Reconfigurable Matching Network Research Articles

Reliability Analysis and Optimization of a Reconfigurable Matching Network for Communication and Sensing Antennas in Dynamic Environments through Gaussian Process Regression.

During the implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT), the performance of communication and sensing antennas that are embedded in smart surfaces or smart devices can be affected by objects in their reactive near field due to detuning and antenna mismatch. Matching networks have been proposed to re-establish impedance matching when antennas become detuned due to environmental factors. In this work, the change in the reflection coefficient at the antenna, due to the presence of objects, is first characterized as a function of the frequency and object distance by applying Gaussian process regression on experimental data. Based on this characterization, for random object positions, it is shown through simulation that a dynamic environment can lower the reliability of a matching network by up to 90%, depending on the type of object, the probability distribution of the object distance, and the required bandwidth. As an alternative to complex and power-consuming real-time adaptive matching, a new, resilient network tuning strategy is proposed that takes into account these random variations. This new approach increases the reliability of the system by 10% to 40% in these dynamic environment scenarios.

A reconfigurable dual‐band low noise amplifier for 5G in 65‐nm CMOS

AbstractIn this paper, a reconfigurable low noise amplifier (LNA) is proposed for 5G dual‐bands in a 65‐nm CMOS process. The reconfigurable function of LNA is realized by designing reconfigurable matching networks composed of transformers and MOS transistor switches. The pole characteristics of the resonant network composed of the reconfigurable network and the equivalent circuit of the amplifying device are deduced and analyzed in detail. By establishing the relationship between two reconfigurable frequencies and the ratio of transformer coil inductance under two switching states, the position of the switch and the specific parameters of the reconfigurable matching network are determined. Measurement results show small‐signal gain of 25.5 to 33.9 dB and noise figure of 3.3 to 4.3 dB at 24 to 29.5 GHz bands, and small‐signal gain of 23.5 to 27.8 dB and noise figure of 4.3 to 4.5 dB at 37 to 40 GHz bands, respectively. The chip area occupied 0.34 mm2 including pads.

A 2–10-GHz Reconfigurable GaN Power Amplifier With Average Power-Added Efficiency of 30% and Output Power of 2 W

In this brief, a 2–10 GHz reconfigurable power amplifier (PA) with power-added efficiency (PAE) of 30% and output power of 2W is proposed using commercial <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.25~\mathbf {\mu }\text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> GaN technology. It consists of two-stage amplifier transistors with reconfigurable input, inter-stage and output matching networks. By utilizing the reconfigurable matching networks, the proposed PA circuit divides the frequency band of 2–10 GHz into three continuous sub-frequency bands, and achieves high power added efficiency and gain in each sub-frequency band. As a result, the proposed PA can simultaneously maintain high efficiency and high gain and cover multioctave bandwidth. Moreover, in order to further improve the efficiency, harmonic suppression is used in low-band with open circuit impedance at third harmonic. With these techniques, the proposed PA covers frequency band of 2–10 GHz, delivers an average PAE of 38% at 2–5 GHz, 31% at 5–7 GHz, and 31.5% at 7–10 GHz. Good agreement between simulation and measurement is obtained.

Reconfigurable Multiband Operation for Wireless Devices Embedding Antenna Boosters

Wireless devices such as smart meters, trackers, and sensors need connections at multiple frequency bands with low power consumption, thus requiring multiband and efficient antenna systems. At the same time, antennas should be small to easily fit in the scarce space existing in wireless devices. Small, multiband, and efficient operation is addressed here with non-resonant antenna elements, featuring volumes less than 90 mm3 for operating at 698–960 MHz as well as some bands in a higher frequency range of 1710–2690 MHz. These antenna elements are called antenna boosters, since they excite currents on the ground plane of the wireless device and do not rely on shaping complex geometric shapes to obtain multiband behavior, but rather the design of a multiband matching network. This design approach results in a simpler, easier, and faster method than creating a new antenna for every device. Since multiband operation is achieved through a matching network, frequency bands can be configured and optimized with a reconfigurable matching network. Two kinds of reconfigurable multiband architectures with antenna boosters are presented. The first one includes a digitally tunable capacitor, and the second one includes radiofrequency switches. The results show that antenna boosters with reconfigurable architectures feature multiband behavior with very small sizes, compared with other prior-art techniques.

