Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080204139 | Reconfigurable distributed active transformers - Reconfigurable distributed active transformers are provided. The exemplary embodiments provided allow changing of the effective number and configuration of the primary and secondary windings, where the distributed active transformer structures can be reconfigured dynamically to control the output power levels, allow operation at multiple frequency bands, maintain a high performance across multiple channels, and sustain desired characteristics across process, temperature and other environmental variations. Integration of the distributed active transformer power amplifiers and a low noise amplifier on a semiconductor substrate can also be provided. | 08-28-2008 |
20080204152 | ULTRA-HIGH FREQUENCY SELF-SUSTAINING OSCILLATORS, COUPLED OSCILLATORS, VOLTAGE-CONTROLLED OSCILLATORS, AND OSCILLATOR ARRAYS BASED ON VIBRATING NANOELECTROMECHANICAL RESONATORS - A self-sustaining ultra-high frequency oscillator and method enable the ability to oscillate and output a signal. A balanced bridge circuit is utilized to null an embedding background response. A first vibrating nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) beam resonator is part of one of the branches of the balanced bridge circuit and determines the frequency of the oscillator's output signal. A feedback loop establishes and sets oscillation conditions of the oscillator's signal. Further, the feedback loop connects an output of the first resonator to an input of the balanced bridge circuit. | 08-28-2008 |
20080211584 | Cross-differential amplifier - A cross-differential amplifier is provided. The cross-differential amplifier includes an inductor connected to a direct current power source at a first terminal. A first and second switch, such as transistors, are connected to the inductor at a second terminal. A first and second amplifier are connected at their supply terminals to the first and second switch. The first and second switches are operated to commutate the inductor between the amplifiers so as to provide an amplified signal while limiting the ripple voltage on the inductor and thus limiting the maximum voltage imposed across the amplifiers and switches. | 09-04-2008 |
20090002071 | Distributed Circular Geometry Power Amplifier Architecture - The present invention discloses a distributed power amplifier topology and device that efficiently and economically enhances the power output of an RF signal to be amplified. The power amplifier comprises a plurality of push-pull amplifiers interconnected in a novel circular geometry that preferably function as a first winding of an active transformer having signal inputs of adjacent amplification devices driven with an input signal of equal magnitude and opposite phase. The topology also discloses the use of a secondary winding that matches the geometry of primary winding and variations thereof that serve to efficiently combine the power of the individual power amplifiers. The novel architecture enables the design of low-cost, fully-integrated, high-power amplifiers in the RF, microwave, and millimeter-wave frequencies. | 01-01-2009 |
20090015324 | Power amplifier amplitude modulator system and method - A system for controlling amplifier power is provided. The system includes a voltage envelope detector receiving a voltage signal and generating an attenuated voltage envelope signal. A current envelope detector receives a current signal and generates an attenuated current envelope signal. A controller receives power level data and generates attenuation control data for the voltage envelope signal and the current envelope signal. A detector receives the voltage envelope signal and the current envelope signal and generates a control signal based on the greater of the voltage envelope signal and the current envelope signal. A power amplifier level controller receives the control signal and generates a power amplifier level control signal. | 01-15-2009 |
20090015336 | Segmented power amplifier - A system for amplifying a signal is provided. The system includes a plurality of driver stages, each having an input, an output, and a disable control. An output stage having an input is coupled to the outputs of the plurality of driver stages. A plurality of disable control signals is provided to the driver stages so as to controllably enable and disable one or more of the driver stages. | 01-15-2009 |
20090052597 | SCALABLE RECONFIGURABLE CONCURRENT FILTER FOR WIDE-BANDWIDTH COMMUNICATION - The invention relates to a reconfigurable continuous FIR filter. The reconfigurable continuous FIR filter includes a delay line including at least two delay elements coupled in cascade. The reconfigurable continuous FIR filter also includes a filter section including at least three gain-phase elements. The filter section also includes a summing circuit having a plurality of inputs at least equal in number to the at least three gain-phase elements and one output. The reconfigurable continuous FIR filter is configured to exhibit a filter transfer function that is reconfigurable in real time. The invention also related to down-converters using the reconfigurable continuous FIR filter. The invention also related to electromagnetic wave receivers using the reconfigurable continuous FIR filter. The invention also relates to a method for reconfigurable real time continuous filtering. | 02-26-2009 |
