A Novel Modeling and Performance Analysis of Imperfect Quadrature Modulator in RF Transmitter

Abstract

In a wireless communication RF transmitter, the output of a quadrature modulator (QM) is distorted by not only the linear imperfection features such as in/quadrature-phase (I/Q) input gain imbalance, local phase imbalance, and local gain imbalance but also the nonlinear imperfection features such as direct current (DC) offset and mixer nonlinearity related to in-band spurious signal. In this paper, we propose the unified QM model to analyze the combined effects of the linear and nonlinear imperfection features on the performance of the QM. The unified QM model consists of two identical nonlinear systems and modified I/Q inputs based on the two-port nonlinear mixer model. The unified QM model shows that the output signals can be expressed by mixer circuit parameters such as intercept point and gain as well as the imperfection features. The proposed approach is validated by not only simulation but also measurement.