A Quadrature Digital Power Amplifier With Hybrid Doherty and Impedance Boosting for Complex Domain Power Back-Off Efficiency Enhancement

A quadrature digital power amplifier (PA) with hybrid Doherty and impedance boosting (HDIB) technique is presented for deep power back-off (PBO) efficiency enhancement in the complex domain. Less power-combining ways and dc power supplies are required for proposed PA comparing to previously reported works with deep PBO efficiency enhancement. A reconfigurable matching network (RMN) based on a novel reconfigurable transformer is proposed with more freedom to achieve a flexible load impedance tuning range of the sub-PAs. The characteristics of the reconfigurable transformer based on tunable inductors are analyzed. Efficiency enhancement is achieved at 3-/6-/9-/12-/15-dB PBOs without any supply switching or PA short-switches. The PA is fabricated in 40-nm CMOS technology with a core size of 0.83 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> . Operating at 2.3-3.4 GHz, it introduces 24.2-dBm peak P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">out</sub> with 38.5% peak drain efficiency (DE) at 2.8 GHz. It achieves 38.5%/29.6%/18.4% at 2.8 GHz and 34.7%/26.6%/17.8% DE at 3.3 GHz for 0-/6-/12-dB PBO, 39.3%/29.5%/14.9% at 2.8 GHz, and 35.3%/27.9%/15.9% DE at 3.3 GHz for 3-/9-/15-dB PBO, respectively. For 10-MHz 256-QAM modulation signal, it delivers 16.22-/15.50-dBm average P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">out</sub> with EVM of -32.3/-33.0 dB, average DE of 24.6%/22.7%, and ACLR of -33.20/-31.54 dBc at 2.8/3.3 GHz, respectively. For 20-MHz 64 QAM modulation signal, it exhibits 16.42-/15.52-dBm average P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">out</sub> with EVM of -29.1/-29.3 dB, average DE of 24.9%/22.78%, and ACLR of -30.78/-30.74 dBc at 2.8/3.3 GHz, respectively.

Triple-Band Concurrent Reconfigurable Matching Network

Reconfigurable Matching Networks (RMN) have found a wide range of applications, such as antenna impedance matching (Antenna Tuning Units -ATU-), the design of reconfigurable power amplifiers, applications in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), adjustable low noise amplifier design, etc. In this paper, we propose the experimental design and verification of a reconfigurable impedance synthesis network that can simultaneously work in three different bands and is completely independent so that the impedance variations in a frequency band are approximately transparent to the rest. The variable elements used in this paper are varactors. To verify its operation, it is applied to a process of matching a laser modulator in three different frequency bands for C-RAN (Cloud Radio Access Networks) applications. Experimental results demonstrate, as expected, that losses may depend on the state in which they are driven. Consequently, a state that can guarantee a good match could also imply greater losses, leading to a certain trade-off. The application of genetic algorithms in this context points out that it may be convenient to optimize the insertion losses of the complete chain instead of the return losses.

A Wideband Reconfigurable Impedance Matching Network for Complex Loads

A novel wideband reconfigurable impedance matching network is presented, which consists of a main transmission line and several switchable branch lines. The proposed network can match different complex loads at different frequency bands. A novel optimization method is proposed to calculate the circuit parameters efficiently. The calculation results indicate that the proposed impedance matching network can match a broad range of complex loads with wideband operation. For demonstration, two prototypes are designed and fabricated. Good agreement is observed between the measured and expected performances.

