A MULTI-MODE VCO FOR DIRECT FM SYSTEMS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U. S. C. §119(e) of co-pending

U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/800,970, entitled A MULTI-MODE Vco FOR DIRECT FM SYSTEMS, filed on May 16, 2006.

[0002] This application is also related to U. S. Patent Application entitled

"DIRECT SYNTHESIS TRANSMITTER" Serial Number 10/265,215, U.S. Patent Application entitled "HIGHLY LINEAR PHASE MODULATION" Serial Number 10/420,952, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled "LINEAR, WIDEBAND PHASE MODULATION SYSTEM" Serial Number 60/658,898, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention relates generally to phase/frequency modulators, and more particularly, to a multi-mode architecture for direct phase/frequency modulation of a phase-locked loop.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] Phase modulation schemes are very effective and are therefore widely used in communication systems. A simple example of a phase modulation scheme is quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK). Figure 1 shows a constellation diagram that illustrates how QPSK maps two-bit digital data to one of four phase offsets. Figure 2 shows a typical QPSK (or in-phase (I)/quadrature (Q)) modulator used to generate a phase-modulated signal. This technique relies on orthogonal signal vectors to realize the phase offsets - an inherently linear technique, since it depends solely on the matching of these orthogonal signals.

[0005] The I/Q modulator provides a straightforward approach to generating phase-modulated signals that is also suitable for more complex schemes such as wideband Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems. It is also possible to generate the phase-

modulated signals using a phase-locked loop (PLL). This approach offers reduced circuitry and lower power consumption and, as a result, finds widespread use in narrowband systems. Unfortunately, the flexibility of the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) within the PLL architecture is limited. This is a severe disadvantage in multi- mode systems. It would therefore be advantageous to have a flexible, multi-mode VCO for use by a phase modulator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] A very efficient system for multi-mode phase modulation is provided.

Embodiments of the inventive system include circuitry for direct modulation of a multi-mode voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) used in a phase-locked loop (PLL) to synthesize a radio frequency carrier signal.

[0007] In one aspect the present invention is directed to a phase-locked loop module which includes a multi-mode voltage-controlled oscillator for generating an output signal of a frequency determined at least in part by a control voltage. The multi-mode voltage-controlled oscillator is characterized by a first frequency gain during operation in a first mode and a second frequency gain during operation in a second mode. The phase-locked loop module also includes divider circuit for dividing the output signal to produce a frequency-divided signal. A phase/frequency detector is disposed to compare phases between an input reference signal and the frequency-divided signal and to produce at least one phase error signal. A charge pump circuit produces a charge pump signal in response to the at least one phase error signal. A loop filter produces the control voltage in response to the charge pump signal.

[0008] In another aspect the invention relates to a multi-mode voltage- controlled oscillator including a first input port, a second input port and an LC tank circuit. The LC tank circuit is configured to operate in accordance with a first frequency gain in response to a first signal received at the first input port and in accordance with a second frequency gain in response to a second signal received at the second input port.

[0009] The present invention also pertains to a multi-mode modulation apparatus comprising a phase-locked loop and a switching network. The phase- locked loop includes a multi-mode voltage-controlled oscillator configured to realize

a first frequency gain in response to a first control signal and a second frequency gain in response to a second control signal. The switching network is disposed to generate the first control signal during operation in a first mode and the second control signal during operation in a second mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The foregoing aspects and the attendant advantages of the embodiments described herein will become more readily apparent by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

[001 1] Figure 1 shows a constellation diagram that illustrates how quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK) maps two-bit digital data to one of four offsets;

[0012] Figure 2 shows a diagram of a typical I/Q modulator;

[0013] Figure 3 shows a phase-locked loop (PLL) that is used to synthesize a radio frequency carrier signal;

[0014] Figure 4 shows a mathematical model of the PLL shown in Figure 3;

[0015] Figure 5 shows an integration filter;

[0016] Figure 6 shows one embodiment of a fractional-N PLL using a D D modulator;

[0017] Figure 7 illustrates one embodiment of a fractional-N PLL that supports direct frequency or phase modulation;

[0018] Figure 8 shows a graph of the phase noise spectrum produced by a fractional-N PLL supporting direct modulation;

[0019] Figure 9 shows a graph that illustrates the relationship between PLL bandwidth and modulation accuracy of a fractional-N PLL supporting direct modulation;

[0020] Figure 10a shows a detailed view of a voltage-controlled oscillator

(VCO);

[0021] Figure 10b shows one embodiment of a VCO tank circuit that includes an auxiliary port to support linear phase/frequency modulation;

[0022] Figure 11 shows the capacitance-voltage relationship for an accumulation-mode MOSFET device;

[0023] Figure 12 shows the linear capacitance- voltage response from back to back MOSFET devices;

[0024] Figure 13 shows one embodiment of a VCO tank circuit that includes two auxiliary ports to support direct phase/frequency modulation; and

[0025] Figure 14 shows one embodiment of a multi-mode phase/frequency modulator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Figure 3 is a phase-locked loop (PLL) 305. The PLL 305 includes a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) 310, a feedback counter 320, a phase/frequency detector (P/FD) 330, a charge pump (CP) 340, and an integration filter (LPF) 350. Elements of the PLL 305 of Figure 3 are described by the mathematical model shown in Figure 4.

