Heterodyne receiver structure, multi chip module, multi integrated circuit module, and method for processing a radio frequency signal

Abstract

A heterodyne receiver structure comprises a frequency conversion block arranged to convert an incoming analog radio frequency (RF) signal to an analog intermediate frequency (IF) signal; a filter block arranged to filter said analog IF signal; and an analog-to-digital (AD) converter block arranged to convert said filtered analog IF signal to a digital signal, wherein the AD converter block () is arranged to convert the filtered analog IF signal to the digital signal by using a sampling frequency (fs) which is at least N times a maximum bandwidth of the filtered analog IF signal, wherein the frequency spectrum from zero to the sampling frequency is divided into N frequency zones of equal width, wherein N is an even positive number higher than two; the frequency conversion block () is arranged to convert the incoming analog RF signal to the analog IF signal such that the analog IF signal is located in any of the N/2-1 frequency zones having lowest frequency; and the filter block (-) is arranged to low pass the analog IF signal such that any disturbing signal located in a zone, which would have a mirror image after the AD conversion in the zone, in which the analog IF signal is located, is filtered away, wherein the heterodyne receiver structure further comprises a digital signal processing block () arranged to filter said digital signal.