Broadband reconfigurable matching network using a non‐uniform transmission line

In this study, the authors propose the use of distributed elements interconnected with switches to construct a reconfigurable matching network (RMN). Several RMNs are constructed using tunable lumped elements. However, this technique increases the system complexity because of the use of digital-to-analogue converters and synthesis algorithms. In this study, the proposed RMN employs a non-uniform transmission line with adjustable characteristic impedances, which are controlled by opening or closing the switches. While previous studies on non-uniform transmission lines have aimed to investigate the fixed configurations, this topology is designed to be an RMN that satisfies the design challenges. The maximum dimension is 0.2 times the guided wavelength of the low operational frequency, and five switches are used; however, the matchable impedances cover an extensive range of the Smith chart, and the RMN successfully tunes inherently unmatched antennas to operate at a target frequency band that depicts a fractional bandwidth of 60%. Additionally, the evaluated results depict that the fabricated RMN illustrates low insertion loss and high transducer gain and that it achieves both antenna-mismatch compensation and antenna-bandwidth extension.

2-D Optimization Methodology for Reconfigurable Transmitters by Tunable Matching Networks

Since the complexity of a reconfigurable transmitter architecture increases with the number of variable parameters, a methodology to optimize architectures based on discrete reconfigurable matching networks (RMNs) is presented. A design with two RMNs and a stabilized power transistor is used to test the proposed algorithm. A band-reconfigurable efficiency-optimized power amplifier (PA) and a frequency-tunable driver amplifier are reported using the same topology and transistor under various bias. Referred to a fixed approach, not only the efficiency of the PA is improved (46.73% at 410 MHz and 45.72% at 600 MHz) but also the gain and the matching of the driver.

Efficiency enhancement by reconfigurable matching networks in LINC transmitters

This paper proposes the use of a transmitter based on a linear amplification with nonlinear components (LINC) architecture, in which the reconfigurable matching networks (RMNs) are included. By varying the RMN active cell number, it is possible to change the load impedance at the power amplifier (PA) output, improving the amplifier drain efficiency and therefore the efficiency of the whole system. A long-term evolution (LTE) downlink signal with a bandwidth of 1.4 MHz and a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of 11.48 dB is applied in order to carry out the experiments. Results show that the use of the RMNs in a LINC architecture improves the efficiency at all tested frequencies, especially at 927 MHz reaching an enhancement of 36.50%. Regarding the distortion, the adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) values increase in all cases, with an improvement of 3.5 dB at 958 MHz. Finally, in terms of error vector magnitude (EVM), the proposed architecture offers a value of 1.96% at 927 MHz.

A Fully Integrated RF CMOS Front-End IC for Connectivity Applications

A fully integrated RF CMOS front-end (FE) IC (FEIC), which is fabricated with a 0.13- $\mu\text{m}$ bulk RF CMOS process for wireless local area network/Bluetooth (WLAN/BT) applications, is presented. The proposed FEIC includes a dual-mode power amplifier (PA), integrated switches, and a shared low-noise amplifier (LNA) without external matching networks. The proposed compact reconfigurable matching network satisfies the optimum matchings for a multimode PA and a shared LNA. Measurements showed a 16.2-dBm $P_{\mathrm{OUT}}$ , with a 6.7% power-added efficiency (PAE), at −34-dB error vector magnitude, with an 802.11ac signal source, with a high-power-mode WLAN PA. With a low-power-mode BT PA, it showed a 13.7-dBm $P_{\mathrm{OUT}}$ , with a 10.9% PAE, with a 2.1+EDR signal. The shared LNA has a 14.8-dB gain and a 3.6-dB noise figure. All the measurements were carried out, including integrated mode-change switches for time-division duplex operation without any digital predistortion.

Design of Tunable Ultrasonic Receivers for Efficient Powering of Implantable Medical Devices With Reconfigurable Power Loads.

Miniaturized ultrasonic receivers are designed for efficient powering of implantable medical devices with reconfigurable power loads. Design parameters that affect the efficiency of these receivers under highly variable load conditions, including piezoelectric material, geometry, and operation frequency, are investigated. Measurements were performed to characterize electrical impedance and acoustic-to-electrical efficiency of ultrasonic receivers for off-resonance operation. Finally, we propose, analyze, and demonstrate adaptive matching and frequency tuning techniques using two different reconfigurable matching networks for typical implant loads from 10 [Formula: see text] to 1 mW. Both simulations and measurements show a significant increase in total implant efficiency (up to 50 percentage points) over this load power range when operating off-resonance with the proposed matching networks.

