Nova Patents
EP1029397B1

Reconfigurable radio system architecture

Abstract

This record has no abstract on file.

EP1029397B1, drawing sheet 1
Sheet 1 of 53

Term

Term ended

Expired 3 November 2018, 7.9 years ago.

  1. Priority
  2. Filed
  3. Granted
  4. Expired
  5. Today

15 claims: 15 independent, 0 dependent

  1. 1
    A field configurable radio frequency communications system comprising:a radio frequency receiver and transmitter subsystem (12) coupled to an antenna (11) and having a transmitter section (126) for receiving carrier based modulated digital signals for transmission as RF modulated signals by said antenna (11), and having a receiver section (125) for receiving RF modulated signals from said antenna (11) and for outputting carrier based modulated digital signals;a configurable digital signal processing circuit (24), responsive to digital commands, and configurable into a receiver circuit (150) and into a transmitter circuit (152), each configurable to operate in accordance with any of a plurality of communications schemes or waveforms, the transmitter circuit (152) configurable to modulate digital input signals in accordance with any of the plurality of communications schemes or waveforms, as carrier based modulated digital signals for output to the transmitter section (126), the receiver circuit (150) configurable to demodulate carrier based modulated digital signals received from the receiver section (125) into digital signals in accordance with any of the plurality of communications schemes or waveforms, an input circuit (26) adapted for receiving digital commands for selecting transmitter and receiver modes of operation and for selecting respective ones of the plurality of communications schemes or waveforms, and a control system (18), including a first digital signal processor (28) that is responsive to said digital commands received by the input circuit (26), for processing said digital commands to configure the digital signal processing circuit (24) to either modulate input digital signals as carrier based modulated digital signals in the transmitter mode of operation in accordance with a first selected communications scheme or waveform or to demodulate carrier based modulated digital signals as digital signals in the receiver mode of operation in accordance with the first selected communications scheme or waveform, and that is further responsive to additional digital commands received by the input circuit (26), for processing said additional digital commands to configure the digital signal processing circuit (24) to either modulate input digital signals as carrier based modulated digital signals in the transmitter mode of operation in accordance with a second selected communications scheme or waveform or to demodulate carrier based modulated digital signals as digital signals in the receiver mode of operation in accordance with the second selected communications scheme or waveform, wherein: the control system (18) includes a memory (14) for storing digital commands for configuring the radio frequency communications system for transmitter and receiver modes of operation, and for storing digital commands for a plurality of communications schemes or waveforms, the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) is automatically configured to the selected communications scheme or waveform upon receipt of the digital commands by the control system (18) from the input circuit (26), the input circuit (26) is adapted to receive configuration software programs for storage in a memory (14), and the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) includes a plurality of common circuits, responsive to said digital commands, which plurality of circuits is to be selected and interconnected either as a configured transmitter circuit (152), or as a configured receiver circuit (150).
  2. 2
    A radio frequency communications system as defined in claim 1 including a configurable auxiliary digital signal processor (34), a configurable voice/data digital signal processor (38) and a configurable security processor system (42) configurable to handle at least one of:voice/data operations, security operations, and auxiliary operations, and coupled to a reconfigurable hardware element (A) included in the control system (18).
  3. 3
    A radio frequency communications system as defined in claim 1 wherein:the control system (18) includes a second digital signal processor (30), the first digital signal processor (28) being responsive to instructions from the input circuit (26) to process configuration software programs from the memory (14) to interconnect the digital signal processing circuit (24) with the first digital signal processor (28) via the second digital signal processor (30) and to configure the digital signal processing circuit (24) either to the transmitter mode of operation or to the receiver mode of operation and the selected communications schemes or waveforms.
  4. 4
    A radio frequency communications system as defined in claim 3 wherein the control system (18) includes a configurable third digital signal processor (32), adapted to be interconnected with the first and second digital signal processors (28, 30) and the digital signal processing circuit (24), and is adapted to function with the first digital signal processor (28) to operate the radio frequency communications system once configured.
  5. 5
    A radio frequency communications system as defined in claim 2 wherein the configurable voice/data digital signal processor (38) is configured to process voice and data digital signals.
  6. 6
    A radio frequency communications system as defined in claim 2 wherein the configurable security processor system (42) is configured to provide encryption and decryption of digital signals.
  7. 7
    A control system adapted for operation in a field configurable radio frequency communications system including a radio frequency transceiver (12) comprising:an input circuit (26) adapted for receiving digital commands for selecting either a receiver or transmitter mode of operation;a control circuit (18) responsive to digital commands received by the input circuit (26) to configure a digital signal processing circuit (24) to function with the radio frequency transceiver (12) in the selected receiver or transmitter mode of operation;wherein the control circuit (18) includes a memory (14) for storing digital commands for configuring the radio frequency communications system for transmitter and receiver modes of operation and for a plurality of communications schemes or waveforms;and the control circuit (18) is configured to process the digital commands to configure the digital signal processing circuit (24) to function in the selected one of the transmitter and receiver modes and with the selected one of the plurality of communications schemes or waveforms;and wherein the control circuit (18) processes the digital commands received by the input circuit (26) to configure a first configurable digital signal processor (28) to operate in accordance with the selected communications scheme or waveforms, the control circuit (18) is further responsive to additional digital commands received by the input circuit (26) for configuring the first configurable digital signal processor (28) for a second communications scheme or waveform, the input circuit (26) is adapted to receive said digital commands as transmitter and receiver operating mode configuration commands and as communications scheme or waveform commands, to be loaded into the memory (14), and the control circuit (18) is adapted to configure the digital signal processing circuit (24) by selecting and interconnecting a plurality of common circuits in said digital signal processing circuit (24), either as a configured transmitter circuit (152), or as a configured receiver circuit (150).
