Overview

Direct RF sampling moves the A/D and D/A conversion process closer to the antenna such that the converter directly samples the RF signal as shown below. With this technology, Moore’s Law can be applied to frequency selection and down conversion, traditionally implemented using analog signal processing techniques. By allowing analog/RF signal processing to be moved in to the digital domain, a more flexible and programmable solution can be delivered. Advantages include:

  • Elimination of analog/RF signal processing and associated impairments
  • Increased flexibility to support wider bandwidths and multiple operating RF bands
  • Enablement of a software defined radio front end
RF Sampling Diagram

Resources

Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Overview

The Zynq™ UltraScale+™ RFSoC family integrates key subsystems for multiband, multi-mode cellular radios and cable infrastructure (DOCSIS) into an SoC platform that contains a feature-rich 64-bit quad-core Arm® Cortex®-A53 and dual-core Arm Cortex-R5F based processing system.

IEEE Technical Paper

Recent advances in RF sampling ADCs have led to pipelined-SAR designs using open-loop integrator-based amplifiers for high sampling frequency, resolution, and linearity, supported by dynamic circuits and calibration loops for cost, power, and noise reduction.

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