Reconfigurable package integrated 20 W RF power GaN HEMT with discrete thick‐film MIM BST varactors

A novel package integrated solution for gallium nitride high-electron-mobility transistors with an electronically two-dimensional reconfigurable L-section matching network is presented. Thick-film barium-strontium-titanate (BST) varactors are used to realise a tunability of the load impedance of 1:2 in resistive and 1:1.5 in reactive parts, respectively, applying tuning voltages of up to 200 V. The tuneable module achieves a peak output power of 43.2 dBm (20.9 W). Comparison with simulated results using field simulations and a large-signal model shows good agreement in terms of output power and power added efficiency and thus proves the concept of using metal–insulator–metal BST varactors for reconfigurability.

A 1.4–2.3-GHz Tunable Diplexer Based on Reconfigurable Matching Networks

An idea for implementing reconfigurable matching networks to realize a tunable diplexer is investigated and demonstrated. The reconfigurable matching networks ensure that the rejection band impedance of every filter is transformed to an open circuit over a wide range of frequencies, allowing two tunable filters to be connected together to form a tunable diplexer without affecting each other. The tunable diplexer is built using Schottky diodes and combline resonators on Duroid substrates, and can operate from 1.4 to 2.3 GHz with a closest frequency separation of 110 MHz. Measurements show virtually no difference in the frequency response between a standalone filter and a filter placed in the tunable diplexer. The work shows that a wideband tunable diplexer can therefore be realized using tunable bandpass filters and reconfigurable matching networks.

Broadband CMOS Stacked RF Power Amplifier Using Reconfigurable Interstage Network for Wideband Envelope Tracking

In this paper, a two-stage broadband CMOS stacked FET RF power amplifier (PA) with a reconfigurable interstage matching network is developed for wideband envelope tracking (ET). The proposed RF PA is designed based on Class-J mode of operation, where the output matching is realized with a two-section low-pass matching network. To overcome the bandwidth (BW) limitation from the high- Q interstage impedance, a reconfigurable matching network is proposed, allowing a triple frequency mode of operation using two RF switches. The proposed RF PA is fabricated in a 0.32- μm silicon-on-insulator CMOS process and shows continuous wave (CW) power-added efficiencies (PAEs) higher than 60% from 0.65 to 1.03 GHz with a peak PAE of 69.2% at 0.85 GHz. The complete ET PA system performance is demonstrated using the envelope amplifier fabricated on the same process. When measured using a 20-MHz BW long-term evolution signal, the overall system PAE of the ET PA is higher than 40% from 0.65 to 0.97 GHz while evolved universal terrestrial radio access adjacent channel leakage ratios are better than -33 dBc across the entire BW after memoryless digital pre-distortion. To our knowledge, this study represents the highest overall system performance in terms of PAE and BW among the published broadband ET PAs, including GaAs HBT and SiGe BiCMOS.

Reconfigurable matching networks for RF amplifiers

This article presents applications of reconfigurable matching networks for RF amplifier design. Two possible solutions are given, one where the switching element is a PIN diode, and the other is based on graphene. Due to the fact that its conductivity depends on applied bias voltage, the graphene-based circuits can be used in microwave circuits as controllable elements. The structure of the proposed switch is very simple and it is particularly convenient for microstrip-based circuits. Because of that, a design of reconfigurable amplifier with the graphene-based switch is presented together with the one which has the PIN diode switch. Both amplifiers have the same specifications, and the one with the PIN diode switch is fabricated. The amplifier utilizing the PIN switch was used as a reference to make a comparison the two types of switches. Results of both amplifiers are very similar which indicates possible future applications of the graphene-based switch.