[0027] The PLL 305 uses feedback to minimize the phase difference between a very accurate reference signal and its output (RF) signal. As such, it produces an output signal at a frequency given by

J VCO ~ ^J RHF ' where f _vc0 is the frequency of the VCO 310 output signal, N is the value of the feedback counter 320, and / _REF is the frequency of the reference signal. [0028] The VCO 310 produces an output signal at a frequency set by the control voltage v _ctr ι according to , where ω ₀ is the free-running frequency of the VCO 310 and K _vco is the gain of the VCO 310. The gain K _vco describes the relationship between the excess phase of the carrier φ _out and the control voltage v _ctr ι with

v _ctrl (s) s where K _vco is in rads/V. The VCO 310 drives the feedback counter 320, which simply divides the output phase φ _out by N.

[0029] When the PLL 305 is locked, the phase detector 330 and charge pump

340 generate an output signal icp that is proportional to the phase difference δθ between the two signals applied to the phase detector 330. The output signal icp can therefore be expressed as

/ (s) - K ^Aθ(S)

In where K _pd is in A/radians and δ#is in radians.

[0030] Attention is now drawn to Figure 5, which depicts an implementation of the integration filter 350. The integration filter 350 includes a resistor R\ 510 and

capacitors C _\ 520 and C ₂ 530. As shown, the integration filter 350 transforms the output signal icp to the control voltage v _ctr ι as follows

where a zero (e.g., at l/i?iCi) has been added to stabilize the second order system and the capacitor C ₂ 530 has been included to reduce any ripple on the control voltage v _cr ti. Combining the above relationships yields the composite open-loop transfer function

which includes two poles at the origin (due to the VCO 310 and the integration filter 350). The closed-loop response of the system is

' which includes the stabilizing zero and two complex poles. The equation T(s) describes the response of the PLL 305 to the low-noise reference signal.

[0031] The value N of the feedback counter 320 sets the output frequency of the PLL 305. Its digital structure restricts N to integer numbers. As a result, the frequency resolution (or frequency step size) of the integer-N PLL 305 is nominally set by f _REf . Fortunately, it is possible to dramatically decrease the effective frequency step by manipulating the value of N to yield a non-integer average value. This is the concept of a fractional-N PLL described with respect to Figures 6, 7 and 14.

[0032] Figure 6 is a fractional-N PLL 605 that uses a δσ modulator 660 to develop non-integer values of N. The δσ modulator 660 advantageously pushes spurious energy (created by the changing values of the feedback counter 620) to higher frequencies to be more effectively attenuated by the integration filter 650. It can be shown that the effective value of TV is simply the average value described by

N = ^ ,

P

where N[x] is the sequence of values of the feedback counter 620. This expands to

N[x] = N ₁₁₁₁ + n[x] ,

where N _1n , is the integer part and n[x] is the fractional part of N[x]. The δσ modulator 660 generates the sequence n[x], that satisfies

where k is the input to the δσ modulator 660 with resolution M. In practice, the order of the δσ modulator 660 dictates the range of n[x].

[0033] The δσ modulator 660 introduces quantization noise that appears at the output of the PLL 605 along with other noise sources. These noise sources all map differently to the output of the PLL 605, depending on the associated transfer function. Noise applied with the reference signal is affected by the transfer function described earlier. This transfer function is represented by

_{T (s} NK _pυ K _vcυ (^ ₁ C _{1 +} I)

¹ S ³ NR _x QC ₂ + S ² N (C ₁ + C ₂ ) + K _PD K _vcυ (sR _λ Q + 1) ' which shows a low pass response. The above transfer function similarly shapes any noise at the output of the feedback counter 620. Noise generated by the VCO 610 is subject to a different transfer function

_{T {s} S ² N(SR ₁ C ₁ C _{2 +} Q ₊ C ₂ )

S ² NR ₁ QC ₂ + s [N (C ₁ + C ₂ ) + K _PD K _VCO R _X Q ] + K _PD K _vcυ ' which shows a high pass response.