20090075610 | DIGITAL AND ANALOG IM3 PRODUCT COMPENSATION CIRCUITS FOR AN RF RECEIVER - Third-order intermodulation products (IM3) are attenuated in RF receivers by providing a typical main signal path and a parallel auxiliary signal path in which the IM3 products are accentuated, and the output from the main signal path is adaptively filtered to attenuate the IM3 products. In one embodiment, a multirate filter bank (MRFB) with asymmetric analysis and synthesis sections is used to detect and isolate the IM3 products. In another embodiment an analog nonlinear term generator is placed at the front of the auxiliary signal path. The analog nonlinear term generator takes advantage of the nonlinearities of a differential MOSFET circuit and a multiplier to extract the IM3 products in the RF input signal. The outputs of the main signal path and the auxiliary signal path are inputs to a complex least mean squares filter to attenuate the IM3 products in the resulting signal. | 03-19-2009 |
20090075612 | EQUALIZATION OF THIRD-ORDER INTERMODULATION PRODUCTS IN WIDEBAND DIRECT CONVERSION RECEIVER - A feedforward error-compensated receiver for minimizing undesired odd-order nonlinear distortion products. The receiver includes a first receiver path configured to receive an input signal. The first receiver path outputs a signal including at least one baseband (BB) frequency. At least one second receiver path is configured to receive the input signal and to provide a second receiver path output signal. The second receiver path includes at least one odd-order nonlinear distortion reference generator. The at least one odd-order nonlinear distortion reference generator and the mixer are configured to generate a synthetic odd-order nonlinear distortion signal. A combining element is configured to receive the output signal from the first path and the output signal from the second receiver path output and to combine the signals such that the odd-order nonlinear distortion signals are substantially attenuated at an output of the combining element. | 03-19-2009 |
20090096554 | 2D TRANSMISSION LINE-BASED APPARATUS AND METHOD - A power combiner comprising an LC lattice structure is shown, together with a method for generating a planar wave front. The LC structure can comprise constant or voltage dependent capacitors. Either the delay or the characteristic impedance of the two-dimensional transmission line formed by the LC lattice structure are kept constant. A planar wave propagating along one direction of the transmission line gradually experiences higher impedances at the edges, creating a lower resistance path for the current in the middle. This funnels more power to the center as the wave propagates. | 04-16-2009 |
20090102592 | Multi-Primary Distributed Active Transformer Amplifier Power Supply and Control - An integrated power combiner is disclosed. The power combiner includes a first circular geometry primary winding having one or more inductive elements, such as an active winding with one or more driver stages. A circular geometry secondary winding is disposed adjacent to the first primary winding, such as an active winding with one or more driver stages. A second circular geometry primary winding is disposed adjacent to the secondary winding and has one or more inductive elements. One or more connections are provided between one or more of the inductive elements of the first circular geometry primary winding and one or more of the inductive elements of the second circular geometry primary winding. | 04-23-2009 |
20090267596 | EFFECTIVE-INDUCTANCE-CHANGE BASED MAGNETIC PARTICLE SENSING - The invention relates to an integrated measurement system to detect a quantity of magnetic particles in a sample. The measurement system includes a substrate. An electromagnetic (EM) structure disposed on the surface of the substrate is configured to receive a sample including the magnetic particles in proximity thereof. The integrated measurement system also includes an electrical current generator disposed on the surface of the substrate which is electro-magnetically coupled to the EM structure. The electrical current generator is configured to cause an electrical current to flow in the EM structure. The integrated measurement system also includes an effective inductance sensor disposed on the surface of the substrate which is configured to measure a selected one of an effective inductance and a change in effective inductance. The invention also relates to a method to determine the number of and/or the locations of the magnetic particles in a sample. | 10-29-2009 |
