Architecture and circuit design techniques for VLSI implementation of a single-chip quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulator with frequency agility and antenna beamforming characteristics are presented. In order to achieve reliable wireless communication modem function, the single chip all-digital QAM modulator implements various features, including high data rates with bandwidth efficiency, flexibility, meeting a wide variety of user throughput requirements with variable and width and data rates in a multi-user system, and robustness, incorporating diversity and redundancy techniques to guarantee robust communication for various operating environments. The modulator components consist of several digital processing building blocks, including various finite-impulse-response (FIR) filters, an innovative variable interpolation filter, a four-channel frequency translator with quadrature mixer for antenna beamforming diversity, a quadrature direct digital frequency synthesizer (QDDFS), a numerically controlled oscillator (NCO), a QAM formatter, a pseudorandom noise (PN) generator, an x/sin x filter, and a microcontroller interface. An optimized architecture and chip implementation for the variable modulator is derived and evaluated which will support symbol rates from 6 kBaud to 8.75 MBaud continuously and digitally flexible IF frequencies up to 70 MHz with four-channel antenna beamforming function.
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