KR20100026646A - Ultra wide band communication module - Google Patents

Abstract

The UWB communication module according to the embodiment relates to a UWB communication module for processing a plurality of UWB signals, the first filter filtering a low band signal, a second filter filtering a high band signal, the first filter and the second filter. A first matching circuit connected in parallel to the front end of the filter and performing signal separation and impedance matching functions, and a second matching connected in parallel to the rear ends of the first filter and the second filter and performing signal separation and impedance matching functions An RF filter unit including a circuit; And a signal processor connected to the second matching circuit to process an RF signal, an intermediate frequency signal, and a digital signal.

According to an embodiment, in processing a signal of a first band group having a low band and a signal of a third to fifth band group having a high band, a matching circuit for connecting the input and output of the first filter and the second filter in parallel may be implemented. There is no need to use a separate diplexer product. Therefore, a single antenna can process signals of a plurality of band groups and can greatly reduce the size of an integrated communication module.

Description

ＵＷＢ Communication module {Ultra Wide Band communication module}

An embodiment relates to a UWB communication module.

As high-speed data transmission technology through wireless channels is developed, various electronic communication devices used in daily life are connected through a network, and more convenient services are provided. Such a wireless network technology may be UWB (Ultra Wide Band), and UWB technology may transmit data at a rate of about 480 Mbps, so that communication devices distributed in spaces may be networked. have.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the components of a conventional UWB communication module 40, Figure 2 is a top view showing a form in which the conventional UWB communication module 40 is mounted on a substrate.

UWB communication uses a low power of about -41.3dBm, uses 14 bands with a wide bandwidth of about 528 HMz, divides it into 5 band groups (BG), and it is around 10m. It has a feature such as having a communication distance.

For example, the first band group has a bandwidth of about 3.1 GHz to 4.8 GHz, and the fifth band group uses about 9.5 GHz to 10.6 GHz bandwidth. In addition, each band group is divided into individual bands in the about 500 MHz band.

According to FIG. 1, the UWB communication module 40 includes an RF filter unit 10, an oscillation circuit 20, and a signal processing unit 30. The RF filter unit 10 includes a first filter 11. And a second filter 12 and a diplexer 13, and the signal processor 30 includes an RF transceiver 31 and a baseband unit 32.

The first filter 11 and the second filter 12 are connected to two external antennas 50 and 60 through antenna terminals 52 and 62.

The first filter 11 filters the signals of the first band group that is low band, and the second filter 12 filters the signals of the third to fifth band groups that are relatively high band, thus, two An external antenna is required.

The conventional UWB communication module 40 has the following problems.

First, in order to connect the first filter 11 and the second filter 12 in parallel, and to minimize losses in each path, the diplexer 13 having a signal separation function and an impedance matching function is essential. It should be equipped with.

Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the UWB communication module 40 is increased, and as shown in FIG. 2, the substrate size of the integrated module is large.

Second, since the UWB communication module 40 should be connected to two external antennas 50 and 60, it is difficult to design the layout of the circuit.

Third, when the external antennas 50 and 60 are to be used as one, a separate diplexer should be further added to the front end of the first filter 11 and the second filter 12. The substrate size of the module becomes larger.

The embodiment may configure a circuit through one antenna without using a diplexer in processing signals of a low band first band group and signals of a high band third to fifth band group, and using an integrated module. Provides a UWB communication module that can minimize the size of the.

The UWB communication module according to the embodiment relates to a UWB communication module for processing a plurality of UWB signals, the first filter filtering a low band signal, a second filter filtering a high band signal, the first filter and the second filter. A first matching circuit connected in parallel to the front end of the filter and performing signal separation and impedance matching functions, and a second matching connected in parallel to the rear ends of the first filter and the second filter and performing signal separation and impedance matching functions An RF filter unit including a circuit; And a signal processor connected to the second matching circuit to process an RF signal, an intermediate frequency signal, and a digital signal.

According to the UWB communication module according to the embodiment, the following effects are obtained.

First, in processing signals of the first band group having a low band and signals of the third to fifth band groups having a high band, a separate die is implemented by implementing a matching circuit connecting the input and output of the first filter and the second filter in parallel. There is no need to use a flexor product.

Second, by implementing a diplexer function through a matching circuit, it is possible to process signals of multiple band groups with one antenna.

