Erick E. Djoumessi 1, S. O. Tatu 2 , R.G. Bosisio 1, M. Chaker 2 and Ke Wu 1. 1 Poly-Grames Research Center, C. P. 6079, Succ.

Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2 INRS Energie, Materiaux et Tlecommunications, 800 de La Gauchetrire, Quebec, Canada. Email: erickemmanuel.djoumessi@polymtl.ca Introduction A direct conversion receiver technique has generally been recognized to offer advantages in reducing costs and complexity inherent to conventional transceiver architecture design and implementation. The first six-port direct-conversion receiver, making use of an interferometer concept, was proposed and demonstrated in [1]. A number of low-cost six-port architectures proposed for direct-conversion receiver have been presented [2-3]. The six-port technique has recently been extended to design innovative transmitter in an attempt to design a complete sixport transceiver. However, it is still a challenge to integrate six-port architecture in multi-band or frequency-agile direct-conversion receiver systems. Nevertheless, wideband six-port frontend integration with tunable bandpass filters presents a potential solution. Narrowband tunable filter solution creates a bottleneck problem of power efficiency as well as power- handling of nonlinear effects in transceiver design. A multiband multiport circuit for phase detection has been implemented using quarter wavelength lines resonating at fundamental, second, and third harmonic frequencies [4]. In section I, we propose a simple architecture of varactor-tuned dualband quadrature hybrid six-port front-end for frequency-agile wireless applications (1.8 - 2.45 GHz a, b and 5.2 - 5.8 GHz for ISM bands and IEEE 802.11 standards) as exemplary design and demonstration of present approach. The use of tunable hybrids presents a loss-reduction strategy in the design of six-port architecture. Section II presents the architecture design and measurement results of the tunable hybrid couplers followed by measurements of IIP3 as well as results of AM-to-PM conversion with room temperature variation effects. Finally, section III describes structure integration together with simulation and measurement results of the proposed tunable dual-band six-port demodulator. Design and non-linearity analysis of varactor tuned-multiband quadrature hybrid coupler Design and tunability analysis Fig. 1 describes the basic architecture of the proposed tunable dual-band six-port circuit. It is composed of three tunable hybrid couplers and a power divider. The design principle of varactor-tuned hybrid couplers is exactly the same as in [5]. In this case, design values of the first and second center operation frequencies are set at f1 = 2.35 GHz and f2 = 5.4 GHz, respectively. Varactor diode capacitors provide tunable function for both center operation frequencies in addition to a size reduction of coupler. The substrate is RT/Duroid 6010 with relative permittivity r = 10.2. The varactor diode is MSV34,069 with capacitance variation from 0.5 to 2.5 pF. Based on similar analysis [5], the characteristic impedances of different transmission line sections are found to be Z1= 41.12 , Z2= 62 , and Z3= 74.6 leading to w1= 0.85 mm, w2= 0.343 mm, and w3= 0.2 mm. Physical lengths of l1= l2= 7.5 mm are obtained for branch and through line quarter wavelength sections at f0= (f1+f2)/2= 3.875 GHz. By using Eq. (2) in [5], the transmission line length l 3= 2.8 mm is obtained for capacitor value Cvar = 0.85 pF. The tunable hybrid coupler has been fabricated and tested for different bias voltage Vb. A good agreement between measured and field-based simulation results is presented in Fig. 2. Figures 2(a)-(b) show magnitudes of return and insertion losses denoted respectively by parameters S11 and S21. On the other hand, Figs. 2(c)-(d) plot the magnitude of isolation between ports 1 and 4 and phase difference between ports 2 and 3 represented

Varactor-Tuned Multi-Band Six-Port Front-End for Wireless Applications

978-1-4244-2642-3/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE

respectively by S41 and

S21 -

S31. This parameter also indicates well-balanced quadrature

phases over both tuning frequency ranges (90o4o and 270o5o for first and second band respectively). The tunable coupler exhibits 58% center-frequency tunable range from approximately 1.6 to 2.7 GHz for f1 and 18% center-frequency tunable range from 5.17 to 5.75 GHz for f2. Non-linearity distortion and temperature variation effect Since the varactor diode is subject to non-linear effects, special attention is paid to in-band third-order inter-modulation (IMD) and AM-to-PM conversion in the presence of temperature variation with the tunable hybrid couplers. Two closely-spaced RF input signal tones (Pin) of constant level have been applied at input port of couplers for different bias voltage Vb, and output signal spectrum has been observed. Corresponding values of IIP3 for different center operation frequencies fop, were easily computed by using the following equation: IIP3= Pin +|y/2| (1)