20090289869 | On-chip highly-efficient antennas using strong resonant coupling - The invention relates to an antenna structure for coupling electromagnetic energy between a chip and an off-chip element, including a first resonant structure disposed on or in a chip. The first resonant structure is configured to have a first resonant frequency. The antenna structure also includes a second resonant structure disposed on or in an off-chip element. The second resonant structure is configured to have a second resonant frequency substantially the same as the first resonant frequency. The first resonant structure and the second resonant structure are mutually disposed within a near field distance of each other to form a coupled antenna structure that is configured to couple electromagnetic energy between the chip and the off-chip element. The electromagnetic energy has a selected wavelength in a wavelength range from microwave to sub-millimeter wave. The invention also relates to a method of calculating dimensions for a highly coupled antenna structure. | 11-26-2009 |
20100075622 | DYNAMIC SCALABLE CONCURRENT COMMUNICATION AND MULTI-CORE RECEIVER ARCHITECTURE - An integrated multi-core RF device includes a common amplifier which outputs an amplified RF signal. A common transmission line is configured to supply the amplified RF signal to a plurality of common transmission line distribution connections. Each receiver core of a plurality of receiver cores has a receiver core RF input coupled to one of the plurality of common transmission line distribution connections. Each core is configured to be tunable to a channel and to output at least one baseband output per channel. The integrated multi-core RF device is configured to concurrently down convert a plurality of channels to corresponding down converted baseband signals. The integrated multi-core RF device is configured to allow dynamic selection of the one or more of the plurality of channels over time. A method to recover a DSCC receiver IC is also described. | 03-25-2010 |
20100090745 | Octave-range, watt-level, fully-integrated CMOS switching power mixer array for linearization and back-off-efficiency improvement - Power mixer arrays for providing watt-level power in mobile systems. In one embodiment, a fully-integrated octave-range CMOS power mixer that occupies only | 04-15-2010 |
20100117733 | CROSS-DIFFERENTIAL AMPLIFIER - A cross-differential amplifier is provided. The cross-differential amplifier includes an inductor connected to a direct current power source at a first terminal. A first and second switch, such as transistors, are connected to the inductor at a second terminal. A first and second amplifier are connected at their supply terminals to the first and second switch. The first and second switches are operated to commutate the inductor between the amplifiers so as to provide an amplified signal while limiting the ripple voltage on the inductor and thus limiting the maximum voltage imposed across the amplifiers and switches. | 05-13-2010 |
20100134097 | FREQUENCY-SHIFT CMOS MAGNETIC BIOSENSOR ARRAY WITH SINGLE BEAD SENSITIVITY AND NO EXTERNAL MAGNET - According to one aspect, an integrated magnetic particle measurement device for detecting a presence or absence of magnetic particles in a sample volume includes at least one sensor cell having a differential sensor pair. An active sensor oscillator frequency is responsive to one or more magnetic particles situated within a sample volume. The sensor cell is configured to be operative in the absence of an externally applied magnetic field. A frequency measurement circuit provides as a time-multiplexed output a first count representative of the active sensor oscillator frequency and a second count representative of the reference sensor oscillator frequency. A calculated difference between the first count and the second count is indicative of a presence or an absence of one or more magnetic particles within the sample volume. An integrated magnetic particle measurement system array and a method for detecting one or more magnetic particles are also described. | 06-03-2010 |
20100163545 | FULLY INTEGRATED TEMPERATURE REGULATOR FOR BIOCHEMICAL APPLICATIONS - The invention is an integrated temperature regulator that can be fabricated using conventional semiconductor processing technology. The integrated temperature regulator can include a reaction chamber, for example fabricated from PDMS, in which chemical or biochemical reactions of interest can be carried out. The temperature regular can also be used to regulate the temperature of some circuits, e.g. an effective-inductance-change based magnetic particle sensor, to achieve a stable operation performance, such as an improved sensitivity. The integrated temperature regulator includes as subcomponents a temperature sensing circuit that receives a thermal signal from the vicinity of the reaction chamber, a temperature reference circuit, and a temperature control circuit that controls a heater based at least in part on the difference between the sensed temperature and the reference temperature. The various subcomponents can be programmable. | 07-01-2010 |
