Broadband Innovations, Inc.

General Instrument Corporation

Maxim Ashkenasi

Branislav A Petrovic

Andre Basovich

A regenerative frequency divider device including a plurality of multipliers, each of which has a first input port, a second input port and an output port; a first combiner coupled to the plurality of multipliers so as to receive an output signal from at least two of the multipliers; and a second combiner coupled to the plurality of multipliers so as to receive an output signal from at least two of multipliers. Further, a first output signal generated by the first combiner is coupled to the second input port of at least two of the multipliers; and a second output signal generated by the second combiner is coupled to the second input port of at least two of the multipliers such that a complex signal is fed back to the multipliers performing the down conversion process. The present invention divider CRD can achieve superior output noise floor of &#x2212;180 dBc/Hz at multi-GHz frequencies.

Broadband low noise complex regenerative frequency dividers

A frequency multiplier device comprises a first signal combiner having a first port for receiving a first input signal having a first frequency fand a second port for receiving a second input signal having a second frequency f, the first signal combiner configured to provide an output signal having either a sum of the first frequency and second frequency or a difference of the first frequency and second frequency; and a frequency divider having a dividing ratio N, the frequency divider configured to output a divided signal, wherein the output signal from the first signal combiner is coupled to the frequency divider, the divided signal from the frequency divider is coupled to the second port of the first signal combiner, and the output signal from the first signal combiner has a frequency of (N/(N&#xb1;1))&#xd7;f.

Frequency multiplier device

The present invention discloses a new type of extremely low-noise phase-frequency detector (PFD), broadband from DC to multi-GHz RF frequencies for PLL synthesizer applications. Free of any feedback mechanisms, thus inherently fast, it operates close to transition frequency fof IC processes or frequency limits of discrete mixers. The PFDutilizes complex SSB conversion in both the in-phase and quadrature arms, delaying the in-phase arm in, beating the delayed signalwith the un-delayed quadrature signalin mixer. The outputcontains both the frequency difference and the phase difference information between the two signalsand, providing both the frequency-discrimination (FD) and the phase detection (PD) functions. Utilizing standard mixers the PFDcan achieve superior CNRs of 180 dBc/Hz at multi-GHz RF. Additionally, utilizing the FD/FM demodulation capability, the present invention improves phase noise of various signals and linearity of FM modulators.

High frequency low noise phase-frequency detector and phase noise reduction method and apparatus

A frequency discriminators (FD) and frequency modulation (FM) demodulators, utilizing single sideband (SSB) complex conversion directly to zero IF, suitable for direct demodulation at high frequencies of analog FM or digital FSK modulated signals, as well as for high speed frequency discrimination (or frequency comparison) in applications such as frequency acquisition in frequency synthesizers. The complex SSB down-converter consists of a quad of mixers and quadrature splitters in both the signal path and local oscillator (LO) path. Each mixer receives both the signal and the LO, each either in-phase or quadrature. The outputs of mixers are combined in pairs, to produce the SSB in-phase (I) baseband signal and the SSB quadrature (Q) baseband signal. Both I and Q signals are then delayed, each multiplied by un-delayed version of the other one. The multiplication products are summed together, to produce an FD error signal, or an FM demodulated signal at the output. The delay time can be dynamically controlled, in order to set the FD frequency range or to adjust the gain of the FM demodulator.

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La Jolla, CA, United States of America

Maxim Ashkenasi