Mohamed Elkhouly

60 GHz Ultrawideband Polarimetric MIMO Sensing for Wireless Multi-Gigabit and Radar

Polarimetric radio wave processing becomes of increasing interest for very high-data rate wireless transmission and for short-range radar at millimeter-waves (mm-W). This goes along with the huge bandwidth of 7 to 9 GHz, which is available worldwide in the 60 GHz unlicensed band. In this paper, we propose a 60 GHz ultra-wideband (UWB) polarimetric multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) sensing system architecture and polarimetric signal processing for short-range communications and radar. Demonstration measurements were made by using an UWB radar interface. By measurements in multipath rich environments it is demonstrated that tap-wise polarimetric filtering in delay domain can enhance the 60 GHz link budget by filtering some paths and then reducing shadowing due to human activity. Additionally, optimum MIMO polarimetric filtering is proposed to reduce heavy clutter for mm-W radar, increasing by about 30 dB the signal-to-clutter-plus-noise-ratio.

220–250-GHz Phased-Array Circuits in 0.13-

This paper describes the design of 220-250-GHz phased-array circuits in 0.13- μm BiCMOS technology. The design aspects of the active and passive devices that are used in the phased-array systems, such as balun, Wilkinson divider, and branch-line coupler, are presented in details. A millimeter-wave vector modulator is designed to support both amplitude and phase control for beam-forming applications. The designed circuits are integrated together to form a four-channel 220-250-GHz phased-array chip. Each channel exhibits 360° phase control with 18 dB of amplitude control. The entire chip draws 167 mA from a 3.3-V supply. The millimeter-wave phase shifting and the low-power consumption makes it ideal for highly integrated scalable beam-forming systems for both imaging, radiometry, and communication applications.

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A 245-GHz transmitter (TX) array with an integrated antenna-array for a gas spectroscopy system has been realized. It consists of a push-push VCO with a 1/64 frequency divider, power amplifiers, frequency doublers, and on-chip antennas with localized backside etching. The TX-frequency is tunable in the range from 238 to 252 GHz. The TX-array has been fabricated in a 0.13- μm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology with f T /f max of 300 GHz/500 GHz. Its output power is approximately 7 dBm at 245 GHz, and the effective isotropically radiated power (EIRP) reaches 18 dBm at 245 GHz. The main components of the gas spectroscopy system are a TX and a receiver (RX) in SiGe BiCMOS as well as a gas absorption cell. The sensitivity of this spectroscopy system is demonstrated by measuring the high-resolution absorption spectrum of gaseous methanol ( CH3OH). Due to the increased power provided by the TX-array, the sensitivity of the spectrometer can be increased significantly.

SiGe BiCMOS Technology

A high output 1dB compression point 60-GHz up-conversion mixer fabricated on 0.25 µm SiGe∶C technology is presented. It is based on the Gilbert cell and integrated with LO passive stacked Marchand balun to convert the LO single ended signal into differential. It employs tuned load consisting of spiral inductor and MIM capacitor to match the differential output to 100 ohm and to attenuate the image signal by 15 dB in the middle of the band. The conversion gain is 2.2-dB in 61 GHz and varies within 2 dB over 9 GHz band We achieve output 1-dB compression point of −3.4 dBm. To the best of our knowledge it is the highest output 1-dB compression point in silicon-based 60-GHz mixers. It consumes 10 mA from 3.3 V supply

245-GHz Transmitter Array in SiGe BiCMOS for Gas Spectroscopy

A 245 GHz transmitter (TX) array with an integrated antenna-array for a gas spectroscopy system has been realized, which consists of a push-push VCO with a 1/64 frequency divider, power amplifiers, frequency doublers, and on-chip antennas with localized backside etching. The TX-frequency is tunable in the range from 238 GHz to 252 GHz. The TX-array is fabricated in 0.13 μm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology with fT/fmax of 300GHz/500GHz. Its estimated output power is 7 dBm at 245 GHz, and the EIRP reaches 18 dBm at 245 GHz. The 245 GHz spectroscopy system includes a TX and a receiver in SiGe. The sensitivity of this spectroscopy system is demonstrated by the high-resolution absorption spectrum of methanol and will be increased further by this TX-array.