[0034] The noise at the output of the feedback counter 620 is dominated by the δσ modulator 660. It creates a pseudo-random sequence n[x] possessing a quantization error approximately equal to ±1/2 Nor

δ - l.

N

It follows that the quantization noise spectral density for this error, assuming a uniform distribution, is expressed by _e ² ( _f ) = J

6N ² / _βA , ^' over the frequency range of dc to /^2. This quantization noise is advantageously shaped by an X ^th order δσ modulator 660 according to

DS(Z)

In the PLL 605, the feedback counter 620 acts as a digital accumulator and reduces the effects of the δσ modulator 660. That is, the output phase from the feedback counter 620 depends on its previous output phase. The transfer function for the feedback counter 620 is therefore

P(z) = 2π ^ ₁₁ - ,

Combining these terms shows that the output noise of the feedback counter 620 is equal to

which yields

and appears at the output of the PLL 605 shaped by transfer function T _\ (s) presented above. Direct phase/frequency modulation further increases phase noise because an additional noise source is added to the system of Figure 6.

[0035] Figure 7 shows a fractional-N PLL 705 supporting direct VCO modulation. The system of Figure 7 directly modulates the VCO 710 and thereby controls the frequency of the VCO 710 . To realize phase modulation, the modulation signal PM(t) must therefore be differentiated (e.g., via a differentiator device 770) with

This is due to the fundamental relationship

θ(t) = )f(t)dt ,

0 which shows that frequency integrates over time.

Any noise present at the frequency modulation (FM) port of the VCO 710 appears at the output of the PLL 705 (e.g., RF signal), modified by the following transfer function

Us)

As shown in chart 800 of Figure 8, any noise associated with an FM signal V _FM adds to the system and increases the phase noise spectrum.

[0036] The feedback of the PLL 705 naturally resists the direct phase/frequency modulation of the VCO 710. To avoid this effect, the FM signal is also applied to the feedback counter 720 through the δσ modulator 760. This ideally subtracts the frequency modulation applied at the VCO 710 so that the output of the counter 720 represents only the RF carrier frequency.

[0037] Direct VCO modulation requires near exact control of the frequency of the VCO 710. This is because frequency errors produce phase deviations that accumulate with time. Fortunately, the feedback of the PLL 705 helps to reduce any frequency error. This is because the output of the VCO 710 is driven by the feedback of the PLL 705 to exactly f VCO = ^N fREf + > which is also essentially equal to

J VCO ⁼ "~VCO ^V ctrl ^" * ^" ^FM ^V FM ^■ > where v _clr ι is the error signal produced by the phase/frequency detector 730, V _FM is the FM signal applied to the VCO 710, and K _FM is the gain of the VCO 710 associated with the FM signal. Consequently, the error signal v _cfr/ compensates for any VCO 710 gain errors within the bandwidth of the integration filter 750.

[0038] Outside the bandwidth of the PLL 705, the effect of the feedback decreases. This makes setting the gain K _FM of the VCO 710 ("VCO gain K _FM ") to its designed value critical. As illustrated by chart 900 of Figure 9, it also means a wider bandwidth can achieve better modulation accuracy. In the EDGE transmit system, the modulation accuracy (measured using error vector magnitude (EVM)) improves significantly as the bandwidth of the PLL 705 increases from 25k to 75kHz.

[0039] Calibration is required to accurately set the VCO gain K _FM - This can be accomplished by scaling the FM signal (e.g., by a in Figure 7) to compensate for variations in the VCO gain K _FM and thereby stabilizing the K _F MV _FM product. Ideally, the VCO gain K _FM should be set low to minimize the added noise from the FM signal. This is because the VCO gain K _FM amplifies the added noise (due to circuit and quantization effects) associated with the FM signal. In practice, the VCO gain K _FM

cannot be set too low as there are linearity issues as well as FM signal amplitude limits.

[0040] The K _fM V _fM product sets the range of the frequency modulation. That is, the maximum frequency deviation δf _max is simply

where max(vpM) represents the peak or amplitude of the FM signal. In general, the required Af _max for reasonable performance is about four to five times the system's symbol rate.

[0041] The design shown in Figure 7 of the direct VCO modulation system for multi-mode applications is complicated. It requires the ability to achieve different δf _max ranges and as such different K _fM V _f M products. In practice, the VCO gain KfM must be set for the largest required Af _max since the FM signal amplitude is limited. This means any different Kpyvp _M products are achieved by changing α and thereby scaling the FM signal. Unfortunately, scaling (e.g., reducing) the amplitude of the FM signal may increase the added noise in the system of Figure 7. This can be unacceptable when the symbol rate and δf _max change dramatically. For example, the symbol rate for GSM/EDGE is 270ksps while it is 3.84Msps, or about 14 times larger, for WCDMA.