Third, by eliminating the diplexer from the circuit and configuring the matching circuit to be embedded in the substrate having a multi-layer structure, the size of the integrated module can be greatly reduced and manufacturing cost can be reduced.

With reference to the accompanying drawings, a UWB communication module according to an embodiment will be described in detail.

Hereinafter, in describing the embodiments, detailed descriptions of related well-known functions or configurations are deemed to unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, and thus only the essential components directly related to the technical spirit of the present invention will be referred to. .

3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the components of the UWB communication module 100 according to the embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, the UWB communication module 100 according to the embodiment includes an RF filter unit 110, an oscillation circuit 140, and a signal processing unit 150.

In addition, the RF filter unit 110 includes a first matching circuit 120, a second matching circuit 130, a first filter 112, and a second filter 114, and the signal processor 150 includes An RF transceiver 152 and a baseband portion 154 are included.

The first filter 112 filters the signals of the first band group among the UWB signals, and the second filter 114 filters the signals of the third to fifth band groups.

For example, the first filter 112 and the second filter 114 may be provided as a band pass filter (BPF).

Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the signals of the first band group are referred to as "low band signals", and the signals of the third to fifth band groups are referred to as "high band signals".

The first matching circuit includes a first capacitor 122, a first inductor 124, a second capacitor 126, and a second inductor 128, and includes the first filter 112 and the second filter ( 114).

In the path with the first filter 112, the first inductor 124 is connected in series, and the first capacitor 122 is connected in parallel.

In the path with the second filter 114, the second inductor 128 is connected in parallel, and the second capacitor 126 is connected in series.

One end of the second inductor 128 and the first capacitor 122 is connected to the first filter 112 and the second filter 114, respectively, and the other end thereof is connected to the ground terminal.

The second matching circuit includes a third capacitor 132, a third inductor 134, a fourth capacitor 136, and a fourth inductor 138, and includes the first filter 112 and the second filter ( 114).

In the path with the first filter 112, the third inductor 134 is connected in series, and the third capacitor 132 is connected in parallel.

In addition, in the path with the second filter 114, the fourth inductor 138 is connected in parallel, the fourth capacitor 136 is connected in series.

One end of the fourth inductor 138 and the third capacitor 132 is connected to the first filter 112 and the second filter 114, respectively, and the other end is connected to the ground terminal.

The first matching circuit 120 and the second matching circuit 130 configured as described above have the function of connecting the first filter 112 and the second filter 114 in parallel and separating signals and impedance. A function of matching and minimizing insertion loss between the signal processor 150 and the RF processor 110 is performed.

When the first matching circuit 120 and the second matching circuit 130 are viewed from the input / output port of the first filter 112, the impedance of the passband frequency of the first filter 112 is 50Ω on the Smith chart. To the point, the impedance of the passband frequency of the second filter 114 is directed to an infinity (open) point.

On the contrary, when the first matching circuit 120 and the second matching circuit 130 are viewed from the input / output port of the second filter 114, the impedance of the passband frequency of the second filter 114 is Smith. The impedance of the passband frequency of the first filter 112 is sent to an infinity (open) point on the chart.

By the configuration of the first matching circuit 120 and the second matching circuit 130 as described above, the UWB communication module 100 according to the embodiment is a high-band signal and low by using only one external antenna 170 Band signals can be processed together.

The first matching circuit 120 may be connected to the external antenna 170 through an antenna terminal 160 implemented on a substrate.

The RF transceiver 152 includes a low noise amplifier (LNA), a power amplifier module (PAM), a transmission filter, a reception filter, a transmission mixer, a reception mixer, and the like, and the baseband unit 154 The intermediate frequency transmission signal transmitted from) is processed as an RF transmission signal and transmitted to the RF filter unit 110.

In addition, the RF transceiver 152 processes the RF received signal transmitted from the RF filter unit 110 into an intermediate frequency received signal and transmits the received RF signal to the baseband unit 154.

The baseband unit 154 is a component that processes signals of a physical layer and a hardware / software MAC layer. The baseband unit 154 may be configured as an RF module 152 and an integrated module having a System on Chip (SoC) type.

The baseband unit 154 includes an amplifier, an A / D converter, a D / A converter, a channel encoder, a channel decoder, and the like, and modulates and demodulates an intermediate frequency signal into a digital signal.

