Towards multi-standard mobile terminals: fully integrated receivers requirements and architectures

In the recent past, there has been an evolution in wireless communications toward multifunctions and multistandar mobile terminals. Reducing the number of external components to a minimum is key when the same mobile terminal has to process several different standards. Highly integrated solutions in low-cost silicon technologies are thus required. Zero-IF and low-IF receiver architectures are most suitable for a high level of integration. The paper presents a review of global system for mobile communications, universal mobile telecommuniation system, Bluetooth, and wireless local area network (IEEE802.11a, b, g and HiperLAN2 standards, likely to all be present in the “universal” terminal of the future, enabling global roaming and wireless connectivity. The various standards are analyzed in order to find the optimal architecture and the building-block specifications for the receive section, with particular care to the RF front-end. State-of-the-art solutions are discussed, with emphasis on direct conversion CMOS implementations. A multistandard architecture for a fully-integrated CMOS receiver is proposed.