20100176981 | SPLIT ANALOG/DIGITAL POLYNOMIAL NONLINEAR TERM GENERATOR WITH REDUCED NUMBER OF ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTERS - A polynomial nonlinear term generator is configured to receive an RF signal. An analog cubic term generator generates an analog cubic term signal and an analog square term generator generates an analog square term signal, both derived from the RF signal. A cubic term mixer assembly mixes a local oscillator (LO) signal with the cubic term signal to generate a synthetic IM3 signal. A square term ADC provides a digital square term signal and a cubic term ADC provides a digital cubic term signal. At least one digital multiplier has a first multiplier input terminal configured to receive a selected one of the digital square term signal and the digital cubic term signal, and a second multiplier input terminal configured to receive the digital square term signal. The multiplier provides as output a digital IMn product where n is greater than 3. A corresponding method is also described. | 07-15-2010 |
20100216282 | LOW COST BONDING TECHNIQUE FOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT CHIPS AND PDMS STRUCTURES - Methods of bonding a structure fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and an integrated circuit chip. The procedures for bonding include providing a substrate, affixing the integrated circuit to the substrate, as needed preparing the surface of the integrated circuit chip to permit bonding, aligning the PDMS structure and the features of the integrated circuit chip, and applying a bonding agent. The bonding agent is cured by exposure to a thermal regime for a suitable length of time. Depending on relative sizes, in some cases, a plural number of PDMS structures can be attached to one chip, or a single PDMS structure can be bonded to multiple chips. In some cases, the integrated circuit chip operates wirelessly. In other situations, the substrate provides electrical communication from the integrated circuit chip to electronic components. | 08-26-2010 |
20100231452 | MM-WAVE FULLY INTEGRATED PHASED ARRAY RECEIVER AND TRANSMITTER WITH ON-CHIP ANTENNAS - A phased array mm-wave device includes a substrate, a mm-wave transmitter integrated onto the substrate configured to transmit a mm-wave signal and/or a mm-wave receiver integrated onto the substrate and configured to receive a mm-wave signal. The mm-wave device also includes a phased array antenna system integrated onto the substrate and including two or more antenna elements. The phased array mm-wave device also includes one or more dielectric lenses. A distributed mm-wave distributed combining tree circuit includes at least two pairs of differential transconductors with regenerative degeneration and accepts at least two differential input signals. Two mm-wave loopback methods measure the phased array antenna patterns and the performance of an integrated receiver transmitter system. | 09-16-2010 |
20100244955 | Reconfigurable Distributed Active Transformers - Reconfigurable distributed active transformers are provided. The exemplary embodiments provided allow changing of the effective number and configuration of the primary and secondary windings, where the distributed active transformer structures can be reconfigured dynamically to control the output power levels, allow operation at multiple frequency bands, maintain a high performance across multiple channels, and sustain desired characteristics across process, temperature and other environmental variations. Integration of the distributed active transformer power amplifiers and a low noise amplifier on a semiconductor substrate can also be provided. | 09-30-2010 |
20100245100 | NOISE SUPPRESSION TECHNIQUES IN HIGH PRECISION LONG-TERM FREQUENCY/TIMING MEASUREMENTS - A frequency/timing measurement apparatus includes a reference source having a reference source output terminal. At least one target source has a target source output terminal. The at least one target source is communicatively coupled to the reference source. A frequency timing measurement block has a first input terminal electrically coupled to the reference source output terminal. A second input terminal is electrically coupled to the target source output terminal and at least one output terminal. The frequency timing measurement block is configured to perform a noise shaping technique to reduce measurement error attributable to a phase noise that is correlated between the reference source and the target source, and to provide a reduced correlated noise measurement at the at least one output terminal. A method to reduce correlated noise is also described. | 09-30-2010 |