where y represents the difference in dBc between the output signal at fop and inter-modulation distortion (IMD) level. Fig. 3(a) shows computed results of IIP3 over the tuning frequency ranges as a function of bias voltage Vb, where the solid and the dash lines represent values at the lower and upper center operation frequencies, respectively. These results suggest that a better coupler linearity can be achieved as bias voltage Vb increases and varactor diode capacitance decreases. Fig 3(b) shows measured results of the quadrature phase deviation versus amplitude variation of the applied RF signal to coupler at lower and upper operation frequencies of 2 GHz and 5.2 GHz ( Vb= 5 V), for different room temperature conditions (-40 C, 25 C and +40 C). The results show that at a constant room temperature, the quadrature phase starts to shift for a high level of input power Pin and phases become more stable for lower operation frequency of coupler (Fig. 3). On the other hand, as the room temperature changes from -40 C to +40 C, the hybrid coupler exhibits a relative phase variation of about 5 to 10 for the first and second bands (from approximately 85 to 90.1 and from -280 to 270, respectively). These non-linear results indicate that the realized tunable dual-band hybrid coupler can be used in the design of tunable modulator or demodulator Tunable six-ports design and experimental results As described in the previous section, the quadrature hybrid coupler is realized in microstrip technology. In order to develop a tunable dual-band six-port circuit, the static dual-band power divider is realized based on [6]. It is designed at center operation frequencies of 2.45 GHz and 5.2 GHz. Optimum physical dimensions are obtained with L1 = L2 = 9 mm, w1 = 0.19 mm, w2 = 0.35 mm, and shunt resistance, capacitance and inductor between the two output ports are given as R = 100 , C = 0 pF, and L = 5.1 n H , respectively. Field-based simulated frequency response shows that the power divider can operate over both the required tuning frequency ranges. The proposed six-port interferometer RF front-end consists of three tunable dual-band quadrature hybrid couplers and one power divider realized on a single substrate (Fig.1). The interferometer contains twelve varactor diode capacitors all biased at the same level with a single power supply. Two input ports, numbered 2 and 1, are used as reference (LO) and unknown RF input signal ports whereas four other ports, numbered 3, 4, 5, and 6, are used to

modulate or to demodulate the in-phase (I) or the quadrature phase (Q) signals in connection with transceiver. For improved operation of six-port circuit, all parameters (S13, S14, S15, S16 and S23, S24, S25, S26) should be ideally 6 dB in view of transmission loss with good return loss and good isolation between ports (1) and (2). Also, the phase difference between transmission coefficients should be made by 90 or its multiples. Field-based simulation has been performed on six-port circuits, and Fig. 4 and 5 show measurements results for varactor bias voltages of Vb = 0 V (dash line), and 15 V (solid line). Figure 4(a) shows improved reflection and isolation coefficients S11, S22 and S12 over both tuning frequency ranges (f1 = 1.65 GHz, f2 = 5.2 GHz for Vb = 0 V and f1 = 2.7 GHz, f2 = 5.9 GHz for Vb = 15 V). Measured results of typical transmission loss between ports 1 and 3, 2 and 3 are derived from (S13, S23) as shown in Fig. 4(b). The transmission losses are mainly due to equivalent series resistance of varactor diode and fabrication process. Finally, Figs. 5(a) and (b) present excellent measurement results with typical phase difference of transmission parameters S13 - S1(i+1) for i= 3, 4, 5, for the first and the second tuning frequency range (from 1.65 GHz up to 2.7 GHz and from 5.2 GHz to 5.9 GHz) , respectively. The quasi-linear phase response (see Fig. 5(a)-(b)) at different operation center frequencies of the six-port shows that there is no distortion due to the nonlinear effect of varactor diode capacitors. Similar simulations and measurements have been done for other parameters (S23, S24, S25, S26, and phase differences S23 - S2(i+1) for i= 3, 4, 5) are not presented in this paper for brevity. The varactor-tuned dual-band six-port has 48.1% and 13% center-frequency tunable range from approximately 1.65 to 2.7 GHz and 5.2 GHz to 5.9 GHz, respectively. Conclusion A varactor-based tunable dual-band six-port junction has been investigated and experimentally validated for potential use in ISM band and wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11a, b) systems. A varactor tuned dual-band quadrature hybrid coupler has been realized to achieve maximum tunability while preserving specifications for typical quadrature hybrid coupler over tunable dual-band frequencies. In addition, nonlinear measurements have been performed to observe hybrid coupler limitations. Finally, a good agreement between measurements and simulations has been demonstrated for the proposed tunable six-port interferometer front-end architecture. Acknowledgments: This work was financially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). References [1] J. Li, R.-G. Bosisio and K. Wu, A six-port direct digital millimeter wave receiver, IEEE MTT Symposium Digest,, vol. 3, pp. 1659-1662, May 1995. [2] J, F. Gagne, J. Gauthier, K. Wu, R. G. Bosisio, Low cost architecture of direct conversion digital receiver, Microwave Antennas and Propagation, vol. 151, pp.71-76, Feb. 2004.

