Overcoming the challenges of designing CMOS Software Defined Radio Receivers front-ends embedding analog signal conditioning

Abstract

Today's mobile terminals are real multiple media platforms compatible to a rather large number of wireless standards. The ideal candidate for such a mobile terminal radio receiver front-end is the Software Defined Radio Receiver (SDRR). The main challenge the designer must overcome is the SDRR circuit level design optimization, while considering the large amount of information comprised in the envisaged wireless standards. By driving the SDRR design through an initial system level analysis, based on a standard independent systematic methodology, the useful information is structured. Thus, a SDRR design recipe is developed based on the circuit / transistor level designer perspective.