A passive-mixer-first receiver with baseband-controlled RF impedance matching, ≪ 6dB NF, and ≫ 27dBm wideband IIP3

A software-defined radio (SDR) ideally allows all of the parameters of the radio to be programmed dynamically. SDRs so far have shown flexibility in bandwidth (BW) [1], local oscillator (LO) frequency [2-4], gain, and modulation type. However, the impedance an RF front-end presents to its antenna has proven difficult to tune [5]. Since antenna impedance can vary significantly across frequency and different environments, a software-controlled input impedance is desirable. Meanwhile, recent work suggests that connecting the antenna directly to a passive mixer without an RF LNA can provide significant benefits, such as extremely low power [6] or greatly increased tuning range and linearity [2]. This paper demonstrates a passive mixer-first SDR with an RF impedance that is controlled by baseband components whose impedance is reflected through the passive mixer to the RF port.

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