20100267169 | ELECTROMAGNETIC MOLECULAR SENSORS AND METHODS OF USING SAME - Devices having an electromagnetic detector for the detection of analytes are disclosed. The devices include an electromagnetic detector, including effective inductance-change magnetic detectors, and a binding moiety. The device can include an electromagnetic material that can be detected by the detector. The device is configured such that binding of an analyte to the binding moiety changes the relationship between the electromagnetic detector and the electromagnetic material such that a change in electromagnetic field is detected by the electromagnetic detector. | 10-21-2010 |
20100283548 | MULTI-PRIMARY DISTRIBUTED ACTIVE TRANSFORMER AMPLIFIER POWER SUPPLY AND CONTROL - An integrated power combiner is disclosed. The power combiner includes a first circular geometry primary winding having one or more inductive elements, such as an active winding with one or more driver stages. A circular geometry secondary winding is disposed adjacent to the first primary winding, such as an active winding with one or more driver stages. A second circular geometry primary winding is disposed adjacent to the secondary winding and has one or more inductive elements. One or more connections are provided between one or more of the inductive elements of the first circular geometry primary winding and one or more of the inductive elements of the second circular geometry primary winding. | 11-11-2010 |
20100316172 | INCOMPRESSIBLE RF RECEIVER - An incompressible receiver for minimizing undesired higher-order nonlinear distortion products includes a first receiver path configured to receive an input signal having at least one non-baseband frequency. A second receiver path is also configured to receive the input signal. The second receiver path includes at least one odd-order nonlinear distortion reference component and at least one even-order nonlinear distortion reference component. The distortion reference components are configured to be in an “on” state or in an “off” state. A combining element is configured to combine input signals from the first and second receiver paths such that the higher-order nonlinear distortion signals are substantially attenuated at an output of the combining element. An incompressible receiver that has an odd-order nonlinear distortion reference generator including a cubic term and at least one additional term of order greater than 3 and an incompressible receiver front end amplifier (IRFEA) are also described. | 12-16-2010 |
20110057682 | Electronic self-healing methods for radio-frequency receivers - Systems and methods for providing self-healing integrated circuits. The method is characterized in that the behavior of a circuit or a device in response to an input signal is observed. One or more operational parameters or characteristics of the circuit or the device are derived. A corrective action to bring the operational parameters or characteristics of the circuit or device within a desired range is deduced, if needed. The corrective action can be the application of a correction signal or a modification of one or more parameters or characteristics of an element in the circuit. The calculated corrective action, if needed, is applied to bring the operational parameters or characteristics of the circuit or device within the desired range. Optionally, the operational parameters or characteristics of the circuit or the device after the correction is effectuated can be checked. | 03-10-2011 |
20110057712 | SELF-HEALING TECHNIQUE FOR HIGH FREQUENCY CIRCUITS - A self-healing monolithic integrated includes an electronic circuit having a plurality of transistors. At least one sensor is disposed within and electrically coupled to the electronic circuit and configured to sense a performance metric of the electronic circuit. A plurality of actuators is disposed within the circuit. Each actuator of the plurality of actuators has electrically coupled to it a control terminal. The plurality of actuators is configured to perform a selected one of, electrically coupling at least one transistor of the plurality of transistors into the electronic circuit and electrically de-coupling at least one transistor of the plurality of transistors, in response to operation of one of the control terminals to improve the performance metric. | 03-10-2011 |
20110110473 | DIGITAL AND ANALOG IM3 PRODUCT COMPENSATION CIRCUITS FOR AN RF RECEIVER - Third-order intermodulation products (IM3) are attenuated in RF receivers by providing a typical main signal path and a parallel auxiliary signal path in which the IM3 products are accentuated, and the output from the main signal path is adaptively filtered to attenuate the IM3 products. In one embodiment, a multirate filter bank (MRFB) with asymmetric analysis and synthesis sections is used to detect and isolate the IM3 products. In another embodiment an analog nonlinear term generator is placed at the front of the auxiliary signal path. The analog nonlinear term generator takes advantage of the nonlinearities of a differential MOSFET circuit and a multiplier to extract the IM3 products in the RF input signal. The outputs of the main signal path and the auxiliary signal path are inputs to a complex least mean squares filter to attenuate the IM3 products in the resulting signal. | 05-12-2011 |