[0042] The multi-mode VCO 710 provides selectable gains K _PM to optimally accommodate the different frequency modulation ranges Af _max . This advantageously allows the amplitude of the FM signal to remain close to its maximum limit, which minimizes added noise.

[0043] A detailed view of the VCO 710 is shown in Figure 10a. The VCO

710 oscillates at a frequency

which is set by the resonance of the LC tank circuit shown in Figure 10a, where C _eq is the equivalent shunt capacitance (comprised of capacitor C _\ and varactors C _2a - C ₂ b plus any parasitic capacitance). The equivalent capacitance C _eq may also include coarse-tuning capacitors (not shown) to subdivide the tuning range. The varactor C ₂ (shown as C _2a and C _2b ) allows the VCO 710, by way of the control signal v _ctr ι, to be tuned to different radio frequencies.

[0044] The LC tank circuit shown in Figure 10b includes an auxiliary port to support linear phase/frequency modulation. As illustrated in chart 1 100 of Figure 11, the LC tank circuit uses the capacitance of accumulation-mode MOSFET devices N3 and N4 to achieve linear behavior even though these devices display an abrupt response. The accumulation-mode MOSFET devices present a low capacitance C _mm at applied gate-to-bulk voltages V _GB below the threshold voltage V ₁ while they display a high capacitance C _max at applied voltages above F ₇ -. Capacitors C4a and C4b block the dc level present at the output of the VCO 710. Resistors Zl - Z2 provide some isolation between the gates of MOSFET devices N3 and N4.

[0045] The gate-to-bulk voltage VGB applied to each MOSFET device N3-

N4 depends on the VCO's 710 output signal Asinωt, the FM signal v _fu , and the common-mode voltage v _cm that exists at the connection of the back-to-back devices. The symmetric structure of the VCO 710 means that signals VLO+ and VLO- Vl and V2 are differential with

V ₁₀₊ = A sin ωt & V _LO _ = -A sin ωt , where A is the peak signal of each sinusoidal output and is the oscillation frequency. It follows then that

V _C3 = A sin ωt + v _m - v _cm & V _c3 = -A sin ωt + v _m - v _cm , which describe the gate-to-bulk voltages V _GB applied to MOSFET devices N ₃ and N ₄ . The two MOSFET devices N ₃ and N ₄ connect back-to-back in the VCO 710, so their individual capacitances behave oppositely.

[0046] The modulation signal v _FM affects the MOSFET devices ν3 and N4 as follows. The devices nominally present a capacitance equal to min max

^C m,d = ^C FM ( ^V ™ = θ) = ^■

C mm +C max

As the FM signal V _FM moves positive, both MOSFET devices iV ₃ and N^ reach their maximum capacitance values C _max , so that for a period of time of approximately

t = — sin ^"1 1 — ω V A ) the structure in Figure 10b presents a capacitance equal to C _max l2. A similar response occurs as the FM signal moves negative, which results in the structure in Figure 10b presenting a capacitance equal to C _mιn l2. It is worth noting that the structure in Figure

10b linearizes the overall response of the accumulation-mode MOSFET devices JV ₃ and JV ₄ to yield the behavior shown in Figure 12.

[0047] Figure 13 depicts two auxiliary ports (VFMl and VFM2) in the VCO

710 that each support a different frequency modulation range Af _max . As shown in Figure 13, the additional auxiliary port is formed by simply adding another branch of accumulation-mode MOSFET devices N5 and N6 to the resonant tank of the VCO 710.

[0048] As illustrated in Figure 14, a simple switch network 1480 enables the

FM signal to drive the multi-mode VCO 1410. One or more filters 1490 may be included to smooth the FM signal after it is scaled by a, and to attenuate any alias signals. Each mode of the VCO 1410 requires calibration to operate accurately. Since the VCO gain Kp - _M is constant in each of the modes, the calibration scales the FM signal by a, where different values for by a are applied for each mode. Ideally, the system illustrated in figure 14 produces similar FM signal amplitudes for the different modes, thus minimizing added noise. As a benefit of the present invention, the multi- mode VCO 1410 enables direct VCO modulation architecture to meet stringent phase noise and modulation accuracy requirements in vastly different modes.

[0049] Those skilled in the art can readily recognize that numerous variations and substitutions may be made in the invention, its use and its configuration to achieve substantially the same results as achieved by the embodiments described herein. Accordingly, there is no intention to limit the invention to the disclosed exemplary forms. Many variations, modifications and alternative constructions fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosed invention as expressed in the claims.