A Flexible Antenna Selection Scheme for 60 GHz Multi-Antenna Systems Using Interleaved ADCs

We present a new scheme for maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in wideband multi-antenna receivers that employ time-interleaved analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Current wideband receivers interleave a fixed number of slower ADCs into one fast ADC and assign this latter to one antenna according to an antenna selection algorithm. However, this does not always guarantee an optimal trade-off between thermal noise and quantization noise. This results in an overall SNR that is lower than what could be obtained with the same number of ADCs, assigned in a more optimal way. Therefore, we propose to adjust the number of slower ADCs assigned to a certain fast, interleaved ADC dynamically, according to the SNR of every individual antenna. Our proposed algorithm can be implemented at the expense of a very limited hardware complexity increase. The SNR gain of our new scheme can exceed 7 dB, depending on channel conditions and ADC specifications.

[1]  W. Black,et al.  Time interleaved converter arrays , 1980, 1980 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference. Digest of Technical Papers.

[2]  Håkan Johansson,et al.  Time-interleaved analog-to-digital converters: status and future directions , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[3]  John M. Cioffi,et al.  Optimum bandwidth partitioning with analog-to-digital converter constraints , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Communications.

[4]  Aria Nosratinia,et al.  Antenna selection in MIMO systems , 2004, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[5]  Chia-Chin Chong,et al.  An Overview of Multigigabit Wireless through Millimeter Wave Technology: Potentials and Technical Challenges , 2007, EURASIP J. Wirel. Commun. Netw..

[6]  Luca Fanucci,et al.  Mixed-Signal Design Space Exploration of Time-Interleaved A/D Converters for Ultra-Wide Band Applications , 2008, 2008 Design, Automation and Test in Europe.

[7]  A.F. Molisch,et al.  MIMO systems with antenna selection , 2004, IEEE Microwave Magazine.

[8]  S. R. Velazquez.  High-performance advanced filter bank analog-to-digital converter for universal RF receivers , 1998, Proceedings of the IEEE-SP International Symposium on Time-Frequency and Time-Scale Analysis (Cat. No.98TH8380).