Miniaturized Reconfigurable Multiband Antenna For Multiradio Wireless Communication

This paper introduces a general methodical approach for designing frequency reconfigurable antennas. This method was successfully used to design a novel coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed slot frequency reconfigurable antenna capable of operating at four preselected frequency bands distributed over a wide frequency range from ~ 59.5 MHz to ~ 1000 MHz (i.e., ~ 4 octaves of bandwidth) while keeping its overall size as small as possible. To add reconfigurablility to the antenna, optimally-designed and electronically-controllable PIN diode-loaded slots were used to strategically manipulate the flow of current path and consequently change the characteristics of the antenna. Designing for the lowest operating frequency (59.5 MHz), capacitor-loaded meandered slot lines and reconfigurable matching network were implemented to keep the size of the antenna as small as possible. The resulting overall size of the antenna is only 0.06λL×0.06λL where λL is calculated at 59.5 MHz. The measurement results verified that the antenna successfully operates at 59.25-59.75 MHz, 314-398 MHz, 430-496 MHz, and 792-950 MHz, all with an almost omnidirectional pattern and an acceptable gain.

A multiband power amplifier using a switch‐based reconfigurable matching network for optimized power performance

ABSTRACTA multiband power amplifier (MBPA) with a switch‐based reconfigurable output matching network is presented for long‐term evolution handset applications. The MBPA is designed in a dual‐path configuration to improve efficiency in two different power levels for different frequency bands of the evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access (E‐UTRA). The dual‐path MBPA with the switch‐based reconfigurable output matching network delivered a collector efficiency of 31.8–38.5%, while satisfying the linearity specification (i.e., an adjacent channel leakage ratio less than −30 dBc) at an output power of 26.5 dBm across the five popular frequency bands of the E‐UTRA. In the low power mode, the MBPA delivered a collector efficiency of 21.8–35.4% with an adjacent channel leakage ratio smaller than −32.3 dBc at an average output power of 18 dBm. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:2881–2884, 2014

Efficient MIMO Transmission of PSK Signals With a Single-Radio Reconfigurable Antenna

Crucial developments to the recently introduced signal-space approach for multiplexing multiple data symbols using a single-radio switched antenna are presented. First, we introduce a general framework for expressing the spatial multiplexing relation of the transmit signals only from the antenna scattering parameters and the modulating reactive loading. This not only avoids tedious far-field calculations, but more importantly provides an efficient and practical strategy for spatially multiplexing PSK signals of any modulation order. The proposed approach allows ensuring a constant impedance matching at the input of the driving antenna for all symbol combinations, and as importantly uses only passive reconfigurable loads. This obviates the use of reconfigurable matching networks and active loads, respectively, thereby overcoming stringent limitations of previous single-feed MIMO techniques in terms of complexity, efficiency, and power consumption. The proposed approach is illustrated by the design of a realistic very compact antenna system optimized for multiplexing QPSK signals. The results show that the proposed approach can bring the MIMO benefits to the low-end user terminals at a reduced RF complexity.

Tunable Matching Network Using MEMS Switches

This paper presents a novel approach in order to construct low-loss reconfigurable impedance matching networks and tuners using MEMS series-contact switches and periodic defected-ground-structures (DGSs) implemented on coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission lines. The application of DGSs results in an improved insertion loss and power handling capability compared to the conventional RF MEMS impedance tuning networks. The proposed structure consists of 12 DGSs and RF MEMS series-contact switches. The tunable matching network was fabricated on a silicon substrate and is only 1.4×̃˾̈˰̽̽˰̹̾˰̵̹̓͊˾˰̸̵̤˰̵̵̴̱̽̓͂ͅ˰̼̿̓̓˰̶̿˰̸̵̈́˰̵͇̻̾̈́̿͂˰̸̵͇̾˰̵̴̓ͅ˰̈́̿˰̸̱̳̽̈́˰̱˰́̀˰Ω˰̴̼̱̿˰̈́̿˰̅̀˰Ω˰̶͂̿m 5GHz up to 40 GHz is only 0.8 dB. The results show that the tuner can achieve a broadband impedance match for a wide variety of loads that are either purely resistive or that have a large reactance as well.