A 60 GHz wideband high output P1dB up-conversion image rejection mixer in 0.25 µm SiGe technology

This paper describes a millimetre-wave receiver beamforming for interference mitigation as well as array gain enhancement. Like the beamforming architecture in the IEEE 802.15.3c standard, it is based on only one baseband processor to support multiple N-element antenna arrays for low-cost implementation. This makes it difficult to estimate received signals and channel state information on each antenna, which restricts baseband digital processing and introduces large overheads for adaptive beamforming. For these reasons, the IEEE 802.15.3c standard utilizes 2-bit beam codebook for repetitive beam-searching, however it cannot offer adaptive interference nulling capability. We propose an algorithm to get received signal information on each antenna so that we can find optimum weight vectors for maximum beamforming gain. This also enables to mitigate co-channel interference, which increase total throughput by enhancing spatial re-use in multiple 60-GHz indoor networks. The structural difference from the IEEE 802.15.3c beamformer is to employ a continuous phase-shifter, however our implementation proves that it exhibits almost same-level complexity as 2-bit phase-shifters.

245 GHz SiGe Transmitter Array for Gas Spectroscopy

A 240 GHz direct conversion IQ receiver manufactured in 0.13 SiGe BiCMOS technology with fT/fmax of 300/500 GHz is presented. The receiver consists of a four stage LNA, an active power divider, an LO IQ generation network, and direct down-conversion fundamental mixers. The integrated IQ receiver yields a conversion gain of 18 dB, an 18 dB simulated DSB NF, and a 3 dB bandwidth of 25 GHz. The required 245 GHz LO power is in the order of -10 dBm. The receiver exhibits an IQ amplitude and phase imbalance of 1 dB and 3° respectively. It draws 135 mA from the 3.5 V supply and 20 mA from 2 V.

60-GHz adaptive beamforming receiver arrays for interference mitigation

This paper presents a 245 GHz ASK modulator and demodulator capable of 40 Gbit/s operation. The design is based on 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The chip includes a 245 GHz SPST switch, a wide-band driver amplifier, and an ASK demodulator. The ASK demodulator consists of a power detector followed by a wide-band high gain amplifier. The modulator consumes 31 mW and the demodulator consumes 100 mW.

A 240 GHz direct conversion IQ receiver in 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology

Integrated millimeter-wave 2 bit and 3 bit phase shifters and 4 channel beamforming network are presented in this paper. The 2 bit phase shifter exhibits 4° RMS phase error and a RMS gain error < 1 dB. In the 55–67 GHz range, the 3 bit phase shifter shows RMS phase error < 7° and a RMS gain error < 1 dB. The 4 channel beamforming network consists of four 2 bit RF phase shifter and a fully differential passive power distribution network. Between the 4 channels, the beamforming network exhibits less than 4° and 0.6 dB RMS phase and amplitude mismatch, respectively. The beamforming chip and the phase shifters are fabricated in SiGe BiCMOS technology. The 2 bit and 3 bit phase shifters draws 7 mA and 10 mA respectively from a 3.3 V supply. The circuits are well suited for highly integrated beamforming millimeter-wave transceivers.

A 245 GHz ASK modulator and demodulator with 40 Gbits/sec data rate in 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology

A fully integrated transmitter (TX) front-end for wireless communication at 60 GHz, produced in 0.25 µm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology is presented. The transmitter features a modified heterodyne topology with a sliding intermediate frequency (IF). The TX features IF I/Q mixers, an IF amplifier, a 60 GHz mixer, a phase-locked loop, an image-rejection filter and a power amplifier. The measured 1-dB compression point at the output is 12.6 dBm and the saturated power is 16.2 dBm. Error-free data transmission with a 16QAM OFDM signal and data rate of 3.6 Gbit/s (without coding 4.8 Gbit/s) over 15 m was demonstrated. This is the best reported result regarding both the data rate and transmission distance in SiGe without beamforming.