In addition, the baseband unit 154 processes the digital signal into a digital signal (eg, multimedia data) that can be processed in an application layer. For example, an error correction circuit, a fast fourier transform (FFT) circuit, and a frequency domain processor (FDP) , A quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) circuit, a baseband processor (BPB), and the like.

The oscillator circuit 140 includes an oscillator, a voltage oscillation control circuit, and the like to generate a frequency oscillation signal for signal synthesis, and provide it to the signal processor 150.

4 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a form in which the UWB communication module 100 is mounted on a board, and FIG. 5 is a top view illustrating a form in which the UWB communication module 100 is mounted on a board. to be.

4 and 5, the substrate on which the communication module 100 is mounted is a multi-layer Low Temperature Cofired Ceramics (LTCC) substrate, and the signal processor 150 and the first filter on the uppermost substrate. (112), the second filter 114, the oscillation circuit 140 and the passive element 180 that constitutes the circuit of each component is mounted.

The passive element 180 may be a resistor, a capacitor, an inductor, or the like.

Each of the components 150, 112, 114, 140, and 180 mounted on the uppermost substrate may be electrically connected to the inner layer substrate through a via hole.

The substrate having the multi-layer structure includes patterns such as via holes, line patterns, power patterns, ground patterns, terminal patterns, and the like, as shown in FIG. 4, wherein the first matching circuit 120 and the second matching circuit are formed on an inner substrate. 130 is formed.

For example, the first inductor 124, the second inductor 128, the third inductor 132, and the fourth inductor 138 may be formed in a spiral structure or a meander structure. The first capacitor 122, the second capacitor 126, the third capacitor 132, and the fourth capacitor 136 may be formed in a metal insulator metal (MIM) structure.

Thus, after each component is mounted, the UWB communication module 100 according to the embodiment forms a single package form by going through a molding process.

Therefore, according to the embodiment, only one antenna terminal 160 is required, the conventional diplexer can be excluded, and the matching circuits 120 and 130 can be mounted on the inner layer of the substrate. In comparison, the size can be reduced by about 40% or more.

6 is a graph measuring frequency response characteristics of the first filter 112 and the second filter 114 of the UWB communication module 100 according to an embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a UWB communication module 100 according to an embodiment. Is a graph measuring the frequency response characteristics of the RF filter unit when the matching circuits 120 and 130 are not applied. FIG. 8 is a graph illustrating the matching circuits 120 and 130 of the UWB communication module 100 according to the embodiment. This is a graph measuring the frequency response of the filter unit.

In the graphs of FIGS. 6 to 8, the x-axis denotes a frequency band (frequency, GHz), and the y-axis denotes a frequency response characteristic (dB).

In FIG. 6, the measurement line S1 represents the frequency pass characteristic of the first filter 112, and the measurement line S2 represents the frequency reflection characteristic of the first filter 112.

In addition, measurement line S3 represents the frequency pass characteristic of the second filter 114, and measurement line S4 represents the frequency reflection characteristic of the second filter 114.

According to FIG. 6, the first filter 112 filters the lowband signal, i.e., the out-of-band signal of about 3 GHz to 4.8 GHz, and the second filter 114 performs the highband signal, i.e. about 6.3 GHz. It can be seen that the out-of-band signal from 10.6 GHz to filter.

In FIG. 7, the measurement line T1 represents a frequency pass characteristic when the matching circuits 120 and 130 are not applied to the RF filter unit 110, and the measurement line T2 represents a matching circuit (or a matching circuit) in the RF filter unit 110. 120 and 130 show frequency reflection characteristics when not applied.

Referring to FIG. 7, since the impedance matching function of the matching circuits 120 and 130 is lacking, the filtering function for the high band signal and the low band signal of the RF filter unit 110 is not operated at all. It can be seen.

In FIG. 8, the measurement line U1 represents the frequency pass characteristic of the RF filter unit 110, and the measurement line U2 represents the frequency reflection characteristic of the RF filter unit 110.

Referring to FIG. 8, since the matching circuits 120 and 130 are provided, the filtering function for the high band signal and the low band signal of the RF filter unit 110 is performed by the first filter 112 and the It can be seen that the enhancement is similar to the self-filtering function of the second filter 114.