[3] E. Marsan, J.-C. Schiel, G. Brehm, K. Wu, R.-G Bosisio, High-speed carrier recovery circuit suitable for direct digital QPSK transceivers, Radio and Wireless Conference, pp. 103106, Aug. 2002. [4] S. O. Tatu, T. A. Denidni, Analysis of a new multiband multiport circuit of phase detection applications, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components. Letters, vol. 15, no.6, pp.389-391, Jun. 2005. [5] E. E. Djoumessi, E. Marsan, C. Caloz, M. Chaker, K. Wu, Varactor-tuned dual-band quadrature hybrid coupler, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters., vol. 16, no.11, pp.603-605, Nov. 2006. [6] L. W. Zengguang, H. Yilmaz, M. Berroth, A Dual-Frequency Wilkinson Power Divider, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques., vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 278-284, Jan. 2006.

S (dB)

10 20 30
5V 0V 15 V

11

40

3 4 Frequency (GHz)

(a)
0
0V 5V 15 V

S21 (dB)

5 10 15 20 1 2 3 4 Frequency (GHz) 5 6

(b)
0
S41 (dB)

Fig1. Proposed varactor-tuned multi-band sixport de-modulator.

Magnitude of S11, S12 , S22 (dB)
0
S11 S
22

10 20 30
5V 0V 15 V

10
0V

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3 4 Frequency (GHz)

20 30 40 50 1.5

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2.7 GHz 5.2 GHz 5.9 GHz

1.65 GHz

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3.5 4.5 Frequency (GHz)

5.5

6.5

(a)
5

360 270 180 90 0 90 180

(S S )(deg)

0V

5V

15 V

Magnitude of S13, S23 (dB)

3 4 Frequency (GHz)

13

10 15
0V

(d)

20 25 30 1.5

15 V

S23

2.5

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5.5

6.5

(b)

Fig. 4. Measurement magnitude of (a) S11 (green color), S12 (red color), and S22 (blue color), (b) S13 (red color), S23 (blue color) for Vb= 0, 15 Volt (dash and solid line).
Phase diff. S13 S1(i+1) (deg)
180
0V 15 V

Fig. 2. Measured (dash line) and simulated (solid line) frequency response of (a) (b) S11, S21 in (dB), (c) (d) S41 in (dB) and ((S31)- (S21)) (deg) for different bias voltages Vb and capacitances values Cp (Vb= 15 V and Cp= 0.55 pF (blue color), Vb= 5 V and Cp= 0.85 pF (green color), and Vb= 0 V and Cp= 2.1 pF (red color).
45 40
f = 5.17 GHz
op

f = 5.7 GHz
op

f = 5.39 GHz
op

f = 5.5 GHz
op

IIP3 (dBm)

35 30 25 20

f = 5.2 GHz
op

f = 2.7 GHz
op

f = 2.6 GHz
op

90

f = 2.35 GHz
op

fop= 2.1GHz fop= 1.6 GHz

0
S S
13 14

15 0
S S
13 15

90

S13 S16

Vbias (Volt)

10

15

(a)
2 2.5 Frequency (GHz) 3

90 89 88 87 86 85 84 25 20 15 10 5 0 P (dBm)
in

(a)
Phase diff. S13 S1(i+1) (deg)

274 276 278 280 282 10

180
0V

90
15 V

90

S13 S14

S13 S15

S13 S16

180 4.5

5 5.5 Frequency (GHz)

(b)

(b)

Fig. 5. Measurement magnitude of (a)-(b) phase difference measurements at lower and upper bands of S13 - S1(i+1) with i= 3, 4, 5, for Vb= 0, 15 Volt ( dash and solid line).

Fig. 3. Measured results of (a) IIP3 versus bias voltage Vb and (b) AM-to-PM conversion versus Pin, for different sets of room temperatures (-40C (dash dot with squares), 25C (dash dot), +40C (dash dot with circle) ).

31

( S S )(deg) @ 5.2GHz

( S S )(deg) @ 2 GHz

180 1.5

91

272

21

31

21