Evaluation of Digital-to-RF Upconversion Transmitter Using Harmonic Images of DAC Output

Minseok KIM  Tatsuo FUJI  Takafumi NAKABAYASHI  Hiroyuki ARAI  

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications   Vol.E91-B   No.4   pp.1215-1218
Publication Date: 2008/04/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1345
DOI: 10.1093/ietcom/e91-b.4.1215
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: LETTER
Category: Wireless Communication Technologies
Keyword: 
DAC,  harmonic,  SDR,  sinc distortion,  up-conversion,  EVM,  

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Summary: 
This letter evaluates a transmitter architecture using harmonic images in D/A conversion for generating RF signals. In generating harmonic images, the problems such as intermodulation distortion of DAC were investigated. We developed an evaluation system with two bandpass filter and a buffer amplifier. It was experimentally found that the RF signal up to around 400 MHz can be generated by a commonly used 14-bit DAC at the sampling rates of around 40 MHz with EVM less than 6.6%. This letter also presents a more feasible transmitter example having an IF stage with harmonic image extraction scheme and a typical RF upconversion stage.