That is, the RF filter unit 110 according to the embodiment can confirm that the passband signal is minimized and transmitted, and the stopband signal is faithfully performed.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the preferred embodiments, which are merely examples and are not intended to limit the present invention, and those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains do not depart from the essential characteristics of the present invention. It will be appreciated that various modifications and applications are not possible that are not illustrated above. For example, each component specifically shown in the embodiment of the present invention can be modified. And differences relating to such modifications and applications will have to be construed as being included in the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the components of a conventional UWB communication module.

2 is a top view illustrating a conventional UWB communication module mounted on a substrate.

3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating components of a UWB communication module according to an embodiment;

Figure 4 is a side cross-sectional view showing a form in which the UWB communication module according to the embodiment mounted on the substrate.

5 is a top view illustrating a form in which the UWB communication module according to the embodiment is mounted on a substrate.

6 is a graph measuring frequency response characteristics of a first filter and a second filter of a UWB communication module according to an embodiment;

Figure 7 is a graph measuring the frequency response characteristics of the RF filter unit when the matching circuit of the UWB communication module according to the embodiment is not applied.

8 is a graph measuring the frequency response characteristics of the RF filter unit when the matching circuit of the UWB communication module according to the embodiment is applied.

Claims (15)

In the UWB communication module processing a plurality of UWB signals, A first filter for filtering a low band signal, a second filter for filtering a high band signal, a first matching circuit connected in parallel to the front end of the first filter and the second filter and performing a signal separation and impedance matching function; An RF filter unit connected to a rear end of the first filter and the second filter in parallel and including a second matching circuit performing a signal separation and an impedance matching function; And And a signal processor connected to the second matching circuit to process an RF signal, an intermediate frequency signal, and a digital signal. The method of claim 1, The low band signal is a signal of the first band group of the UWB signal, The high band signal is a UWB communication module, characterized in that the signal of the third band group to the fifth band group of the UWB signal. The method of claim 1, UWB communication module including an oscillation circuit for providing a frequency oscillation signal to the signal processor. The method of claim 1, wherein the first matching circuit A first inductor connected in series with the first filter; A first capacitor connected in parallel with the first filter; A second capacitor connected in series with the second filter; And UWB communication module comprising a second inductor connected in parallel with the second filter. The method of claim 1, wherein the second matching circuit A third inductor connected in series with the first filter; A third capacitor connected in parallel with the first filter; A fourth capacitor connected in series with the second filter; And UWB communication module comprising a fourth capacitor connected in parallel with the second filter. The method of claim 4, wherein One end of the second inductor and the first capacitor is connected to the first filter and the second filter, respectively, and the other end of the second inductor and the first capacitor is connected to a ground terminal. module. The method of claim 5, One end of the fourth inductor and the third capacitor is connected to the first filter and the second filter, respectively, and the other end of the fourth inductor and the third capacitor is connected to a ground terminal. Communication module. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal processing unit An RF transceiver for converting an intermediate frequency transmission / reception signal into an RF transmission / reception signal or vice versa; And And a baseband unit connected to the RF transceiver to process signals of a physical layer and a hardware / software MAC layer, and to modulate and demodulate an intermediate frequency transmission / reception signal into a digital signal. The method of claim 8, wherein the RF transceiver and the baseband unit UWB communication module characterized in that the SoC-type integrated circuit. The method of claim 1, The first filter, the second filter and the signal processor are mounted on the uppermost layer of the multi-layered substrate, The first matching circuit and the second matching circuit is UWB communication module, characterized in that mounted on the inner layer of the substrate. The method of claim 10, wherein the substrate UWB communication module, characterized in that the LTCC substrate. The method of claim 10, The first filter, the second filter and the signal processor are electrically connected to the inner layer substrate through via holes. The multi-layered substrate is UWB communication module, characterized in that one or more patterns of the line pattern, power pattern, ground pattern, terminal pattern is formed. The method of claim 10, UWB communication module, characterized in that the passive layer included in the circuit of each of the first filter, the second filter and each component is mounted on the uppermost layer of the substrate. The method of claim 10, UWB communication module characterized in that the substrate is formed with an antenna terminal connected to the first matching circuit. The method of claim 10, The inductor included in the first matching circuit and the second matching circuit has a spiral structure or a meander structure. And the capacitors included in the first matching circuit and the second matching circuit are formed in a MIM structure.

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