20110175685 | MULTI-PRIMARY DISTRIBUTED ACTIVE TRANSFORMER AMPLIFIER POWER SUPPLY AND CONTROL - An integrated power combiner is disclosed. The power combiner includes a first circular geometry primary winding having one or more inductive elements, such as an active winding with one or more driver stages. A circular geometry secondary winding is disposed adjacent to the first primary winding, such as an active winding with one or more driver stages. A second circular geometry primary winding is disposed adjacent to the secondary winding and has one or more inductive elements. One or more connections are provided between one or more of the inductive elements of the first circular geometry primary winding and one or more of the inductive elements of the second circular geometry primary winding. | 07-21-2011 |
20120001692 | ADAPTIVE POWER AMPLIFIER - Reconfigurable distributed active transformers are provided. The exemplary embodiments provided allow changing of the effective number and configuration of the primary and secondary windings, where the distributed active transformer structures can be reconfigured dynamically to control the output power levels, allow operation at multiple frequency bands, maintain a high performance across multiple channels, and sustain desired characteristics across process, temperature and other environmental variations. Integration of the distributed active transformer power amplifiers and a low noise amplifier on a semiconductor substrate can also be provided. | 01-05-2012 |
20120001693 | POWER AMPLIFIER AMPLITUDE MODULATOR SYSTEM AND METHOD - A system for controlling amplifier power is provided. The system includes a voltage envelope detector receiving a voltage signal and generating an attenuated voltage envelope signal. A current envelope detector receives a current signal and generates an attenuated current envelope signal. A controller receives power level data and generates attenuation control data for the voltage envelope signal and the current envelope signal. A detector receives the voltage envelope signal and the current envelope signal and generates a control signal based on the greater of the voltage envelope signal and the current envelope signal. A power amplifier level controller receives the control signal and generates a power amplifier level control signal. | 01-05-2012 |
20120149129 | LOW COST, PORTABLE SENSOR FOR MOLECULAR ASSAYS - An integrated sensor that is capable of discriminating the distance of a label from the sensor without using an optical signal. The label is attached to a single probe molecule or a group of probe molecules that interacts with a single or group of target molecules. As a consequence of this interaction, the probe molecule and/or the target molecule undergo a conformal change. This conformal change leads to perturbations in the distance of the label from the sensor. Thus, measurements and properties such as the concentration and the identity of one or more target molecules can be discerned from signals generated by the sensor (or by a plurality of sensors in a sensor array) and subjected to analysis using general purpose programmable computers programmed with suitable software that controls the analytical process, and such measurements and properties can be provided as a result of the analysis. | 06-14-2012 |
20120176200 | CROSS-DIFFERENTIAL AMPLIFIER - A cross-differential amplifier is provided. The cross-differential amplifier includes an inductor connected to a direct current power source at a first terminal. A first and second switch, such as transistors, are connected to the inductor at a second terminal. A first and second amplifier are connected at their supply terminals to the first and second switch. The first and second switches are operated to commutate the inductor between the amplifiers so as to provide an amplified signal while limiting the ripple voltage on the inductor and thus limiting the maximum voltage imposed across the amplifiers and switches. | 07-12-2012 |
20140161464 | OPTICALLY DRIVEN ACTIVE RADIATOR - A multi-port radiator radiates electromagnetic signal in response to a beat frequency of a pair of optical signals. The radiator includes a multitude of optical paths each carrying an optical signal having first and second wavelengths. A multitude of frequency conversion elements convert the optical signals to electrical signals and deliver them to the radiator's multiple ports. The frequency of the electrical signals, and hence the frequency of the electromagnetic wave, is defined by the difference between the first and second wavelengths. The phases of the optical signals received by the frequency conversion elements are shifted with respect to one another. Optionally, the difference between the phases of the optical signals travelling through each pair of adjacent paths is 90°. The first and second wavelengths are generated by a pair of optical sources and are optionally modulated before being combined and delivered to the optical paths. | 06-12-2014 |