  8. 8
    A control system as defined in claim 7 including a second digital signal processor (30), the first digital signal processor being responsive to instructions from the input circuit (26) to process configuration software programs from the memory (14) to interconnect the digital signal processing circuit (24) with the first digital signal processor (28) via the second digital signal processor (30) and to configure the digital signal processing circuit (24) to either the transmitter mode of operation or the receiver mode of operation and the selected communications schemes or waveforms.
  9. 9
    A control system as defined in claim 8 including a configurable third digital signal processor (32), adapted to be interconnected with the first and second digital signal processors (28, 30) and the digital signal processing drcuit (24), and functions with the first digital signal processor (28) to operate the radio frequency communications system once configured.
  10. 10
    A method of configuring a field configurable radio frequency communications system including a memory (14), an input circuit (26) for receiving commands for selecting the configuration of the system, a configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) including a plurality of common circuits for applying signals to or receiving signals from a radio subsystem including a receiver section (125) and a transmitter section (126), and a control system (18) including a first digital signal processor (28) and an interconnect circuit for interconnecting the memory (14), the first digital signal processor (28), and the digital signal processing circuit (24); the method comprising:a first step of loading instructions into the memory (14) for configuring the radio frequency communications system in transmitter and receiver operating modes;a second step of enabling the first digital signal processor (28) to receive instructions from the input circuit (26) selecting either the transmitter or the receiver operating mode;a third step of operatively connecting the first digital signal processor (28) to the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) in response to instructions from the input circuit (26) and instructions from the memory (14);a fourth step of enabling the first digital signal processor (28) to configure the common circuits of the digital signal processing circuit (24) to function in the selected mode of operation in response to instructions from the input circuit (26) and instructions from the memory (14);a fifth step of enabling the first digital signal processor (28), in response to instructions from the input circuit (26) to transmit commands from the memory (14), to configure the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) to operate in accordance with any of a plurality of communications schemes or waveforms;a sixth step of enabling the first digital signal processor (28) to receive instructions from the input circuit (26) selecting a transmitter or receiver operating mode;a seventh step of operatively connecang the first digital signal processor (28) to the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) in response to instructions from the input circuit (26) and instructions from the memory (14);and one of the following steps of enabling the first digital signal processor (28) to configure the common circuits of the digital signal processing circuit (24) to function in the second mode of operation in response to instructions from the input circuit (26) and instructions from the memory (14);or enabling the first digital signal processor (28), in response to instructions from the input circuit (26) to transmit commands from the memory (14), to configure the common circuits of the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) to operate in accordance with a second communications scheme or waveform.
  11. 11
    A radio frequency communications system as defined in claim 1, wherein the plurality of said common circuits of the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) is configurable by multi bit digital commands from a control register (136) or directly from the memory (14).
  12. 12
    A radio frequency communications system as defined in claim 1 or 11, wherein the common circuits include wideband mixers (160I, 160Q, 188I, 188Q), decimator and interpolator circuits (170I, 170Q, 186I, 186Q), gain circuits (176I, 176Q, 182I, 182Q), compensating filters (172I, 172Q, 184I, 184Q), programmable filters (174I, 174Q, 180I, 180Q), IF gain circuits (179I, 179Q, 183I, 183Q), numerically controlled oscillators (167, 195), or frequency word, phase offset circuits (165, 190).
  13. 13
    A control system as defined in claim 7, wherein the control circuit is adapted to configure the plurality of said common circuits of the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) by multi bit digital commands from a control register (136) or directly from the memory (14).
  14. 14
    A control system as defined in claim 7 or 13, wherein the control circuit (18) is adapted to configure the common circuits including wideband mixers (160I, 160Q, 188I, 188Q), decimator and interpolator circuits (170I, 170Q, 186I, 186Q), gain circuits (176I, 176Q, 182I, 182Q), compensating filters (172I, 172Q, 184I, 184Q), programmable filters (174I, 174Q, 180I, 180Q), IF gain circuits (179I, 179Q, 183I, 183Q), numerically controlled oscillators (167, 195), or frequency word, phase offset circuits (165, 190).
  15. 15
    A radio frequency communications system as defined in any of claims 1 to 6 wherein - the receiver section (125) includes -- a tuner (127) connected to the antenna (11), -- a down converter (128) connected to the tuner (127) and converting RF modulated signals to intermediate frequency modulated signals and -- an analog to digital converter (129) connected to the down converter (128) for outputting received intermediate frequency modulated signals as multi bit digital signals to the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24), and - the transmitter section (126) includes -- a digital to analog converter (130) for converting multi bit digital intermediate frequency modulated signals received from the configurable digital signal processing circuit (24) into analog form, -- an up converter (131) connected to the digital to analog converter (130) and converting the intermediate frequency modulated analog signals to RF based modulated analog signals;-- a power amplifier stage (132) connected to the up converter (131) and amplifying the RF based modulated analog signals;and -- a coupler circuit (133) connected to the power amplifier stage (132) and the antenna (11) and applying the amplified RF based modulated analog signals to the antenna (11).
Independent claims15