB is located, the channelization filter is employed to receive signals.
Modifications and alternative embodiments of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description of the invention. Accordingly, this description teaches those skilled in the art the manner of carrying out the invention and is intended to be construed as illustrative only. While GSM embodiments have been described, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the methods taught herein can be applied to other systems as well. The forms of the invention shown and described constitute the present embodiments. Persons skilled in the art may make various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts. For example, persons skilled in the art may substitute equivalent elements for the elements illustrated and described here. Moreover, persons skilled in the art after having the benefit of this description of the invention may use certain features of the invention independently of the use of other features, without departing from the scope of the invention.
This patent application is related to the U.S. patent application entitled “Highly Integrated Radio-Frequency Apparatus and Associated Methods”, inventors Navdeep S. Sooch and G. Tyson Tuttle, Ser. No. 10/426,042 filed Apr. 29, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This patent application is also related to the U.S. patent application entitled “Wireless Communication System and Method With Hardware-Based Frequency Burst Detection”, inventors Gong et al., Attorney Docket No. 23119.11 (Ser. No. ______ and filed the same day is this application) the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. This patent application is related to the U.S. patent application entitled “Wireless Communication System and Method With Frequency Burst Acquisition Feature Using Autocorrelation”, inventors Liang et al, Attorney Docket No. 23119.13 (Ser. No. ______ and filed the same day is this application) the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.