Performance of Transceivers

Abstract

The front-end of a transceiver converts a modulated wanted signal into an antenna signal, and vice-versa. This is done by means of a sequence of frequency domain operations: upconversion, downconversion, filtering and amplification. Determining which operations are needed and in what sequence is the architecture design. This design will be mainly based on the function that the receiver and transmitter have to perform in the frequency domain. Whether or not a transceiver architecture performs the required frequency shifting and filtering will determine whether or not an architecture is suited. The actual implementation of the transceiver requires the implementation of all the frequency domain operations described by the architecture as physical building blocks, either on-chip or as discrete components. These building blocks will not be perfect. Apart from the wanted frequency domain operations they will also perform some unwanted operations. Unwanted operations are for instance adding noise to the signal and distorting the signal. These unwanted operations will limit the performance of the transmitter and the receiver.